A new study investigates iron’s form at the planet’s interior. The findings have repercussions for understanding the inner core’s structure.
unsolved mysteries
Posted inScience Updates
Making Sense of the Great Barrier Reef’s Mysterious Green Donuts
Researchers set sail to the Great Barrier Reef to study how ring-shaped algae deposits formed and evolved, what feeds them, and the diversity of creatures that call them home.
Posted inNews
Marauding Moons Spell Disaster for Some Planets
In solar systems beyond our own, some moons might eventually collide with their host planets, new simulations suggest.
Posted inNews
Quaoar’s Ring Defies Gravity
The dwarf planet’s ring makes astronomers question whether a long-held theory about ring and moon formation needs tweaking.
Posted inNews
Mercury Isn’t Alone in Orbit, and Scientists Don’t Know Why
A cloud of dust traces the innermost planet’s orbital path. By all accounts, it shouldn’t be there.
Posted inNews
“Hot Jupiter” Is in a Possible Death Spiral
Kepler’s first exoplanet is migrating toward its star, an evolved subgiant that is much bigger than first thought.
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.