Kepler’s first exoplanet is migrating toward its star, an evolved subgiant that is much bigger than first thought.
unsolved mysteries
Posted inEditors' Highlights
The Crust Travels to the Earth’s Core and Back in Record Time
Subduction of continental crust around the Gondwana supercontinent may explain the mantle Dupal anomaly of the southern hemisphere.
Posted inNews
New Crowdsourced Science Project Will Study Sprites
The NASA-funded project is asking sky gazers, storm chasers, and scientists to capture photos of sprites and other optical phenomena that flash above thunderclouds after a lightning strike.
Posted inNews
Testing the Resilience of the Amazon
A mega-experiment in Brazil will evaluate how tropical rain forests absorb carbon as emissions increase.
Posted inNews
A Day in the Life Used to Be 17 Hours
The Moon was a lot closer to Earth 2.46 billion years ago, and the shorter distance contributed to shorter days.
Posted inNews
Could Jupiter’s Heat Waves Help Solve a Planetary Energy Crisis?
Infrared observations reveal that Jupiter’s upper atmosphere is much warmer than models predict. The discovery may be a clue to finding missing heat sources in other giant planets.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Machine Learning Looks Anew at Isotope Ratios in Oceanic Basalts
While past attempts to define isotopic endmembers and assign them a geodynamic significance ended in controversy, a machine-learning clustering algorithm offers a solution to this classical problem.
Posted inNews
A Mysterious Dome Reveals Clues to Australia’s Miocene History
The Nullarbor Plain has been relatively untouched by geological forces, leaving traces of the continent’s deep past.
Posted inNews
Billion-Year Rewind Tracks Supercontinents and Mantle Structures
Scientists have traced past pathways of tectonic plates back a billion years using computer models, with intriguing results. Incorporating geologic data as a check on model output, however, has proven tricky.
Posted inFeatures
Space Raindrops Splashing on Earth’s Magnetic Umbrella
Though not as damaging as extreme space weather events, showers of plasma jets hit Earth’s magnetic shield every day—yet we’re only beginning to understand their effects.