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Earth Science

Colorful archaea grow in in ponds.

New Research

How a Single Act of Evolution Nearly Wiped Out All Life on Earth

A single gene transfer event may have caused the Great Dying

When viewed from space, Earth looks like a water planet. But nearly all of that is saltwater and undrinkable.

A World of Water Woes

From the Middle East to the Caribbean to Australia, people around the world are dealing with water scarcity

Journey to the Center of Earth

There May Be a Second Massive Ocean Deep Beneath the Surface

Chemically bonded to minerals in the transition zone, Earth’s mantle may be rather wet

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Cool Finds

If We’re Going to Climb Mountains, First the Earth Needs to Make Them

Temujin Doran’s video explores the processes that affect mountain evolution

Cool Finds

These Stunning Light Pillars Are The Polar Vortex’s Way of Saying Sorry

Not all winter phenomena are problems

A photo of the 4.4 billion-year old zircon.

New Research

This Little Gem Is the Oldest Piece of the Earth We’ve Ever Found

A tiny zircon from western Australia is 4.4 billion years old

Exposed tree stumps dot the landscape off the coast of Borth, Wales.

Trending Today

Those U.K. Storms Revealed the Remains of a 4,500 Year Old Forest

The ancient preserved forest is tied to the fable of Cantre’r Gwaelod

Plumes of steam rise up from many spots along the Firehole River in Yellowstone National Park.

New Research

Yellowstone Belches Ancient Helium

Gas stored in the Earth’s crust for hundreds of millions of years is released by volcanic hotspot

A pair of Ammonite fossils, about 4 inches across, within a limestone bed very close to the Permian-Triassic boundary.

New Research

How Long Does Mass Extinction Take?

By figuring out the timing and rate of the world’s most massive extinction 252 million years ago, scientists hope to figure out how such lethal events work

Cool Finds

A Swarm of Tumbleweed-Like Robots Might Be the Ideal Desert Data Gatherers

The hardy robots can traverse places that would be difficult or very expensive to send human data-gatherers

Typical entombment poses of some of the Jehol Biota’s animals (a Psittacosaurus (a) and primitive crow-like birds (b and c))—the same poses displayed by other victims of erupting volcanoes throughout history.

New Research

The “Pompeii of Animals” Shows Dinosaurs, Mammals and Early Birds in Their Death Throes

A lethal volcanic explosion is identified as the culprit behind a mysterious mass death of creatures that took place around 125 million years ago

Blood Falls seeps from the end of the Taylor Glacier into Lake Bonney.

Antarctica’s Blood Red Waterfall

On the southern edge of the world, a waterfall runs red as blood

New Research

The Sun Is Spraying Water Into Space

When the solar wind hits oxygen-rich rocks, water can form

A rare atmospheric anomaly in December filled the Grand Canyon with fog.

New Research

The Grand Canyon Is Young And Old, All at the Same Time

Geologically, the Grand Canyon is a baby, but you might say it has an old soul

The New Madrid seismic zone, in the center of the United States, is highlighted bright pink in this earthquake hazard map created by the U.S. Geological Survey in 2008, reflecting the increased likelihood that a strong earthquake could strike that region.

Large Earthquakes Still Possible in the Central United States

The region shook in 1811 and 1812, and scientists say it could happen again

The Tsunami House, on the northern end of Washington's Camano Island, is designed to withstand the impact of high-velocity wave walls with heights of up to eight feet.

This House is Built to Withstand the Force of a Tsunami

A clever idea to let water flow through a home may allow residents in Puget Sound to escape the fate that locals centuries ago could not

Clouds of haze rise above China, largely the result of the country's massive manufacturing industry.

Air Pollution in China Is Spreading Across the Pacific to the U.S.

China is sending detectable levels of pollution to the U.S., but a significant fraction of it results from manufacturing products for American customers

New Research

We’ve Got 1.5 Billion Years Left With a Habitable Earth

And then we need to get off this rock

Part of the primary mirror for the James Webb Space Telescope. Imagine this, but... more.

Trending Today

No One Trusts Geoengineering—But Pretty Soon It’s Not Going To Be a Choice

We’re very quickly running out of time to deal with rising carbon emissions

A statue of Captain James Cook.

New Research

The Dutch Nearly Beat James Cook to New Zealand

A shipwreck discovered off New Zealand dates to a time before Cook’s arrival

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