Planet Earth, features and articles | Educational Science

Jul 31, 2022

Foot floating in a Yellowstone hot spring leaves more questions than answers

A foot found floating in a hot spring at Yellowstone National Park has been linked to a July 31 death. On Aug. 16, a park employee found the foot, still encased in a shoe, in Abyss Pool, one of the deepest hot springs in Yellowstone. In a statement today (Aug....

Jul 31, 2022

Document supposedly written by Galileo is a fake

A handwritten document thought to have been penned by Galileo Galilei is actually a forgery, the University of Michigan has announced. The single piece of paper was a jewel of the collection of the University of Michigan Library, according to a statement from the library. But an internal investigation by...

Jun 30, 2022

Earth's crust is dripping 'like honey' into its interior under the Andes

Earth's crust is dripping like honey into our planet's hot interior beneath the Andes mountains, scientists have discovered. By setting up a simple experiment in a sandbox and comparing the results to actual geological data, researchers have found compelling evidence that Earth's crust has been avalanched away across hundreds of...

Jun 30, 2022

Video shows raging floods surging in Yellowstone

Water churns in an angry brown torrent, trees collapse as the banks underneath them vanish in the spray, and roads crumble, asphalt carried downriver as if it were driftwood. A newly released video captures the destruction from the historic June 13 flood in Yellowstone National Park, as the raging torrent...

May 31, 2022

'Lost tapes' from Chernobyl show the haunting fallout of the nuclear disaster

Haunting scenes of the death, destruction and sickness that followed the Chernobyl meltdown 36 years ago — the deadliest nuclear accident of all time — were recorded on film and video but remained hidden for decades. Now, these previously unknown stories are finally coming to light, in a new HBO...

May 31, 2022

Which is colder: The North or South Pole?

The North Pole and South Pole are the coldest places on Earth. However, as similar as these areas might seem, one is far icier than the other. So, which pole is colder? Both the North Pole and South Pole are cold because their positions at the top and bottom of...

Apr 30, 2022

Whirlpools: Facts, formation and survival tips

Fast-flowing currents in oceans and rivers constantly change direction. Whirlpools are phenomena that form when water moving in two different directions comes into contact with each other and interact in an unusual way. They can't continue to travel at the same speed and direction through each other, so they are...

Apr 30, 2022

Don't miss the first 'Manhattanhenge' of 2022 this Memorial Day weekend

New York City's special solstice is just around the corner. Big Apple residents and visitors can catch the gorgeous Manhattanhenge this Memorial Day weekend as the sun sets between buildings on Sunday (May 29) and Monday (May 30), particularly if you're around 14th, 23rd, 34th, 42nd and 57th Streets. The...

Feb 28, 2022

What is the coldest city in the world?

In a letter Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton wrote to his friend Kitty Pogson, a London socialite, during his expedition in September 1902, he describes the extreme cold and its catastrophic effects on the crew. We unfortunately lost one of our men in a very bad blizzard by his falling over...

Jan 31, 2022

What's the oldest mountain range in the world? (How about the youngest?)

Mountains may look ancient — but some are mere toddlers, while others are great-grandaddies, geologically speaking. So, what is the oldest mountain range? And what about the youngest? In general, tall mountain ranges, such as the Himalayas, tend to be young, whereas ranges with shorter peaks from millennia of erosion,...

Dec 31, 2021

What is a scientific hypothesis?

A scientific hypothesis is a tentative, testable explanation for a phenomenon in the natural world. It's the initial building block in the scientific method. Many describe it as an educated guess based on prior knowledge and observation. While this is true, a hypothesis is more informed than a guess. While...

Sep 30, 2023

Science news this week: Lava lakes and moon chunks

This week in science news, we followed an expedition to the bottom of the world in search of a lava lake, tracked a mysterious chunk of the moon orbiting Earth and discovered something horrifying hiding in someone's ear canal. Although we know much about the surface of our planet, there...

Mar 31, 2023

Ancient ocean floor surrounds Earth's core, seismic imaging reveals

A massive ocean floor lurks near Earth's core. Now, seismic imaging has revealed that it likely surrounds much — if not all — of the core. This thin, dense layer is lodged roughly 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) below Earth's surface, between the core and the planet's middle layer, called the...

Mar 31, 2023

Fusion power key to Earth's survival, says Bill Nye in exclusive interview

Editor's note: The following contains spoilers for The End is Nye series on Peacock TV. What would Bill Nye the Science Guy get our home planet for Earth Day? The ultimate gift: fusion energy. We need electricity, Nye told Live Science in an exclusive interview on Thursday (April 20). We...

Jan 6, 2024

Why does the moon sometimes have a 'halo'?

If you've ever looked up at the full moon in the night sky, you may have noticed a large halo of light around it. But why does this lustrous ring sometimes encircle our natural satellite? While it might seem like a sign you need a new glasses prescription, it's really...