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An interferogram of Kathmandu shows the amount of land deformation after a 2015 quake: Each color represents about an inch of deformation. In areas that appear speckled, including the large area on the right, the ground deformed more than three feet.
science

Plate Tectonics Has a Surprise Silver Lining

Without this restless geologic process, which triggers destructive earthquakes, Earth would not be habitable.
Robin George Andrews May 29, 2024
You're more likely to end up in the ocean than another country.
holes

Dig a Tunnel Through the Center of the Earth to… Where?

If you, hypothetically, ignore the molten lava core.
Frank Jacobs April 19, 2024
Over the years, dendroglyphs—motifs and images carved into tree bark—have been documented on 22 boab trees in the Tanami Desert of western Australia.
science

7 Unbelievable Environmental Stories From Every Continent

An around-the-world tour for Earth Day.
April White April 19, 2024
Eggnog, technically, comes from space.
astronomy

Asteroid Collisions, Wandering Spacecraft, and Eggnog

Taking holiday a moment to appreciate how Earth got its water—and eggnog and mulled wine.
Robin George Andrews December 21, 2023
A illustration imagines the aftermath of Earth's collision with Theia, and how the material ejected by it slowly began to reform into an orbital body.
science

Theia and the Collision That Gave Birth to the Moon

Evidence deep within the planet suggests that remnants of Earth's catastrophic twin might still lie below.
Robin George Andrews December 4, 2023
The piece of sunken ocean is the size of India.
geological oddities

The Mystery of the World’s Largest and Deepest Gravity Hole

The sea level here is hundreds of feet lower than the rest of the ocean.
Frank Jacobs November 3, 2023
Red means higher than average anomalies, and blue means lower than average ones.
physics

Uneven Gravity Makes You Weigh More in Illinois Than in Indiana

A number of factors cause you to be lighter or heavier in different parts of the world.
Frank Jacobs September 22, 2023
science

By Air, Land, or Sea, Tiny Microbes Transform Our World

They often get a bad rap, but bacteria prevent erosion, undergird ecosystems, and make artificial snow.
Susanne Wedlich March 7, 2023
Thin layers of peat and silt capture the aesthetic nature of soil horizons in this artistic rendering.
science

Soil Scientists Dig Deep to Understand the 'Skin of the Earth'

What's beneath our feet is crucial to life on the planet—don't you dare call it dirt.
Mary-Rose Abraham April 12, 2022
The museum is housed in a building that evokes the soil layers its researchers collect, preserve, and analyze.
Wageningen, Netherlands

World Soil Museum

A Dutch museum preserves the world's most diverse collection of vertical slices of soil.
Goodsell Ridge Fossil Preserve on Isle La Motte
Isle La Motte, Vermont

Goodsell Ridge Fossil Preserve

Journey through various trails to discover a land before time along the Chazy Fossil Reef.
Calda, Italy

Terme Lucane

A small thermal park among the mountains of Southern Italy features a surprising piece of modern art.
In September 2016, an astronaut aboard the International Space Station used a Nikon D4 digital camera to depict these networks of river channels in a part of Australia known as the Channel Country.
science

What’s the Most Striking Image of Earth?

NASA's Earth Observatory wants your help finding hidden gems in its vast archives.
Jessica Leigh Hester March 10, 2020
A Cygnus rocket similar to this one carried an ambitious drink order to the International Space Station this week.
science

What Are a Dozen Bottles of Bordeaux Doing in Space?

It's for science, promise.
Luke Fater November 7, 2019
Paleontologist Jean-Bernard Caron and <em>Cambroraster</em> in the Canadian Rockies.
fossils

Found: A Spaceship-Shaped, 500-Million-Year-Old Sea Creature

High-altitude fossils from the deep, deep past.
Isaac Schultz August 5, 2019
Historical sign in Osborne, Kansas.
Osborne, Kansas

Geodetic Center of North America

This lesser-known geographic marker was the reference point for all surveys of the continent for 75 years.
Grand Prismatic Spring.
volcanoes

A Swarm of Aftershocks Swept Through Yellowstone, From a Quake 60 Years Ago

Earthquakes are just plain inscrutable.
Jonathan Carey May 31, 2019
Ukiah Latitude Observatory in the early 1900s.
Ukiah, California

Ukiah Latitude Observatory

One of only five observatories in the world built to measure the Earth's wobble.