Becky Oskin

Extremely low levels of radioactive cesium from Japan's 2011 Fukushima nuclear meltdown are present in ocean water offshore Northern California.

Scientists suspect Antarctica's shrinking glaciers are melting from the bottom up, and a fleet of robot ocean gliders may help explain why.

El Niño conditions continue to sputter in the tropical Pacific Ocean, pushing back the odds of even a weak El Niño emerging this winter, forecasters said today (Nov. 6).

Small islands boost the power of tsunami waves, rather than absorbing their impact, a new study shows.

There's still time to hit the peak for colorful fall leaves, and a new foliage forecast map can help people plan their viewing trips more than a week ahead.

Two huge blobs of dense rock jammed deep beneath Chile's coastline acted like seismic speed bumps during the magnitude-8.8 Maule earthquake in 2010, according to a new study.

A rare mineral known from just three massive meteorite impacts has now turned up in a Wisconsin crater.

Just in time for Halloween, a spooky set of thunderstorms passed over the Eastern Pacific Ocean today.

The most catastrophic volcanic eruption in the last 2 million years may owe its superpower to stacks of hot molten rock layered like jelly filling inside a sky-high wedding cake.

Telltale signs of life have been discovered in rocks that were once 12 miles (20 kilometers) below the surface — some of the deepest chemical evidence for life ever found.

A fossil tusk rescued from the sea proves mammoths swam to Southern California's Channel Islands much earlier than thought, and they beat humans there.

During the early Permian, carnivores greatly outnumbered herbivores on land, so top predator Dimetrodon supplemented its diet by hunting sharks.

Earthquake science has kept pace with San Francisco's tremendous transformation since the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

Incredible images from the Oct. 17, 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in California's Santa Cruz mountains.

Tornadoes are touching down in clusters more often than 50 years ago.

Don't expect the polar vortex to pummel the eastern United States this winter.

What causes the weird sounds produced by skipping rocks across a frozen lake?

Another rare case of fracking-caused earthquakes has jolted Ohio.

Four San Francisco Bay Area faults have built up enough seismic strain to unleash destructive earthquakes.

Hawaii's Kilauea volcano has a history of phreatic eruptions, the same deadly blast that caught hikers at Japan's Mount Ontake volcano.

New technology to detect volcanic ash that threatens airplanes could help prevent a repeat of the air traffic chaos that followed a 2010 volcanic eruption in Iceland.