Earth Science

Mount Etna, Italy, erupts at night.

Predicting Chaos: New Sensors Sniff Out Volcanic Eruptions Before They Happen

How volcanologists brave lung-singeing fumes to monitor eruptions with cutting-edge sensors

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How Earthquakes and Volcanoes Reveal the Beating Heart of the Planet

The Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program has stitched together a visual archive of the world’s earthquakes and volcanoes

One of the largest sprite bursts to ever be caught on camera flashes in the sky over Puerto Rico, October 1, 2016.

Vibrant Lightning Sprites Spark Above Hurricane Matthew

A photographer’s good eye captures an elusive phenomenon

Carmel Johnston (left), crew commander, enjoys her first meal outside the dome.

Astronauts Tell All About Their One Year on “Mars”

In an unprecedented simulation, NASA learned that its astronauts are a bunch of overachievers

Randall Munroe’s xkcd comic tackles a range of popular science topics with an enlightening and humorous approach.

New xkcd Comic Masterfully Shows How Climate Has Changed Through Time

Scroll through 20,000 years of humorously illustrated climate data

The magnitude 5.8 earthquake that struck Pawnee, Oklahoma, on Sept. 3 is officially the state's largest on record. Geologists believe that activities related to oil and gas extraction in the state have triggered a quake swarm in the seismically active region.

Oklahoma Just Had Its Biggest Quake Ever, and There May Be More to Come

Oklahoma's recent string of earthquakes are something new for the state

This fossil is really, really old.

Scientists Think They Could Have Found Earth’s Oldest Fossil

Was a young Earth old enough to support life 3.7 billion years ago?

Hutton, as painted by Sir Henry Raeburn in 1776.

The Blasphemous Geologist Who Rocked Our Understanding of Earth's Age

James Hutton was a leading light of his time, but is rarely talked about today

Maria Zuber, first woman to run a NASA spacecraft mission, says she has a "genetic predilection" to explore space.

This Scientist Seeks Out the Secret History of Other Worlds

Maria Zuber has spent her career enabling discoveries beyond Earth. She says the best is yet to come

An artist's impression of a planet forming through accretion.

To Uncover Earth’s Origins, Scientists Must Look Beyond It

Missions to study the other planetary bodies in our solar system could help solve the mystery of how our own came to be.

The Mauna Loa observatory.

The Enduring Climate Legacy of Mauna Loa

Sixty years after a trailblazing climate scientist scaled its heights, the Hawaii-based observatory remains essential

We’ve never cared less about a charismatic animal standing forlornly on a rapidly deteriorating landscape.

Podcast: Does Anybody Even Care About the Arctic Anymore?

This week's episode of Warm Regards asks why our coldest region has gotten the cold shoulder

A map of gravity variations on the Earth's seafloor, which mostly correspond to underwater ridges and the edges of Earth's tectonic plates.

Study Says Earth's Plate Tectonics May Be Just a Phase

New models suggest that earth's plates could grind to a halt in about five billion years.

“I hope people of the future will look back on us and see that we learned the lessons of deep time,” says Smithsonian paleontologist Scott Wing.

Studying the Climate of the Past Is Essential for Preparing for Today's Rapidly Changing Climate

A Smithsonian scientist explains why in the new Age of Humans, we must turn from crisis management to planet management

A scientist looks at mirror segments for the NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. The mirrors underwent cryogenic testing—made possible by scarce helium gas—to see how they would respond to extreme temperatures. Now, scientists have found a huge cache of helium gas that could make the element more accessible to scientists.

Scientists Found a Huge Reservoir of Much-Needed Helium

Helium is used in everything from particle accelerators to MRI machines, and a dearth of the gas has long plagued researchers

Watch Scientists Make Their Own Lava

Basaltic rock and a lot of heat equals a homegrown brew that’s as beautiful as it is dangerous

Rough diamonds from the Juina region of Brazil.

Diamonds Illuminate the Origins of Earth's Deepest Oceans

Crystals could be the key to where our water came from, and what that means for finding life on other planets

Prospecting for fossils in the Morrison Formation near Shell, Wyoming

Hunting Lost Worlds in Wyoming's Bighorn Basin

A geology tour with Kirk Johnson, Director of the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, and Will Clyde, a geology professor at University of New Hampshire

Scientists injected more than 200 tons of dissolved carbon dioxide into this field in Iceland. Two years later, almost all the carbon had been converted into rock.

Iceland Carbon Capture Project Quickly Converts Carbon Dioxide Into Stone

More than 95 percent of gas injected into the ground precipitated out as harmless carbonate, scientists calculate

The scalding solution that pipes from the vents does not boil because of the mass of water pushing down from above.

Scientists Explore Breathtaking Hydrothermal Vents in Virtual Reality

With a high-tech remotely operated vehicle, a team is able to map a dark, hot and toxic vent field on the ocean floor

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