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Climate change is pushing hurricanes to their extremes. In 2018, Hurricane Michael (shown here in this digitally enhanced image) became the first Category 5 hurricane to make landfall on the Florida Panhandle.

Physicists predict Earth will become a chaotic world, with dire consequences

By Paul Sutter published

Humans aren't just making Earth warmer, they are making the climate chaotic, a stark new study suggests.

A visible satellite image of Hurricane Ida approaching land in the Gulf of Mexico, taken by NOAA's GOES-16 (GOES East) satellite at 4:10 a.m. EDT on August 29, 2021.

Expect another above-average hurricane season in 2022, NOAA predicts

By Harry Baker published

NOAA has announced that the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season is likely to be more active than average for the seventh year in a row.

The tallest trees on Earth live in California. These towering coastal redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens), shown here in the Purisima Creek Redwoods Preserve, Santa Cruz Mountains, can live for hundreds of years.

What is the world's tallest tree?

By Tia Ghose published

The largest coastal redwoods tower more than 350 feet above the ground.

A prism splitting white light into the color spectrum (rainbow).

What is visible light?

By Jim Lucas published

Reference Visible light is a type of electromagnetic radiation between the infrared and ultraviolet wavelengths, and it can be detected by cells in the human eye.

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The images show the impressions of a collapsed cell-wall covering (a coccosphere) on the surface of a fragment of ancient organic matter (left) with the individual plates (coccoliths) enlarged to show the exquisite preservation of sub-micron-scale structures (right). The blue image is inverted to give a virtual fossil cast, (i.e., to show the original three-dimensional form). The original plates have been removed from the sediment by dissolution, leaving behind only the ghost imprints.

'Ghost' fossils preserve haunting record of ancient life on a hellish Earth

By Joanna Thompson published

Ghostly imprints of very tiny "nannofossils" can offer a valuable window into our planet's past — and hint at its possible future.

A photo of a Nepenthes pitcher plant.

Stop picking carnivorous penis plants, Cambodian environmental officials plead

By Patrick Pester published

The Cambodian Ministry of Environment has asked people to stop collecting a carnivorous plant that resembles a penis, after footage appeared on social media of people picking the rare plant.

Deep Discoverer exploring the seamount wall at Subducting Guyot 1.

Mariana Trench: The deepest depths

By Becky Oskin published

Reference The Mariana Trench is more than 7 miles (11 kilometers) deep. Although it is a toxic environment, some creatures of the deep thrive there.

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The GOES-17 satellite captured images of an umbrella cloud generated by the underwater eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano on Jan. 15, 2022. Crescent-shaped bow shock waves and numerous lighting strikes are also visible.

Record-shattering Tonga volcanic eruption sent atmospheric waves zipping around the Earth

By Nicoletta Lanese published

The eruption triggered huge atmospheric waves called Lamb waves.

Whirlpool

Whirlpools: Facts, formation and survival tips

By Ailsa Harvey published

Reference Whirlpools form when fast-flowing currents in oceans and rivers constantly change direction. What do they look like and can you escape from one?

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The Antarctic coast where the East Antarctic Ice sheet comes into contact with the sea.

City-size lake found miles below Antarctica's biggest ice sheet

By Ben Turner published

Drilling into the lake will enable scientists to track the history of climate change.

This giant karst sinkhole, also called a tiankeng, has plants growing at the bottom in Luoquanyan Village of Xuan'en County, central China's Hubei Province. This is not the sinkhole discovered in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Giant sinkhole with a forest inside found in China

By Stephanie Pappas published

A team of Chinese scientists has discovered a giant new sinkhole with a forest at its bottom.

A rusted metal barrel, near the location of where a different barrel was found containing a human body, sits exposed on shore during low water levels due to the western drought at the Lake Mead Marina on the Colorado River in Boulder City, Nevada.

Submerged human corpses rise from drought-stricken Lake Mead

By Mindy Weisberger published

More than a decade of drought recently revealed long-submerged bodies in the depths of Lake Mead, a vast reservoir in Las Vegas.

A satellite image showing planet Earth at night.

Earth: Facts about the Blue Planet

By Adam Mann published

Learn all about Earth, from how our planet formed to what it's made of to why life exists on our blue planet.

The GOES East weather satellite operated by NOAA spotted a cloud pattern that appeared to form the word "GO" off the coast of Chile in South America on May 6, 2022. The phenomenon is an example of pareidolia, where the human brain sees familiar sights in random shapes.

Earth tells us to 'GO' in weird cloud message seen from space

By Tariq Malik published

A surprising new photo from the GOES East satellite has revealed what appears to be the word "Go" written in the clouds as seen from space.

Young boy looking up at trees while hiking. Tom Werner via Getty Images

Do trees exist (scientifically speaking)?

By Ashley Hamer published

Trees don't fit into a species, family or even an order. So do they really exist, scientifically speaking?

Author Chloe Gustafson and mountaineer Meghan Seifert installing a magnetotelluric station on the Whillans Ice Stream, West Antarctica.

'Giant MRI of Antarctica' reveals 'fossil seawater' under ice sheet

By Nicoletta Lanese published

Fossil seawater can be found in the depths of the aquifer.

Image of Earth's atmosphere and space

Where does Earth end and outer space begin?

By Joe Phelan published

The atmosphere is vast and parts of it extend beyond the moon. But where does it technically end, according to scientists?

A red-gold colored zircon crystal

Oldest evidence of tectonic plates unearthed, sealed in ancient crystals

By Tia Ghose published

The oldest evidence of tectonic plates are sealed in ancient crystals

An enormous garbage fire rages in New Delhi on April 26, 2022.

17-story-tall 'mountain' of garbage spontaneously combusts during Indian heatwave

By Brandon Specktor published

A landfill in New Delhi, India spontaneously combusted this week during a record heatwave.

Man watches bushfire

Humanity locked in a 'spiral of self-destruction' unless we change our perception of risk, UN says

By Jeanna Bryner published

'Optimism, underestimation and invincibility' have pushed humanity into a 'spiral of self-destruction,' new UN Global Assessment Report says