In a study spanning two decades, a team of researchers led by Colorado State University found declining numbers of soil fauna, nematodes and other animal species in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, one of the world's driest and coldest deserts....
An outburst of methane produced effects similar to those predicted by current models of global climate change: a sudden, extreme rise in temperatures, combined with acidification of the oceans. In the case of the end-Permian extinction, virtually all shell-forming...
The footprints were discovered by Gerard Gierlinski (1st author of the study) by chance when he was on holiday on Crete in 2002. Gierlinski, a paleontologist at the Polish Geological Institute specialized in footprints, identified the footprints...
Earth's atmosphere was primed for an 'explosion' in the diversity of life as early as 2.7 billion years ago, a study of ancient diamonds has revealed. The atmospheric composition of volatile gases — such as hydrogen, nitrogen, neon, and carbon-bearing species —...
A new study finds a naturally occurring "earthquake gate" that decides which earthquakes are allowed to grow into magnitude 8 or greater.
Sometimes, the "gate" stops earthquakes in the magnitude 7 range, while ones that pass through the gate grow...
A majority of the world population lives on low lying lands near the sea, some of which are predicted to submerge by the end of the 21st century due to rising sea levels.
The most relevant quantity for assessing the...
The Voyager team is able to use a set of four backup thrusters, dormant since 1980. They are located on the back side of the spacecraft in this orientation.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
If you tried to start a car that's been sitting...
Due to the difficult accessibility and the high risk of collapse or explosion, the imaging of active volcanoes has so far been a great challenge in volcanology. Researchers around Edgar Zorn from the German Research Centre for Geosciences GFZ...
Credit: University of Leeds
Holidaymakers concerned about fresh volcanic eruptions causing flight-disrupting ash clouds might be reassured by a study setting out the first reliable estimates of their frequency.
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While the University of Leeds-led research suggests that ash...
A team of geologists led by the University of Colorado Boulder is digging into what may be Earth's most famous case of geologic amnesia.
Researchers have spotted that phenomenon, called the "Great Unconformity," at sites around North America, including in...
An international team of scientists, studying evidence preserved in speleothems in a coastal cave, illustrate that more than three million years ago—a time in which the Earth was two to three degrees Celsius warmer than the pre-industrial era—sea level...
