Venus Is Pulling Itself Apart. Slowly. But Right Now.
Three of Venus's biggest canyons may still be spreading open today. What's causing the stretching?
Earth Sciences
France Just Got Its First Fire-Breathing Dragon of Clouds
A wildfire built its own thunderstorm on top of itself, then used it to burn hotter and spread faster. Scientists spent years convincing each other the phenomenon was even real.
In 1948, the Air Over a Pennsylvania Town Turned Lethal
A temperature inversion sealed a mill valley shut for five days. The company called it an Act of God. The smokestacks told a different story.
A Cooler Earth Core Could Answer 3.5-Billion-Year-Old Magnetic Question
For most of Earth's history, nothing explained how it powered its own compass before the solid core existed. A lab technique suggests the source was hiding in a bad temperature estimate.
Japan's Underwater Supervolcano Is Reloading
A supervolcano that blew 7,300 years ago is reloading with fresh magma from below. What it's building toward, no one can say yet.
Yellowstone's Supervolcano Has Stranger Plumbing Than We Thought
Decades of textbook explanation, overturned by a 3D model of rock flow miles beneath the American West.
2.64 Billion Years in the Dark, and It Tastes Like Regret
Sealed in rock since before animals existed, it might still have something living inside it. Someone got close enough to get splashed, which is how we know it's unpleasant to the tongue.
The North Sea Crater That Lost the Vote
The proof sat in a cardboard box of oil-well cuttings for decades. Two grains of shocked crystal. The asteroid had always been winning the argument.
Underwater Volcano Coughed Up 4.5-Billion-Year-Old Magma
Mayotte's newborn volcano erupted a chemical echo of Earth's molten infancy.
One Bag of Cheetos Nearly Broke a Cave That Took Millions of Years to Build
A cave that survived millions of years of geological time met its match in a dropped snack bag. What does it take to break an ecosystem this old?
Alaska's Rivers Are Turning Orange, and the Ground Itself Is to Blame
Alaska's rivers aren't being polluted from outside. The ground is thawing open, and centuries of frozen chemistry are waking up. What happens next is unwritten.
When It Rains, It Bites
What do a warmer atmosphere, a heavy rainstorm, and a bull shark near shore have in common? More than anyone swimming at dusk wants to know.
An Earthquake's Echo Moved an Entire Country
A 15-year-old ghost signal in Japan's earthquake data finally has an answer and it leads straight to the center of the Earth.
The Lake Was Passing Gas. It Took 90 Years to Prove.
A sonar survey hunting for shipwrecks found 140 craters on the lakebed and finally confirmed what one geologist figured out in 1934.
Utah's 1979 Earthquake Broke a Geological Rule
A quake that stumped seismologists for 47 years has been confirmed as a rare continental mantle earthquake, which wasn't supposed to be possible.
Water's Double Life Has New Details
In April, X-rays confirmed water behaves like two different liquids. A new study explains what's actually different between them.
We Moved the Planet. Slightly. With Irrigation.
Researchers needed 2,150 gigatons of missing groundwater to make their models match reality. What they found when they added it in was the planet itself, quietly keeping score.
Antarctica's Most Active Volcano Has Been Scattering Gold Across the Ice Since 1972
A continuously erupting Antarctic volcano emits crystallized gold particles daily, and has been since 1972. How does frigid air turn a lava lake into a gold mint?