I found this article in a newsletter and thought it interesting.

Astronomers believe the magnetic fields within our own Milky Way and other
nearby galaxies-which control the rate of star formation and the dynamics of
interstellar gas--arose from a slow "dynamo effect." In this process, slowly
rotating galaxies are thought to have generated magnetic fields that grew
very gradually as they evolved over 5 billion to 10 billion years to their
current levels.




But in the October 2nd issue of the journal 'Nature', the astronomers report
the magnetic field they measured in this distant "protogalaxy" is at least
10 times greater than the average value in the Milky Way. "This was a
complete surprise," said Arthur Wolfe, a professor of physics at UC San
Diego's Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences who headed the team. "The
magnetic field we measured is at least an order of magnitude larger than the
average value of the magnetic field detected in our own galaxy."



Until recently, astronomers knew very little about magnetic fields outside
our own galaxy, having directly measured the magnetic field in only one
nearby galaxy. "And that field wasn't as strong as the field we saw," said
Wolfe.Using a powerful radio telescope to peer into the early universe, a
team of California astronomers has obtained the first direct measurement of
a nascent galaxy's magnetic field as it appeared 6.5 billion years ago.