Laboratory experiments show that earthquakes may have helped early life evolve in an oxygen-free world.
unsolved mysteries
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Why Does It Rain So Much Over Tropical Land?
Analyses of observations show that tropical land receives more rain than its fair share, owing to a proposed negative feedback that is not captured in current climate models.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
New Map of Proposed Mantle-Driven Topography Stirs the Pot
The role the deep Earth plays in creating topography is hotly debated. A new study uses subtle elevation changes around the globe as evidence that the mantle plays a key role in building topography.
Posted inNews
Gigantic Jet of Lightning Mapped over Oklahoma
The most powerful gigantic jet ever recorded fortuitously appeared over a sensor array in Oklahoma, enabling scientists to map the structure of the phenomenon for the first time.
Posted inNews
Unraveling the Mystery of a Rare Mineral on Mars
The discovery of tridymite in Mars’s Gale Crater triggered debate about the rare mineral’s origins. A research team recently suggested a scenario with explosive implications.
Posted inNews
Chasing Fire Tornadoes for Science
Recent research suggests fire-generated vortices are always present during wildfires.
Posted inNews
A New Approach to an Unresolved Mystery in Climate Economics
Do shifts in temperature have enduring economic impacts? A “clever” trick identifying climate trends gets us one step closer to addressing this long-standing question in climate economics.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Sleuthing for Culprits of Greenhouse Gas Emissions
A new approach to detect hot spots of methane emissions with eddy covariance flux towers proves to be a worthy contender.
Posted inNews
Swinging Strength of Earth’s Magnetic Field Could Signal Inner Core Formation
The magnetic record stored in rocks documents the liquid core’s behavior and possibly when the inner core formed. Whether it formed half a billion or more than a billion years ago, however, is up for debate.
Posted inFeatures
How an Unlikely Friendship Upended Permafrost Myths
“Beautifully long arguments” between an American scientist and a Russian researcher helped clarify several fundamental assumptions about permafrost thaw.