Earth's Systems
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ClimateLast year’s strong El Niño is gone. Next up: La Niña
The 2015 to 2016 El Niño was one of the three strongest on record. It’s now over. Climate experts now predict a La Niña is on its way.
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TechConcrete science
Teen researchers are exploring ways to strengthen this building material, use it for safety purposes and use its discarded rubble.
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EarthDust creates deserts in the sky
Vast rivers of dust flow through the sky. This invisible force shapes our world in profound ways. And scientists are finally homing in on a major source.
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EarthCool Jobs: Getting to know volcanoes
It’s too hot to explore the insides of a volcano. These scientists examine their lava, their low-frequency rumblings and their ‘vog’.
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EarthCool Jobs: Mapping the unknown
Scientists find different ways of exploring places humans will never visit — and drawing maps to help us better understand such mysterious places.
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EarthCarbon dioxide could explain how geysers spout
A new study overturns 150 years of thinking about Yellowstone’s geysers. Carbon dioxide, not just hot water, may be driving those spectacular eruptions.
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ChemistryParticles in air help fatten clouds’ water droplets
Making their own clouds has shown scientists how the fattest water droplets form. Understanding this could lead to better forecasts of climate change.
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EarthQuake risk in some central states rivals California’s
Risks of tremors in some central U.S. states are as high as those in quake-prone California. The reason: waste fluids from oil and gas drilling.
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ChemistrySmash hit: Making ‘diamond’ that’s harder than diamonds
Scientists had suspected extreme meteorite impacts might turn graphite into an unusual type of diamond. Now they’ve seen it happen — in under a nanosecond.
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EarthBubbles may have sheltered Earth’s early life
For Earth’s earliest inhabitants, a bubble on the beach would have been the next best thing to a safety blanket.
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OceansArctic ice travels fast, carrying pollution
Climate change is melting old sea ice in the Arctic. Now, younger, thinner ice is migrating far and fast, taking pollutants with it.
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EarthMystery ‘earmuffs’ sit deep inside Earth
Two vast blobs in Earth’s lower mantle could result from a “trainwreck” of ancient colliding tectonic plates.