Planet Earth, features and articles | Educational Science

Aug 31, 2019

Explorer Becomes the First to Reach Deepest Point in All 5 Oceans

Hidden beneath the Fram Strait, a passage that separates Greenland and Svalbard, lies the deepest point in the Arctic Ocean, where the seafloor plunges some 18,209 feet (5,550 meters) down. And now, explorer Victor Vescovo has become the first person to ever reach it. The diving feat also makes him...

Aug 31, 2019

Texas Is Drowning Under One of the Wettest Storms in US History

Record-breaking rainfall from the tropical storm Imelda is soaking southeastern Texas. Some areas have been swamped with 20 to 42 inches (51 to 107 centimeters) of rain over just three days, causing catastrophic flooding that is among the worst in U.S. history. Imelda, the first named storm to strike this...

Jul 31, 2019

Greenland Lost 217 Billion Tons of Ice Last Month

A staggering 217 billion tons (197 billion metric tons) of meltwater flowed off of Greenland's ice sheet into the Atlantic Ocean this July. The worst day of melting was July 31, when 11 billion tons (10 billion metric tons) of melted ice poured into the ocean. This massive thaw represents...

Jul 31, 2019

Trump Administration Guts Endangered Species Act

Back in May, the United Nations warned that 1 million species are at risk of extinction, and that time is running out to save them — posing a severe risk to human life. Now, the Trump administration has significantly weakened the Endangered Species Act, a bipartisan 1973 law designed to...

Jul 31, 2019

Smoke from Burning Amazon Turns São Paulo Afternoon into Midnight

There's so much smoke from wildfires in the Amazon rainforest that São Paulo plunged into darkness on Monday afternoon (Aug. 19), with day turning into night. The atmosphere, reminiscent of Mordor in The Lord of the Rings, was a reminder that forest fires in the Amazon have surged 82% this...

Jul 31, 2019

We'd Better Retreat from the Coasts While We Still Can, Scientists Urge Amid Climate Crisis

As many as 1 billion people are expected to be forced out of their homes by the droughts, floods, fires and famines associated with runaway climate change over the next 30 years — and they all have to go somewhere. This massive global exodus can go one of two ways:...

Jul 31, 2019

Watch a Noxious Cloud of Carbon Monoxide Pollution Spill Out of the Burning Amazon

The Amazon rainforest is burning, thanks to hundreds of wildfires set by people. Now, NASA has detected a gargantuan cloud of noxious carbon monoxide (CO) rising from the blaze into the atmosphere. In frightening new imagery on NASA's website, you can watch the cloud evolve between Aug. 8 and 22....

Jul 31, 2019

6.3-Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Off Oregon Coast

A strong earthquake struck off the coast of Oregon today (Aug. 29), according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The 6.3-magnitude earthquake occurred at 8:07 a.m. local time (11:07 a.m. ET) about 176 miles (284 kilometers) west-northwest of Bandon, Oregon, the USGS reported. So far, there have been no reports...

Jul 31, 2019

'Extremely Dangerous' Dorian Is Now a Category 3 Storm

Hurricane Dorian has strengthened to a Category 3 storm as of 2 p.m. EST on Friday (Aug. 3). Data from a reconnaissance plane indicate that... maximum sustained winds have increased to near 115 mph (185 km/h) with higher gusts, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in an update. Additional strengthening...

Jun 30, 2019

Want to Fight Climate Change? Plant 1 Trillion Trees.

Want to help save the world from climate change? Then grab some seeds, or some seedlings, and start planting trees like there's no tomorrow. At least 1 trillion of them, and fast. That may sound like a lot of trees, but the Earth has room for their gnarled bows and...

Jun 30, 2019

SoCal Has An 8% Chance of Another Huge Quake This Week

There's an 8% chance that Southern California could be rocked by another magnitude 6.0 or above earthquake this week, according to seismologists. The region trembled under the effects of two large quakes last week, one a magnitude 6.4 on July 4 and one a magnitude 7.1 on July 5, both...

Jun 30, 2019

Last Month Was the Hottest June on Earth Ever Recorded

If you thought last month felt really, really hot, you were right. June 2019 was the hottest June on record for the globe. And, it was the second month in a row that balmy temperatures caused Antarctic sea ice coverage to reach a record low. The sizzling average land and...

Jun 30, 2019

The First Glacier Killed by Climate Change Is Getting a Haunting Memorial in Iceland

Vikings thought it was a dead troll. Now, it's just dead ice. Okjökull (or just Ok, for short) is one of 400 ancient glaciers crowning the mountains of Iceland — at least, it was, until global warming shrank it so much that Ok officially lost its glacier status in 2014....

May 31, 2019

Is It Safe to Visit Chernobyl?

Chernobyl, site of the world's deadliest nuclear accident, is now a surprisingly popular tourist destination. But lethal radiation still permeates the landscape around the site, so why is it safe to visit at all? Ukrainian officials opened the area to tourists nearly a decade ago, declaring that visits were safe,...

May 31, 2019

Glowing 'Blue Tears' in China's Seas Are Incredibly Toxic — And They’re Growing

On summer nights, the waters surrounding Taiwan's Matsu Islands cast an eerie blue glow. The phenomenon, known as China's blue tears, is actually caused by a bloom of tiny, bioluminescent creatures called dinoflagellates. Tourists from all over China come to view the twinkling seascape. The bloom in the East China...