Researchers who ran simulations of these atmospheric molecules escaping Earth found that more actually escape modern Earth, whose magnetic field is strong. These findings could have implications for future studies investigating particle escape on Mars (which lost its magnetic field) and the evolution of its habitability. In this tail are a northern and southern lobe of identical magnetic field lines, divided by a sheet of plasma. Because of turbulence, unstable plasma, and magnetic reconnection (when magnetic field lines break and connect again) occurring within the magnetotail, atmospheric particles from Earth are released. They can then travel along magnetic field lines in the magnetotail until solar wind takes them.