The article, by Jonathan Leake, reported on a paper by Gregory Ryskin at Northwestern, the title of which is “Secular variation of the Earth’s magnetic field: induced by the ocean flow?”. The paper claimed that, as sea-water is a conductor, variations in the earth’s measured magnetic field can be attributed in some way to ocean currents.

So far, so good.

But the article’s original opening paragraph (preserved by the internet for ever and ever) says: “Earth’s magnetic field, long thought to be generated by molten metals swirling around its core, may instead be produced by ocean currents, according to controversial new research published this week.”

This is clearly not what Ryskin’s paper said, and I immediately posted a comment on the Sunday Times web page for the article which said so. This presumably led to hurried edits for content, rather than style (and the subsequent removal of all the comments pointing out Leake’s idiocy), as the opening paragraph now reads:

“Earth’s magnetic field, long thought to be generated by molten metals swirling around its core, may instead be linked to ocean currents, according to controversial new research published this week.”

Leake is apparently guilty of a number of instances of egregious science reporting, especially concerning climate change (http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2010/02/15/leakegate-jonathan-leake-caugh and http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2010/02/14/leakegate-the-case-for-fraud, for example).

The Sunday Times, and Leake in particular, can challenge the Daily Mail any day for the title of “top newspaper for willful science misrepresentation” …