朱诺号探测器飞往木星途中的偶然发现表明，形成黄道光的太空尘埃可能来自火星，但这些尘埃是如何从火星或其卫星逃逸出来的仍不得而知。
unsolved mysteries
Posted inResearch Spotlights
The Space Dust That Causes Zodiacal Light Might Come from Mars
Serendipitous observations by the Juno spacecraft while it was en route to Jupiter suggest a Martian source for the dust, but how the dust escapes Mars or its moons remains unknown.
Posted inNews
Modeling the Creation of Cratons, Earth’s Secret Keepers
Geoscientists have long been trying to answer the complicated questions of how and why Earth’s continents formed. New research suggests a solution that surprised even the investigators themselves.
Posted inFeatures
The Herky-Jerky Weirdness of Earth’s Magnetic Field
Dented, erratic, and wandering, our field is constantly changing its mind.
Posted inNews
When Did Archaic Humans Control Fire?
A familiar geochemical technique shines a new spotlight on early hominin use of fire.
Posted inNews
The Resurrection Plate Is Dead, Long Live the Resurrection Plate
Using a technique similar to taking a CT scan of Earth, researchers found the possible remnants of a long-debated “missing” tectonic plate.
Posted inNews
On Thin Ice: Tiger Stripes on Enceladus
Saturn’s moon Enceladus boasts fierce tiger stripes around its south pole, a mystery that has long puzzled scientists. New research explores the stripes by examining how the moon’s ice breaks.
Posted inNews
Rethinking Darwin’s Theory of Atoll Formation
Atolls have a long and complex history related to seafloor evolution, and Darwin’s model is only the beginning of the story.
Posted inFeatures
The Bay of Bengal and the Curious Case of the Missing Rift
In a classic detective story, clues from data new and old helped researchers reveal the puzzling chain of tectonic events that followed the Early Cretaceous split between India and Antarctica.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
What Controlled the Growth of the Southern Central Andes?
Flat-slab subduction appears to have played a minor role in the growth of the Southern Central Andes, with evidence for eastward migrating deformation.