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Since I’ve only reccently been seeing more of this in the news I don’t have the buzz about it yet. But UNISCI.com has an article..it’s being monitored.

“Struggle Seen as Sun Switches Magnetic Field Polarity”

Even my brother, who is scientifically minded, brought it up in conversation yesturday. He said they are uncertain what the effects will be but the science community seems to be watching. Something about earth needs to be in a certain position when this occurs or we’re done. Wish I had paid more attention, he generally knows what he’s talking about.
He’s also mentioned the Collider where they are trying replicate the atom..says it’s a very dangerous endevour.

Since I’ve only reccently been seeing more of this in the news I don’t have the buzz about it yet. But UNISCI.com has an article..it’s being monitored.
“Struggle Seen as Sun Switches Magnetic Field Polarity”

Even my brother, who is scientifically minded, brought it up in conversation yesturday. He said they are uncertain what the effects will be but the science community seems to be watching. Something about earth needs to be in a certain position when this occurs or we’re done. Wish I had paid more attention, he generally knows what he’s talking about.

Here's an article from 2001. The sun's magnetic poles flipped that year, as they do about every 11 years:

The Sun Does a Flip

February 15, 2001 -- You can't tell by looking, but scientists say the Sun has just undergone an important change. Our star's magnetic field has flipped.

The Sun's magnetic north pole, which was in the northern hemisphere just a few months ago, now points south. It's a topsy-turvy situation, but not an unexpected one.

"This always happens around the time of solar maximum," says David Hathaway, a solar physicist at the Marshall Space Flight Center. "The magnetic poles exchange places at the peak of the sunspot cycle. In fact, it's a good indication that Solar Max is really here."

The Sun's magnetic poles will remain as they are now, with the north magnetic pole pointing through the Sun's southern hemisphere, until the year 2012 when they will reverse again. This transition happens, as far as we know, at the peak of every 11-year sunspot cycle -- like clockwork.

End of excerpt; full story at the above link.

Also, I looked up the specific article that you referenced from UNISCI: "Struggle Seen As Sun Switches Magnetic Field Polarity" ... and what do you know? That article was also written about the 2001 event:

Struggle Seen As Sun Switches Magnetic Field Polarity

So, in a nutshell, this is a recurring solar cycle and nothing that should cause great alarm to anyone. Of course, since the next flip will probably occur in 2012, I suppose it will inevitably be used as grist for the mills of those who predict the end of the world in 2012. ;-)

We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread (sorry for the derailment).

FYI...the website UNISCI.com is not being updated anymore according to a statement there. My husband has been interested in this as well. I found this site about the pole change very interesting:

http://www.pureenergysystems.com/news/2005/02/27/6900064_Magnet_Pole_Shift/

The sun's polarity flips every decade or so, that doesn't really affect us. The EARTH's polarity does flip -- according to geologists. I'm not sure of the time when this happens (and the north pole becomes the south etc.), but I guess this is in thousands or millions of years (need to check). THIS would have a strong impact on our modern society, telecommunications, navigation, etc. etc.

The Large Particle Collider (Hadron Collider) is dangerous, in my humble opinion, but not for a global catastrophe, maybe a local explosion. I, however, don't see the point of spending million$$ for this -- that money would have been better spent on a new version of the space shuttle or anything else rather than searching for Hadrons or bosons or what have you -- I can't see the practical aspects of that study beyond pure science (this is an engineer speaking from an engineer's point of view!!)