The massive tsunami generated by the March 2011 earthquake off the coast of northeastern Japan was a merging tsunami — a type of tsunami long thought to exist, but seen now for the first time, scientists report. The magnitude-9.0 Tohoku-Oki temblor, the fifth-most powerful quake ever recorded, triggered a tsunami...

SAN FRANCISCO — The target set by nations in global warming talks won't prevent the devastating effects of global warming, according to climate scientist James Hansen, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies. The history of ancient climate changes, which occurred over millions of years in the planet's history...

Atopobathynella glenayleensis (Image credit: Kym Abrams)A tiny blind subterranean aquatic parabathynellid crustacean(Atopobathynell glenayleensis) from the Yilgarn region of WesternAustralian (approx 3 mm in length). Brevisomabathynella leijsi (Image credit: Kym Abrams)A tiny blind subterranean aquatic parabathynellid crustacean(Brevisomabathynella leijsi) from the Yilgarn region of Western Australian(approx 4 mm in length). Brevisomabathynella uramurdahensis...

Winter Wonderland (Image credit: mikie11 | shutterstock) From Australia to Antarctica, we've rounded up breathtaking images of snow-filled landscapes from around the world. The above winter scene of a rosy sunset's rays over the snow was captured in Finland. Snow-Covered Forest (Image credit: Kotenko Oleksandr | shutterstock) A forest in...

As climate changes, animals' seasonal habits shift: Flowers bloom earlier in spring, birds change the timing of their migrations, hibernating mammals emerge earlier. Now, researchers have found what they say is evidence of a similar shift in humans. They found that peak attendance in U.S. National Parks in which spring...

From NOAA’s Environmental Visualization Laboratory: As a plume of moisture travels across the Pacific towards the Pacific Northwest, the National Weather Service has issued flood outlooks for four counties in Oregon. Up to 10 inches may fall over the next 24 hours in Curry County, which may result in rapid...

From the massive and disastrous temblor that struck Japan to the surprising East Coast quake, 2011 has been quite a year for earthquakes. On the cusp of the new year and with talk of the doomsday supposedly predicted by the ancient Maya, suggestions that a catastrophic natural disaster is in...

Between a second impending snowstorm in Denver and last weekend's 'Snowtober' storm in the Northeast, there's been a lot of early show across the United States. With so much snow so soon, it may seem like we're in for a long, snowy winter. But don't panic yet, weather forecasters say....

An extremely dangerous storm is slicing toward northwestern Alaska and is expected to bring blizzard conditions and hurricane-strength winds to the state's west coast. The storm, which formed from a mix of air masses over an area of ocean prone to spinning up strong storms, could be bigger than anything...

Tornadoes aren't the only storms that meteorologists can chase: A group of researchers in Utah is showing through its use of portable, truck-mounted radars to peek inside winter storms. For students who love snow, it's every bit as thrilling as chasing tornadoes, said atmospheric scientist and avid skier Jim Steenburgh,...

Picturesque Dunes (Image credit: Linda & Dr. Dick Buscher)Sand dunes are found throughout the world, from arid desert zones to lakes and coastal plains. Dunes form picturesque and unique environments that provide habitats for a wide variety of life, which have amazingly adapted to what can be the most incredibly...

Ancient rock deposits, laid down between two massive ice ages, reveal the oldest known fossils for two types of single-celled creatures: Tube-shelled foraminifera and hairy, vase-shape ciliates. Both closely resemble microbes living today. But the climate they lived in may have been quite different. The fossils appear in limestone deposited...

Instead of Neanderthals being dim-witted hunters who only dined on big game, new findings suggest they had more balanced diets, with broad menus that may have included birds, fish and plants. Neanderthals are currently our closest known extinct relatives, near enough to modern humans to interbreed, with Neanderthal DNA making...

The recent discovery that particles called neutrinos might be traveling faster than light has shocked physicists, but also led some to draw dramatically wrong conclusions, experts say. In particular, they point to a Wall Street Journal op-ed writer who used that finding, in part, to call the completely unrelated field...

In most places, when you have a stroke you get sent straight to the hospital. But things get trickier when you have a stroke in the middle of the Antarctic ice sheet. Renee-Nicole Douceur, the manager of the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, suffered a stroke in August. She remains at...