Due to the weakening of the magnetic field, particularly during the transition period, greater amounts of radiation would be able to reach the Earth, increasing production of beryllium 10 and levels of carbon 14. However, it is likely that nothing serious would occur, as the human species has certainly lived through at least one such event; "Homo erectus" and possibly "Homo heidelbergensis" lived through the Brunhes–Matuyama reversal with no known ill effect, and excursions are shorter-lived and do not result in permanent changes to the magnetic field.