A new study suggests that the weakening of Earth’s magnetic field around 591 million years ago may have played a crucial role in the evolution of life. The research, published in the journal ‘Geology’, analyzed ancient rocks from South Africa and Brazil, revealing a significant weakening of the magnetic field during the Ediacaran Period (about 635 million to 541 million years ago). This period is associated with the ‘oxygenation event’, when the atmosphere and oceans became more oxygen-rich, leading to the evolution of larger and more mobile life-forms.