Latest about Planet Earth
Watch Hurricane Erin reach Category 5 strength in a blaze of lightning
NOAA's GOES-19 satellite captured images of Hurricane Erin as it developed in the Atlantic and then rapidly strengthened into a Category 5 storm.
Hurricane Erin could unleash 100-foot waves across the East Coast this week, forecasters warn
Forecasters expect Hurricane Erin, one of the fastest rapidly intensifying storms in history, to bring flooding and dangerous currents as the Category 4 hurricane travels to the U.S. East Coast this week.
Science news this week: Black holes galore and blue whales that still sing
Science news this week Aug. 16, 2025: Our weekly roundup of the latest science in the news, as well as a few fascinating articles to keep you entertained over the weekend.
San Andreas fault could unleash an earthquake unlike any seen before, study of deadly Myanmar quake suggests
A study of March's Myanmar earthquake has found that strike-slip faults don't necessarily repeat past behavior, meaning the San Andreas fault could unleash a bigger quake than any seen before.
Three Whale Rock: Thailand's 75-million-year-old stone leviathans that look like they're floating in a sea of trees
Three Whale Rock is a geological formation and tourist attraction in Thailand's Phu Sing Forest Park that looks remarkably like a small family of whales.
'Rogue waves' can be 65 feet tall, but they aren't 'freak occurrences,' data from North Sea reveals
Opinion Researchers have used lab models to study how rogue waves form, but these don't always transfer over to the natural world.
Amazon rainforest is approaching 'tipping points' that could transform it into a drier savanna
Researchers caution that the Amazon rainforest could disappear in the next hundred years, due to the combined effects of climate change and deforestation, and a new model predicts how that could transpire.
10 bizarre 'dark voids' appear in the skies over uninhabited island near Antarctica
Earth from space A 2016 satellite photo shows nearly a dozen swirling dark spots that emerged in the clouds over Heard Island in the Indian Ocean.
'Like a creeping mold that's spreading across the landscape': Separate dry areas around the world are merging into 'mega-drying' regions at an alarming rate, study finds
Unchecked groundwater extraction and climate change have dried continents significantly over the past 22 years, with 101 countries now losing fresh water to the ocean, research reveals.
