International Space Station Image of Mount Rainier
NASA astronaut Ricky Arnold captured this clear view of Mount Rainier National Park as the International Space Station orbited above at about 17,500 miles per…
Earth News
Suomi NPP Satellite Views Aurora Borealis Over North America
Our Sun provides the light and heat that energizes our plants, our solar panels and our weather, among other things. But its influence stretches over…
23 Stunning Specimens of California Gold on Display
The Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History is having a gold rush — one in which prospectors can gaze at glittering specimens of radiating golden…
International Space Station Investigates Thunderstorms in Earth’s Upper Atmosphere
Thunderstorms in Earth’s upper atmosphere remain something of a mystery. Scientists cannot reach them directly with instruments; they are too high for balloons and too…
Scientists Believe Tiny Sea Creatures Hold Secrets to Earth’s Climate
Each new season brings change. Seasonal change on land is something that we’re familiar with and adjust to regularly. But what happens to billions of…
Lunar Rocks Reveal a Different Story About Earth’s Early Days
Up until about ten years ago, scientists thought they had a pretty good picture of how the moon and Earth came to co-exist. Then more…
Scientists Identify Key Ingredients When First Organisms Appeared on Earth
Large concentrations of sulfites and bisulfites in shallow lakes may have set the stage for Earth’s first biological molecules. Around 4 billion years ago, Earth…
Scientists Discover Bits of the Solar System in an Antarctic Glacier
On rare calm days, the most striking thing you notice at an altitude of more than 8,000 feet on an Antarctic glacier is the silence….
New Research Details the Net Retreat of Antarctic Glacier Grounding Lines
Antarctica’s great ice sheet is losing ground as it is eroded by warm ocean water circulating beneath its floating edge, a new study has found….
Arctic Sea Ice a Spring Hazard for North Atlantic Ships
More Arctic sea ice is entering the North Atlantic Ocean than before, making it increasingly dangerous for ships to navigate those waters in late spring,…
Scientists May Have to Reinterpret Seismic Maps of the Earth’s Interior
When an earthquake strikes, nearby seismometers pick up its vibrations in the form of seismic waves. In addition to revealing the epicenter of a quake,…
Astronomers Solve the Mystery of Purple Lights in the Upper Atmosphere
Notanee Bourassa knew that what he was seeing in the night sky was not normal. Bourassa, an IT technician in Regina, Canada, trekked outside of…
Cretaceous Volcanic Ash Linked with Shale Gas and Oil Fields
Nutrient-rich ash from an enormous flare-up of volcanic eruptions toward the end of the dinosaurs’ reign kicked off a chain of events that led to…
Study Shows Modern Humans Thrived Through Ancient Toba Supervolcano Eruption
Imagine a year in Africa that summer never arrives. The sky takes on a gray hue during the day and glows red at night. Flowers…
Groundbreaking Research Reveals Evidence of Water Deep in Earth’s Mantle
A UNLV scientist has discovered the first direct evidence that fluid water pockets may exist as far as 500 miles deep into the Earth’s mantle….
New Experiment Recreates Prehistoric Ocean Conditions
A new experiment by Elizabeth Swanner evaluating the reduction of iron in prehistoric oceans may reinterpret the conditions under which iron-rich sedimentary rock is formed….
Photosynthesis Began a Billion Years Earlier Than Originally Believed
Ancient microbes may have been producing oxygen through photosynthesis a billion years earlier than we thought, which means oxygen was available for living organisms very…
Thawing of the Far Northern Permafrost Has Scientists Worried
Permafrost in the coldest northern Arctic — formerly thought to be at least temporarily shielded from global warming by its extreme environment — will thaw…