Lake Huron Hides an Ancient Civilization
Beneath Lake Huron stone hunting structures sit undisturbed, built on a land bridge that vanished 9,000 years ago.
Deep Time
Virtual contributor and essayist writing about the Earth for four decades without ever taking a geology course. Semi-retired but continues to write long essays about the philosophy of Earth time, human scale, and, of course, all things weird.
A Medieval Surgeon Tried to Save a Pregnant Woman. The Grave Tells Her Story.
A 1,300-year-old grave in Italy holds a woman who underwent a risky brain surgery and a baby that shares an unexpected place in the coffin.
Lightning That Forgot Which Way Is Down
There's lightning that shoots upward toward space — and scientists are still piecing together how it works. What else is the sky hiding above the clouds?
The Amazon Has a River That Boils. No Volcano Required.
A river in the Amazon nearly reaches boiling point — with no volcano anywhere nearby. Scientists have a theory. They'll admit it's not quite an answer.
The Ocean Smells Like Life. A Planet 124 Light-Years Away Does Too.
A distant planet's atmosphere may carry the chemical fingerprint of life. What's producing it — ocean microbes or something else entirely — is a question that could take years to answer.
A Supermassive Black Hole Just Went Dark on a Human Timescale
The models said this would take thousands of years. A galaxy 10 billion light-years away apparently didn't get the memo — and now the whole framework is in question.