Earth's Magnetism and Life on earth

I was reading an interesting article in GEO (Nov 2009) edition. The article was on the Earth's interiors and evaluating on how many facts were established till now. The writer Bill Bryson, who was the original author of the article, rightly pointed out that we know more about Sun than we know about the Earth. Of all the great facts put forward, like the 13 major tectonic plates and their movement and the fact that the plates are just wafers floating on the liquid mantle and much deeper into the mantle are many unknown phenomena, the single most thought provoking subject was about the consequences of convectional currents in the liquid mantle that can/will result in the reversal of the magnetic patterns of the earth.

I started thinking what is the survival rate or effects of the so-called reversal. Since all biologically living organisms on/under Earth have biological clocks and systems built according to magnetic patterns of the earth since it is a very strong influential force, the reversal and the duration of the reversal can have very strange effects. Bird migration patterns will change. People who are healthy mentally and physically could survive longer if the duration where there is less magnetic force spitted out continues for a longer time. As the magnetic patterns are responsible for protecting the Earth from the continuous burst of cosmic rays from Sun into Van Allen belts, we may observe a total disruption of the civilized world which heavily depends on Electronics based on Silicon Chips and metal carriers. For that matter, what will happen for the babies not yet delivered.

Certainly, as I know, there was never a study on the effects of Cosmic Rays on Humans for long duration. But it will be one more interesting scientific studies that can make a huge difference, if we enter into a time were there is a reversal process of magnetic field of Earth that endures like 10 years (this is an assumed scenario) and the ways of human survival during that time when the Cosmic Rays start damaging our DNA.

Will some cheaply produced space suit help all mankind? Will Yoga help? (Don't laugh, it might as well do that, as it is to do with the energies in a human body). Will the humans have safe drinking water or will be contaminated? Will food produced over the soil be edible? Temperatures in the seasons of course is a big if? What will happen to the electric generators and the huge electric storage devices? Will some of the bacterial infection reign over Earth killing more species because those are the right climatic conditions for it? Will Human behavior and psychology change(I am not that worried here as it is not very great now)? Will that mean during this time there will be more convective burst from the mantle resulting in devastating earthquakes? What happens to the whole Eco System?

Sounds like a 2012 story... :) But certainly this is something that I know all of the scientist community is thinking about.