By analyzing lava samples, researchers show how chemical processes that occur during magma’s ascent to the surface may contribute to a volcano’s eruptible state.
unsolved mysteries
Posted inNews
Accurate Simulation of Sun’s Rotation Might Illuminate Solar Cycle
Scientists have known for 400 years about a particularity in the way the Sun rotates. It took the world’s most powerful supercomputer to accurately simulate it.
Posted inNews
An Explanation, at Last, for Mysterious “Zen Stones”
Laboratory experiments re-create the thin, icy pedestals that support some rocks in nature, revealing that sublimation plays a key role in the formation of these rare and beautiful structures.
Posted inNews
Summer Could Be Earthquake Season on Mars
InSight data hint that shifting carbon dioxide ice loads, illumination changes, or solar tides could drive an uptick in marsquakes during northern summer—a “marsquake season.”
Posted inNews
Mission to Venus Could Help Solve an Atmospheric Mystery
NASA’s recently announced DAVINCI+ mission to Venus will probe the planet’s atmosphere, hoping to shed light on the unknown dark patches that surround the planet.
Posted inNews
Satellites Allow Scientists to Dive into Milky Seas
Satellites may finally be able to report the fleeting phenomena of milky seas in near-real time, allowing researchers to potentially study an ocean mystery that has survived more than 2 centuries.
Posted inScience Updates
Earth’s Continents Share an Ancient Crustal Ancestor
How did today’s continents come to be? Geological sleuths found clues in grains of sand.
Posted inNews
Predictive Forensics Helps Determine Where Soil Samples Came From
Researchers deploy geochemical analyses to narrow down the search area for a soil sample’s site of origin—an approach that could prove useful to law enforcement.
Posted inNews
Exploring Venus by Balloon
Aerobots could help reveal secrets of Earth’s mysterious twin planet.
Posted inFeatures
The Herky-Jerky Weirdness of Earth’s Magnetic Field
Dented, erratic, and wandering, our field is constantly changing its mind.