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Earth Science

A scanning electron microscope image shows sodium carbonates in a sample from the asteroid Bennu. Each needle is less than one micrometer wide by five to ten micrometers in length—for comparison, a human hair is about 100 micrometers wide.

Scientists Discover Traces of Salt Water and Building Blocks of Life in NASA’s Samples From the Asteroid Bennu

Two new papers describe hints to a brine-filled environment on the 4.5-billion-year-old space rock and the presence of amino acids, offering clues to how early Earth got its ingredients for life

A firefighter works as the Hughes Fire burns north of Los Angeles on January 22.

Welcome to the Pyrocene

Human use of fire has produced an era of uncontrolled burning

Dinosaurs only started to live large after a mass extinction altered the planet in their favor.

How a Mass Extinction Driven by Ancient Volcanoes Led to the Age of the Dinosaurs

Roughly 201 million years ago, drastic changes extinguished many forms of life and led to conditions that allowed the terrible lizards to thrive

A visitor examines a watch crafted by Abraham-Louis Breguet for Marie Antoinette.

These Fascinating Objects Show How the Palace of Versailles Drove Surprising Scientific Advances in the 17th and 18th Centuries

Titled “Versailles: Science and Splendor,” a new exhibition illustrates how the royal court encouraged innovation during the reigns of Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI

Tetiaroa is a haven for wildlife, including sea turtles, crabs, seabirds, sharks, coral and fish.

Marlon Brando Wanted to Build a ‘University of the Sea.’ These Scientists Are Bringing the Late Actor’s Vision to Life

On Tetiaroa, a vibrant coral atoll dotted with sandy islets, archaeologists, marine biologists and cultural practitioners are working together to improve understanding of a unique ecosystem

Stories in a wide variety of scientific disciplines made our list this year.

The Ten Most Significant Science Stories of 2024

From a total solar eclipse that captivated our continent to record temperatures that scorched the planet, these were the biggest moments of the year

A solar flare erupts from the sun on June 20, 2013, seen at the left of the image.

Superflares Erupt From Sun-Like Stars Roughly Every 100 Years, a New Study Finds. Is Our Sun Overdue for a Massive Blast?

Solar flares and coronal mass ejections could cause serious damage to telecommunications systems, satellites and power grids here on Earth

Smithsonian magazine’s top science titles this year.

The Ten Best Science Books of 2024

From a deep dive on a fatal space shuttle disaster to a study of a dozen iconic trees, these are our favorite titles this year

A man spotted the scar while looking at Google Earth satellite imagery earlier this year.

A Man Noticed a Strange Shape on the Ground on Google Earth. It Turned Out to Be the Mark of an Undetected Tornado

Geoscientists in Australia suggest a strong tornado swept across the Nullarbor Plain in November 2022 and made the 6.8-mile-long scar on the landscape—without anyone noticing

A stock illustration of an asteroid near Earth. Astronomers believe our "mini-moon" originated from the Arjuna asteroid belt.

Earth Bids Goodbye to Its ‘Mini-Moon’ as Astronomers Investigate Where Our Planet’s Asteroid Companion Came From

Preliminary research suggests asteroid 2024 PT5, which stuck around Earth for almost two months, has lunar origins

Allosaurus

This Captivating Guide Uncovers the History and Mystery of Dinosaurs in 50 Fossils

A paleontologist at the Natural History Museum in London chronicles the age of the famous and fascinating massive reptiles

A sample of ocean crust, turned upside down, reveals tubeworms and other organisms.

In a First, Scientists Find Animals Thriving Beneath the Ocean Floor in Hidden Habitats Near Deep-Sea Vents

The discovery of worms and snails confirms that these still-mysterious, dark hotspots of life extend beyond what’s visible above the crust

A color-enhanced photo of Pluto that was captured by the New Horizons spacecraft in 2015

The Seven Most Amazing Discoveries We’ve Made About Pluto

Though technically not a planet, it has as rich geology as any of its planetary siblings in the solar system

Longyearbyen is full of individuals who have relocated here for all kinds of reasons, but I’ve found that they often share a deep appreciation for nature.

What It’s Like to Experience Polar Night in the World’s Northernmost Town

Eight years into living in Longyearbyen, on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, I embrace the seasonal plunge into total darkness

Researchers found roughly 40 depressions on the lake bed of Lake Michigan within the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary.

Mysterious Craters Discovered on the Bottom of Lake Michigan Could Hold Lessons About Early Life on Earth

Scientists aren’t sure how the circular indentations some 450 feet below the surface formed, but they hope to investigate further

NASA’s Earth Information Center Hyperwall at the National Museum of Natural History opened to the public on October 8, 2024.

Immerse Yourself in the ‘Hyperwall,’ NASA’s New Visual Showcase of a Changing Earth

A new exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History combines satellite observations and historical data to offer a “larger-than-life look” at our planet’s climate today

Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula is known for its extinct and active volcanoes.

New Research

Extinct Volcanoes May Be an Untapped Source of Rare Metals

Unexplored iron-rich magma could help power current and future technologies

Some artificial intelligence models have predicted where hurricanes would make landfall earlier than numerical weather models.

Just How Much Can We Trust A.I. to Predict Extreme Weather?

Computer scientist and meteorologist Amy McGovern has studied the technology for two decades, and she weighs in with some answers

This fossil palm leaf (Sabalites sp.) found in Alaska can be seen in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. Sixty million years ago, dense, wet forests covered North America, and many plants, including palms, grew in places such as Alaska where temperatures are too frigid for them today. A new study published in Science gives scientists a picture of when the Earth was warm and when it was cool over the past 485 million years.

In a Landmark Study, Scientists Discover Just How Much Earth’s Temperature Has Changed Over Nearly 500 Million Years

Researchers show the average surface temperature on our planet has shifted between 51.8 to 96.8 degrees Fahrenheit

An illustration of Earth with a ring.

Did Earth Once Have a Ring Like Saturn? Geologists Find Evidence for a Halo of Orbiting Space Rocks 466 Million Years Ago

A ring could explain a mysterious arrangement of impact craters near the equator and might even have caused an ice age, according to a new study

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