Homo neanderthalensisis   an extinct species of antediluvian humans that go in Eurasia until roughly 40,000 age ago . Thecause of their extinctionis anongoingmatter ofdebate . Now a raw study has intimate that the weakening of Earth ’s magnetic field of view may have been what pushed them over the edge .

The magnetized field of our planet protects us like a shot from the solar wind , high - energy corpuscle that feed outward from the Sun , and indirectly from the Sun ’s ultraviolet light ( ultraviolet light ) . The ozone level , our shield against the ultraviolet illumination , is susceptible to in high spirits - vim particles ( among other matter ) so a period of broken magnetic field strong point could contribute to a cutting of the ozone stratum , allowing more UV to reach the control surface .

As report inReviews of Geophysics , the researchers claim thatchanges to Earth ’s magnetic field , specifically when it has appeared weakest , coincides with the extinctions of mammals across the earthly concern .

Roughly 41,000 years ago , the charismatic arena of the planet repeal for a few hundred geezerhood . This is be intimate as the Laschamp event , and it ’s reckon the magnetized domain fall to just 5 percent of its current metier . grant to the researchers ' familial depth psychology , Neanderthals were particularly susceptible to ultraviolet radiation , and being disclose to the harmful ultraviolet illumination that got through could have led to health problems that may have conduce to their decay .

Not only that , but they posit changes in the magnetised field over the last 200,000 years could perchance be linked to other episode in our human antecedent ' folk tree by damaging DNA and leading to mutations that were not good to their survival .

“ This tells us more about how our ancestors evolved within the mammal population , ” lead author Professor James Channell , from the University of Florida , sound out in astatement . “ Ultra - violet radiation sickness was an authoritative influence on mammal evolution . ”

“ The outcome was not a blitzkrieg , but a process that affected the genome over time , ” Channell add together .

The title UV radiation played a part in hominins ' evolutionary history will for certain start a debate . Most mammals have build up ways to protect themselves from the harmful UV rays , fur being one of them . It ’s also not as straightforward as genetic mutations in the skin being pass on to the next coevals . We recognize so little when it come to Neanderthals , there is much to consider .

We have their genome , but the interpreting of it , just like the rendition of modern genome , rests on understanding that is often inadequate , and occasionally self-contradictory . For example , other researcher have receive evidence in esteem to UV light that manifest the opposite place in Neanderthals . Thisstudypublished in 2013 , showed that a gene related to the ultraviolet light reception in modern Euroasians was lost when their ancestors move out of Africa and then it was reintroduce by interbreeding with Neanderthals and another species of ancient humans called Denisovan . The authors argue that Neanderthals ' gene played a theatrical role in protecting modern Eurasians from UV wrong .

It ’s also authoritative to deliberate that the Laschamp case was not the only dramatic alteration that our planet was have when the Neanderthals died out . Earth was experiencinga complex climate patternwith dramatic temperature fluctuations , and the fade of Neanderthals also co-occur with aparticularly insensate flow . That might have been too much for a metal money who is believed to have already been in decay .