Planet Earth

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Greenhouse gases are being emitted into the atmosphere with dire consequences. Here, a factory emits a harmful gas.

Greenhouse gases: Causes, sources and environmental effects

By Tiffany Means, Marc Lallanilla

Greenhouse gases are atmospheric gases that absorb infrared radiation and trap heat in the atmosphere. Increases in emissions of these gases are leading to climate change and global warming.

Inside Earth

Hunks of oceanic crust are wedged inside Earth's mantle

By Sarah Derouin

Earth's middle layer is chunky, like peanuts in a sea of caramel.

A researcher samples snow covered with "glacier blood."

'Glacier blood' could be key to understanding impacts of climate change

By Nicoletta Lanese

An expedition to the French Alps is revealing the biology of "glacier blood" and how it is impacted by climate change.

Sri Lankan Navy soldiers work to remove debris that washed ashore from a burning container ship.

Tons of toxic pellets blanket Sri Lanka beaches, causing environmental disaster

By Yasemin Saplakoglu

A burning container ship dumped tons of plastic debris onto Sri Lanka's beaches, prompting a widespread environmental disaster.

A gold and quartz hydrothermal vein unearthed at the O'Brien mine in Quebec, Canada.

'Bonanza' gold veins in rocks finally explained

By Stephanie Pappas

Scientists now think they understand how gold can form veins thicker than a man's forearm: the clumping of gold nanoparticles.

A satellite image of Hurricane Florence, which hit the East Coast in 2018, causing a lot of damage in the Carolinas.

Hurricane season kicks off. Expect higher-than-normal storm activity.

By Yasemin Saplakoglu

The 2021 Atlantic hurricane season has officially begun, and it's expected to bring a higher-than-average number of storms in the months ahead.

A map of tropical water vapor from NASA. Research on water vapor and other climate features suggests that satellite measurements might have underestimated past warming.

Satellites may have been underestimating the planet's warming for decades

By Stephanie Pappas

Satellite observations of different climate variables don't quite add up, suggesting these measurements might be missing something about the atmosphere.

Plate tectonics is the means through which mountains are formed. Image shows rippled gray mountains, mostly treeless, beneath a cloud-studded blue sky. The Baird Mountains in Alaska’s Kobuk Valley National Park formed when two tectonic plates along a convergent boundary collided, causing solid rock to buckle and fold.

What is plate tectonics?

By Tiffany Means

Blame plate tectonics for Earth’s mountains, earthquakes, volcanoes, and why its continents fit together like pieces of a giant jigsaw puzzle.

A Copiapoa solaris specimen is one of hundreds of cactuses that were recently recovered by Operation Atacama.

$1.2 million worth of rare, stolen cactuses confiscated and returned to Chile

By Mindy Weisberger

Officials have returned stolen cactuses to Chile, after recovering the rare plants during two raids in Italy in 2020.

High Energy Particles Flow Through A Tokamak Or Doughnut-Shaped Device.

How much energy can be created at one time?

By Xuejian Wu

How much energy can be created at one time without losing control?

Mount Nyiragongo shown here during a past eruption.

Congo's Mount Nyiragongo volcano blows its top, sending thousands fleeing across border

By Jeanna Bryner

The Congo's Mount Nyiragongo erupted Saturday night (May 22), sending thousands of people fleeing across the border into Rwanda and filling the skies with orange-red smoke.

The research vessel Kaimei cruises the Pacific Ocean near the Japan Trench.

Scientists just dug the deepest ocean hole in history

By Brandon Specktor

Researchers just sunk a drill 5 miles below the Pacific Ocean's surface to dig the deepest hole below the ocean in history.

Jane Goodall visiting the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre in 2018.

Jane Goodall says humanity's 'disrespect of the natural world' brought on the pandemic

By Rachael Rettner

Goodall made the comments after winning the prestigious 2021 Templeton Prize.

A satellite image shows five tropical cyclones churning in the Atlantic basin on Monday, Sept. 14, 2020. The storms, from left, are Hurricane Sally over the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Paulette over Bermuda, the remnants of Tropical Storm Rene, and Tropical Storms Teddy and Vicky.

Brace yourself for an 'above normal' hurricane season in 2021, NOAA predicts

By Mindy Weisberger

NOAA has adjusted its count for an "average" hurricane season, but 2021 storm formation will still be above average.

This sample of red trinitite, forged from the world's first nuclear bomb test, contains a crystal never seen before on Earth.

World's first nuclear bomb test created rare, otherworldly crystal

By Brandon Specktor

America's first nuclear bomb test in 1945 created a rare 'quasicrystal' never seen on Earth before, scientists say.

The humongous chunk of ice calved from the western side of the Ronne Ice Shelf in Antarctica.

World's largest iceberg breaks off of Antarctica

By Ben Turner

Scientists will continue to closely monitor the iceberg, which could pose a risk to penguin breeding grounds on nearby islands.

Marsupial mole

Egg-laying mammals and peacock spiders: Meet some of Australia's weirdest creatures

By Scott Dutfield , How It Works magazine

Some of the world's strangest species can be found down under, from dolphin-tailed sea cows to mysterious marsupial moles.

A view of Darwin's Arch before its top on May 17, 2021.

Iconic 'Darwin's Arch' in the Galapagos has crashed into the sea

By Laura Geggel

Erosion has caused the top of Darwin's Arch to crumble away.

An illustration of protoplanetary disc formation

4.5 billion-year-old particles from the sun lurk in Earth's core and mantle

By Laura Geggel

Are there particles from ancient solar winds hanging out in Earth's core and mantle?

Fires raging in Siberia are visible from space.

'Zombie wildfires' that smoldered beneath the snow in Siberia are raging again

By Brandon Specktor

Hundreds of fires are raging across Russia, giving this year's wildfire season an early start.