Primeval Greenland lake found buried beneath a mile-thick slab of ice By Stephanie Pappas Scientists have discovered an ancient lake below Greenland's ice that formed when the region was much warmer and ice-free.
2020 Atlantic hurricane season shatters record By Rafi Letzter Tropical storm Theta cements the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season's status as a record-breaker. And there's still time to run up the score.
The world's largest iceberg is on a collision course with an Antarctic penguin refuge By Brandon Specktor Iceberg A68a, the world's largest iceberg, is floating directly toward a wildlife hotspot in the South Atlantic ocean.
US officially becomes only nation to leave the Paris Climate Agreement By Nicoletta Lanese Now that a yearlong waiting period has ended, the U.S. will formally exit the Agreement.
Drones are flying straight into volcanoes, for life-saving science By Clare Watson Researchers have designed specially-adapted drones to fly straight into volcanoes and help gather data from an active volcano in Papua New Guinea.
How to watch rare Halloween 'blue moon' tonight By Rafi Letzter If anyone's trying to wake some dark spirits, tonight's the night. A "blue moon" and "beaver moon" will rise over All Hallow's Eve.
Coral 'tower' taller than the Empire State Building discovered off Australian coast By Brandon Specktor Scientists have discovered a free-standing reef near Australia's Great Barrier Reef, which stands taller than the Empire State Building.
Powerful earthquake strikes off Turkey's coast, killing at least 14 By Yasemin Saplakoglu The earthquake caused the collapse of nearly 20 buildings in the city of Izmir. Search and rescue efforts are underway beneath the rubble.
Rare full moon on Halloween will be seen across the US for the first time in 76 years By Mindy Weisberger Don't miss the rare appearance of a full moon on Halloween, something that hasn't been seen across the US since 1944.
Arctic sea ice goes through 'historic' loss in 2020 By Rafi Letzter Arctic sea ice has been in decline for a while now, but 2020 is turning out to be the second-worst year ever — with implications for the whole planet.
How Hurricane Zeta rapidly strengthened before slamming New Orleans By Rafi Letzter Zeta was a weakened tropical storm just yesterday. Now it threatens a huge swath of the United States.
Trump lifts protections for Tongass National Forest, allowing logging, road development By Yasemin Saplakoglu Alaska's Tongass National Forest was protected from logging and other development for nearly two decades.
Greenland ice melt is changing the shape of its coastline By Stephanie Pappas Greenland's coastline is being altered by ice melt, potentially affecting predictions of what happens to the ice sheet next.
The war against plastic is distracting us from pollution that can't be seen By Thomas Stanton, Matthew Johnson, Paul Kay The war against plastic may be overshadowing greater threats to the environment.
Explosive growth of Colorado wildfire seen from space By Stephanie Pappas The spread of the fire was visible from space.
Fault near Portland could unleash a major earthquake By Stephanie Pappas The Gales Creek Fault in northwest Oregon has set off some temblors before recorded history.
'Lost' tectonic plate called Resurrection hidden under the Pacific By Stephanie Pappas A new computer reconstruction of the tectonic plates of 60 million years ago reveals the existence of a lost plate called Resurrection.
Turbulent environment set the stage for leaps in human evolution 320,000 years ago By Richard Potts People thrive all across the globe, at every temperature, altitude and landscape. How did human beings become so successful at adapting to whatever environment we wind up in?
Ghostly 'UFO cloud' hovering over mountains wows judges in weather photo contest By Brandon Specktor Lenticular clouds look like saucers and form when wind meets mountains. This photo is one of the Royal Meteorological Society's favorites of the year.
'Monster' storms and frozen bison: The most spectacular weather photos of 2020 By Brandon Specktor Here are the winners of the Royal Meteorological Society's 2020 Weather Photo of the Year contest, sponsored by AccuWeather.
