Scientists say they’ve confirmed Earth’s inner core has been slowing down. Here’s what it could mean — and why the topic has been the subject of fierce debate.

USC scientists have made a groundbreaking discovery about the nature of Earth’s enigmatic inner core, revealing for the first time that this 1,500-mile-wide ball of iron and nickel is changing.

This metallic inner core, about 1,500 miles wide, was discovered in the 1930s. Both the inner and outer cores consist primarily of iron and nickel.

“The molten outer core is widely known to be turbulent, but its turbulence had not been observed to disrupt its neighbor the inner core on a human timescale,” Vidale said in a press statement.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Earth’s inner core, a solid metal ball gyrating within the molten outer core, may be both slowing down and changing shape. Recent analyses of earthquake waves have suggested ...

The inner core is made of solid iron-nickel about 3,000 miles below the surface of the Earth. Scientists believe that the inner core’s rotation began to slow down in 2010 , but what that really ...

Scientists say they’ve confirmed Earth’s inner core has been slowing down. Here’s what it could mean — and why the topic has been the subject of fierce debate.

Scientists say they’ve confirmed Earth’s inner core has been slowing down. Here’s what it could mean — and why the topic has ...

Scientists say they’ve confirmed Earth’s inner core has been slowing down. Here’s what it could mean — and why the topic has been the subject of fierce debate.

The inner core is made mostly of iron and nickel, and it is estimated to be as hot as the surface of the sun — about 9,800 degrees Fahrenheit (5,400 degrees Celsius).