The Shifting Sands of Hurricane Resilience
Sand dunes act as shock absorbers during hurricanes, both when the storms hit and while reestablishing roots (literally) in the aftermath.
The Eight Best Hidden Impact Craters on Earth
Many impact craters on Earth have been erased thanks to wind, water, and plate tectonics. But scientists have clever ways to find them.
How Plate Tectonics Shook Life into Existence
The cycles of life all rely on the dynamism of the Earth’s crust.
How Rocks and Minerals Play with Light to Produce Breathtaking Colors
Rocks and minerals don’t simply reflect light. They play with it and interact with light as both a wave and a particle.
Deimos: A Chip Off the Old Martian Block?
A new space probe suggests that the moonlet Deimos isn’t a captured asteroid after all.
What is in an Ice Core?
Climate science frequently references ice cores, but it's what is in the cores that matters to science and history.
The 1876 Map of the World’s Ecozones That Still Holds Up
The 19th-century naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace created a visualization that tied different species to specific regions of the world.
The Cartoonishly Giant Antlers of the Irish Elk
The mystery of the Irisk Elk's giant antlers attracted the attention of famous evolutionary biologist Steven Jay Gould.
The Souls of Magnets
Lodestones are dull, lumpy, and slate-gray, but their “magnetic intelligence” made them fabulously expensive.
How Offshore Oil Exploration Affects Marine Life
Offshore oil and gas exploration in the Atlantic Ocean will involve seismic blasts, which may be harmful to whales and marine mammals.