Earth

  1. Earth

    50 years ago, a new theory of Earth’s core began solidifying

    In 1972, scientists proposed that Earth’s core formed as the planet came together. Fifty years later, that theory is generally accepted, though many mysteries about the core remain.

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  2. Paleontology

    Megatooth sharks may have been higher on the food chain than any ocean animal ever

    Some megalodons and their ancestors were the ultimate apex predators, outeating all known marine animals, researchers report.

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  3. Environment

    Earth’s oldest known wildfires raged 430 million years ago

    430-million-year-old fossilized charcoal suggests atmospheric oxygen levels of at least 16 percent, the amount needed for fire to take hold and spread.

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  4. Science & Society

    Russia’s invasion could cause long-term harm to Ukraine’s prized soil

    War will physically and chemically damage Ukraine’s prized, highly fertile chernozem soils. The impacts on agriculture could last for years.

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  5. Health & Medicine

    Western wildfires’ health risks extend across the country

    As western wildfires become more common, hazardous smoke is sending people — especially children — to emergency rooms on the East Coast.

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  6. Climate

    Ancient penguin bones reveal unprecedented shrinkage in key Antarctic glaciers

    Thwaites and Pine Island glaciers are losing ice faster than any other time in the last 5,500 years. That history is written in bones and shells.

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  7. Earth

    Ancient zircons offer insights into earthquakes of the past

    Analyzing zircons’ chemical makeup can help expose intense quakes from the past and improve our understanding of the physics of today’s tremors.

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  8. Science & Society

    Growing wildfire threats loom over the birthplace of the atomic bomb

    Climate change is expected to make wildfires worse across much of the Southwest United States. A key nuclear weapons lab could be in the hot zone.

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  9. Ecosystems

    Just 3 ingredients can quickly destroy widely used PFAS ‘forever chemicals’

    Ultraviolet light, sulfite and iodide break down enduring PFAS molecules faster and more thoroughly than other UV-based methods.

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  10. Climate

    Scientists hope to mimic the most extreme hurricane conditions

    A $12.8 million NSF grant is funding the design of a facility that can generate winds of at least 290 kilometers per hour and towering storm surges.

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  11. Life

    High altitudes may be a climate refuge for some birds, but not these hummingbirds

    After being moved to a spot high above their typical home, Anna’s hummingbirds seemed to struggle to hover in the thin air.

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  12. Ecosystems

    Biocrusts reduce global dust emissions by 60 percent

    Lichens and other microbes construct biological soil crusts that concentrate nutrients and slash global dust emissions.

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