Our Planet

The Most Powerful Tornado Recorded on Earth

For Oklahoma City and its surrounding suburbs, May 3, 1999 began like any other spring day

This Family Hid From a 300 MPH Tornado in a Water Pipe

A family caught in the midst of an epic tornado seek refuge in a nearby drainage pipe

Since commercial harvesting of sea cucumbers began in British Columbia, indigenous people have grown more worried about the long-term sustainability of catching them.

Is the Mysterious Sea Cucumber Slipping Out of Our Grasp?

The slimy, tasty enigmas have long been over-harvested. An indigenous community in Canada could be close to finding a sustainable solution

Chilling Footage of the 1989 Cypress Freeway Collapse

The Oakland fire department rushed to the scene of the Cypress Freeway, after the 1989 San Francisco Earthquake hits. They were greeted by a catastrophe

Why the 1989 San Francisco Quake Was So Disastrous

The 1989 San Francisco earthquake delivered a myriad of deadly disasters, all unfolding at the same time

Water-strapped cities with growing populations and energy needs could benefit the most. Greater Phoenix, for instance, is served by this reservoir and irrigation system fed by the Colorado River.

Five Questions You Should Have About Evaporation as a Renewable Energy Source

What’s the big deal with evaporation-driven engines?

Crews clean up debris in a neighborhood flooded by Hurricane Harvey in Beaumont, Texas, Sept. 26, 2017

The Next Pandemic

How Do Scientists Measure the Public Health Impacts of Natural Disasters?

In the wake of this year's hurricanes, epidemiologists are assessing the effects of mold, toxic leaks and other threats

Footage of the 1980 Mount St. Helens Eruption

On May 18, 1980, the Mount St. Helens became the largest and most destructive volcanic eruption in U.S. history

This Brave Student Captured the Mount St. Helens Blast

Some of the most breathtaking photos of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens were taken by a graduate student camped nearby

This 5,300-Year-Old Corpse Was Found by Accident

Erika and Helmut Simon stumbled upon a frozen body deep in the Otztal Alps, little did they know it belonged to one of the oldest preserved corpses

How Flowers Manipulate Light to Send Secret Signals to Bees

Come-hither blue haloes are just one of the effects employed by nature’s first nanotechnologists

A southern New Hampshire pine forest was entirely blown down in the hurricane of 1938.

The 1938 Hurricane That Revived New England's Fall Colors

An epic natural disaster restored the forest of an earlier America

This NASA Landsat image shows the Mackenzie River surrounding the town of Inuvik, and the uniquely pock-marked landscape of this delta.

With Federal Funds Dwindling, Climate Scientists Turn to Unusual Partnerships to Study Methane in a Warming Arctic

As the urgency of climate change becomes tangible to those in the Arctic, federal funds are growing harder to come by

The elusive Vangunu giant rat lives in trees, a habitat under attack from deforestation in the Solomon Islands.

New Research

Fall in Love With This Newly Discovered Giant Island Rat

The Vangunu rat is the first rodent species to come to light on the Solomon Islands in 80 years—and it’s already endangered

Rescue workers search for survivors among the rubble of a collapsed building in Mexico City. Structures throughout the capital were devastated during yesterday's earthquake.

How Mexico City’s Unique Geology Makes Deadly Earthquakes Even Worse

The entire country—but especially the capital—has all the ingredients for seismic catastrophe

Sunita Narain has been working for climate justice with the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment since 1982.

How an Environmental Activist Became a Pioneer for Climate Justice in India

Reducing India’s emissions will take more than science—it will take a new paradigm of de-colonialism, says Sunita Narain

In an era of rapid change, the managers of our nation's wild spaces are asking: What counts as natural anymore?

The National Parks Face a Looming Existential Crisis

Political uncertainty and a changing climate converge to forge the park system's biggest challenge yet

Despite the predicted declines, at least five species of bees would survive in areas that would still be suitable for growing coffee, says the new study.

With Smart Planning, Coffee and Bees Can Survive Climate Change

In a new study, a Smithsonian scientist says coffee-growers have options

We hear a lot about the over-extraction of oil, but less about the consequences of the sand trade.

New Research

The World is Running Out of Sand

The little-known exploitation of this seemingly infinite resource could wreak political and environmental havoc

Taxonomic vandalism can have disastrous consequences for wildlife conservation—but it could also impact human health. Shown here, an African spitting cobra poised to strike.

A Few Bad Scientists Are Threatening to Topple Taxonomy

Naming species forms the foundation of biology—but these rogue researchers are exposing the flaws in the system

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