The Earth's inner core may have recently stopped rotating and reversed direction, a new study found.

Published in "Nature Geoscience" this week, the peer-reviewed research suggests that the solid inner core of the Earth could experience changes in its rotation every several decades.

The inner core, which is mostly composed of pure, solid iron, is long thought to have rotated, differing from the liquid outer core and the other layers of the Earth.

The study may help shed further light on the mysterious nature of the inner core and how it interacts with Earth's other layers.

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