Earth Science

A 2.7-billion-year-old micrometeorite extracted from limestone found in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Ancient Spacedust Reveals Surprising Twist in Evolution of Earth’s Early Atmosphere

Mini fossil meteorites are providing new insights about how our ancient atmosphere evolved into its current state

What Caused the 2011 D.C. Earthquake?

A thinning mantle led to the 5.8 magnitude shake in the Southeast, and more may be in store

Diamonds squeeze the truth about Earth's core out of experimental samples of iron and lighter elements like oxygen and carbon.

Crushing Pressures Start to Reveal the Truth About Earth's Core

Iron makes up the bulk of our planet's core. But now, researchers are getting closer to figuring out what else swirls at the center of the Earth

A rainbow can be spotted in the mists of Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. What better way to celebrate Earth Day than with an exploration of the planet's most colorful places?

Celebrate Earth Day With a Rainbow of Spectacular Photos

Nature's palette is unparalleled

Workers in Sumatra process an oil palm harvest from the plantation on the left even as the remnants of the natural peat swamp forest in the distance are burned to make way for new plantations.

The Mad Dash to Figure Out the Fate of Peatlands

As the planet’s peat swamps come under threat, the destiny of their stored carbon remains a mystery

New USGS Map Shows Man-Made Earthquakes Are on the Rise

This updated earthquake hazard map shows seven million more Americans are at risk of quakes

A passenger aboard a commercial flight to Anchorage, AK snapped this picture of the volcano in action.

Alaska’s Most Active Volcano Is at It Again

Pavlof Volcano spews ash 20,000 feet into the air, and scientists warn pilots to steer clear

Ellis Emmett, diving between two continents in Silfra.

Dive Between Two Continents in This Frigid Fissure in Iceland

Filled with pure glacier water, Silfra is the only place on Earth where divers can touch two continental plates at once

Sakurajima spews ash in this undated photo.

Watch a Japanese Volcano Put on a Spectacular Show

Lightning and lava? No biggie

Journey to the Center of Earth

Drill deep into the mysteries of our home planet, from the surface all the way down to the core

The drill bit that the Atlantis Bank expedition broke near the start of operations. Three of the four "cones" used to dig the hole have snapped off.

A Decades-Long Quest to Drill Into Earth's Mantle May Soon Hit Pay Dirt

Geologists have had to contend with bad luck, budget cuts and the race to the moon in their efforts to drill deep into our planet

Rocky bodies that slammed into early Earth might have been integral in setting up the conditions for our magnetic field.

Humble Magnesium Could Be Powering Earth's Magnetic Field

The common element could have been driving the planet's dynamo for billions of years

Antarctica as viewed from space. The world's largest ozone hole—now shrinking—opens over Antarctica every year during local summer and shrinks in the winter.

The Ozone Hole Was Super Scary, So What Happened To It?

When the ozone hole was discovered, it became a worldwide sensation. Thirty years later, what's become of it?

None

Ask Smithsonian: What Is Wind?

Whether arriving on a gentle breeze or a stiff gale, air moves like water responding to high and low pressures around the Earth

Is Global Warming Changing How Fast the Earth Spins?

New research suggests that as glaciers melt, the planet's axis is shifting

Stanford Scientists Create an Algorithm That Is the "Shazam" For Earthquakes

The popular song-identifying app has inspired a technique for identifying microquakes in the hopes of predicting major ones

The volcanic plume responsible for the 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull Volcano in Iceland has also brought up bits of Earth's ancient mantle from deep inside the planet.

Earth’s Water May Be as Old as the Earth Itself

Ancient volcanic rocks may have preserved tiny samples of the planet’s original moisture

An artist’s rendering shows a white dwarf star shredding a rocky asteroid.

Dead Star Shredding a Rocky Body Offers a Preview of Earth's Fate

The stellar corpse spotted by a NASA telescope backs up a theory that white dwarf stars eat planetary remnants

Did Life on Earth Really Start 4.1 Billion Years Ago? Not So Fast

Don’t rewrite the Earth’s history just yet

A color composite image highlighting pluto's brilliant diversity of color and texture. The western lobe of the heart—an area rich with nitrogen, carbon monoxide and methane ice—is brightly displayed in the right of the image.

First Official Data From the Pluto Flyby Reshapes the Dwarf Planet’s History

“The ‘little spacecraft that could’ is making a lot of big discoveries,” says Alan Stern

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