13,000 Years Ago, a Firestorm Covered 10% of Earth’s Surface, Triggering an Ice Age

At a point some 12,800 years ago, a tenth of Earth’s surface suddenly became covered in roaring fires. The firestorm rivalled the one that wiped out the dinosaurs, and it was likely caused by fragments of a comet that would have measured around 100 kilometers (62 miles) across.   As dust clouds smothered Earth, they … Read more

What Actually Is a ‘Bomb Cyclone’? An Atmospheric Scientist Explains

A bomb cyclone is a large, intense midlatitude storm that has low pressure at its center, weather fronts and an array of associated weather, from blizzards to severe thunderstorms to heavy precipitation. It becomes a bomb when its central pressure decreases very quickly – by at least 24 millibars in 24 hours.   Two famed … Read more

Wild New Paper Suggests Earth’s Tectonic Activity Has an Unseen Source

Earth is far from a solid mass of rock. The outer layer of our planet – known as the lithosphere – is made up of more than 20 tectonic plates; as these gargantuan slates glide about the face of the planet, we get the movement of continents, and interaction at the boundaries, not least of which is … Read more

Mysterious Effects of Smoking May Surface Even 3 Generations Later, Study Finds

The great-granddaughters of men who smoked cigarettes when they were pre-pubescent boys are more likely to carry excess fat on their bodies as young women several decades later, a rather startling study has found.   The discovery – which scientists claim is one of the “first human demonstrations of transgenerational effects of an environmental exposure … Read more

The Moon That Resembles The Death Star Has Been Hiding Another Epic Secret

The Solar System may be an even soggier place than we suspected. New analysis of one of Saturn’s moons suggests that it may harbor a liquid ocean. No, not the usual suspects – the new culprit is Mimas, the little moon with a big crater, which gives it more than a passing resemblance to the … Read more

World’s Deepest Squid Discovered at Staggering Depth Under The Sea

A team of researchers hunting for the wreck of a lost WWII destroyer ship in the Philippine Sea returned to land with another, perhaps even more exciting discovery: video evidence of the deepest-swimming squid ever recorded.   Cruising just above the floor of the Philippine Trench at a staggering 20,300 feet (6,200 meters) below the … Read more

Dimming The Sun Is a Dangerous Gamble And Should Be Banned, Scientists Warn

Planetary-scale engineering schemes designed to cool Earth’s surface and lessen the impact of global heating are potentially dangerous and should be blocked by governments, more than 60 policy experts and scientists said on Monday.   Even if injecting billions of sulphur particles into the middle atmosphere – the most hotly debated plan for so-called solar radiation … Read more

Remember That Weird ‘Cube’ on The Moon? Yutu-2 Finally Took Closer Pictures

China’s mysterious “Moon cube” is a mystery no longer. The big reveal: It’s a rock that’s not even shaped like a cube. The nation’s Yutu-2 rover discovered the object – which appeared to be a gray cube looming on the lunar horizon – in early December. The China National Space Administration (CNSA) dubbed it ‘mysterious hut’, playfully … Read more

MIT Scientists Design a ‘Flying Saucer’ That Could Float Across The Moon

Researchers have imagined a lightweight, flying saucer-style rover that can float across the surface of the Moon and other airless planetary surfaces such as asteroids. The ‘flying saucer’ would be powered by the electric field that builds up due to direct exposure to the Sun and its surrounding plasma. In the absence of an atmosphere, this … Read more

Cropland has gobbled up over 1 million square kilometers of Earth’s surface | Science

Farmland is overtaking much of the planet. That’s the conclusion of a new satellite map, which finds that fields of corn, wheat, rice, and other crops have eaten up more than 1 million additional square kilometers of land over the past 2 decades. The study highlights how Earth’s land is becoming, in essence, a unified … Read more