The Emerald Isle has far fewer earthquakes than neighboring Britain. Now scientists think they know why.
unsolved mysteries
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Saturn’s Shiny Rings May Be Pretty Young
The rings are fairly shiny despite being bombarded by dust, indicating that they haven’t been around for very long.
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Supersized Potholes Discovered off South African Coast
Curious circular pits off South Africa’s Eastern Cape coast are larger than any similar feature previously recorded. Their origin remains a morphological mystery.
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Ancient Victims of Vesuvius May Have Baked in a Cloud of Ash
Debate still swirls around what killed ancient Romans during the 79 CE eruption. A study of wood charred by the event suggests a brief, but searing, flow of volcanic gas and debris.
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Tiny Martian Moon May Be a Chip Off the Old Block
A close approach to Deimos reveals that its surface does not look like that of an asteroid, hinting at a Martian origin.
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A Mission to Uranus Could Help Find Planet 9
Narrowing down the search is essential for gaining time on a high-powered telescope that could spot the hypothesized planet directly.
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Hunting for Methane Hot Spots at the Top of the World
A visit to an Alaskan wetland with some of the world’s highest lake marsh methane emissions brings scientists one step closer to understanding the phenomenon.
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Molten Meteorites Didn’t Deliver Earth’s Water
A new study has ruled out large, once-molten meteorites called achondrites as sources of Earth’s water.
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Asteroid Impacts Could Have Warmed Ancient Mars
Hydrogen released during large impacts might have boosted Mars’s surface temperature above freezing for thousands or even millions of years, enabling liquid water to flow over the Red Planet.
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Hydrogen May Push Some Exoplanets off a Cliff
High-pressure reactions of hydrogen and iron could explain gaps in the distribution of exoplanets.