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Scientists have uncovered a long-lost volcanic system in Iran that dates back roughly 100 million years, revealing a hidden chapter in Earth's tectonic history. The discovery sheds new light on the disappearance of an ancient ocean and the powerful geological forces that reshaped the Middle East.
NASA’s Artemis I mission has revealed that cosmic radiation near the Moon is higher than in Earth orbit, but not by as much as scientists might expect. Tiny experimental detectors also uncovered surprising details about how radiation passes through the human body, offering valuable insights for future lunar exploration.
A solar eclipse recorded more than 2,700 years ago is revealing surprising secrets about Earth's rotation and the Sun's ancient behavior. By correcting an eight-kilometer error in the location of an ancient Chinese capital, scientists were able to reconstruct a total solar eclipse that occurred in 709 BCE and obtain more accurate measurements of how fast Earth was spinning at the time.
The Sun’s seemingly peaceful regions are hiding a surprisingly complex magnetic world. Using a balloon-borne telescope high above Earth, scientists discovered delicate, thread-like magnetic structures woven through the solar atmosphere, apparently shaped by twisting motions on the Sun’s surface. They also mapped magnetic fields inside towering jets of solar material, revealing how those fields change with height.
Deep beneath Japan’s Kikai caldera, a massive magma reservoir is refilling 7,300 years after one of the most powerful volcanic eruptions in Earth's recent geological history. Scientists used underwater seismic surveys to reveal a vast store of magma that appears to have accumulated since the ancient catastrophe. The discovery could help explain how supervolcanoes like Yellowstone and Toba rebuild their magma supplies.
Can Europe continue to sustain one of the world's most ambitious social models while falling increasingly behind its major economic competitors? For Pascal Lamy, former European Commissioner for Trade and former Director-General of the World Trade Organization, this question lies at the heart of the continent's mounting economic and political tensions. Lamy looks beyond the immediate turmoil in France to identify a deeper European predicament: a widening disconnect between the continent's social commitments and its capacity to generate the economic growth needed to sustain them.
Scientists discovered a rock in Papua New Guinea that plunged more than 90 kilometers beneath Earth's surface, revealing a bizarre temperature pattern that challenges established theories of Earth's interior. The unexpected shift from unusually hot to relatively cold conditions could transform our understanding of tectonic plate movements, earthquakes, and volcanoes.
From orbit, today’s space-based laser instruments measure Earth’s forests and terrain one narrow line at a time. Between those lines are enormous gaps that include millions of acres of land scientists never directly measure. NASA’s CASALS instrument will blend machine learning with an ultra-compact lidar instrument to adaptively ‘sweep’ large swaths of Earth’s surface. This […]
A decades-long mystery beneath the North Sea has finally been solved. Scientists have confirmed that the Silverpit Crater, buried 700 meters below the seabed, was created when a 160-meter-wide asteroid struck Earth roughly 43 to 46 million years ago. The violent collision blasted a towering curtain of rock and water 1.5 kilometers into the air and triggered a tsunami more than 100 meters high.
An image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope released on Oct. 6, 2026, reveals a cauldron of cosmic creation. Webb has unveiled numerous stars formerly hidden by clouds of dust in a stellar nursery known as NGC 7129, which resides about 3,300 light-years from Earth. Learn more about this region – and tour it in […]
NASA scientists have finally uncovered why asteroid Bennu loses heat so quickly despite being covered in massive boulders. Samples returned to Earth reveal that its rocks are filled with hidden cracks, solving a mystery that has puzzled researchers for years.
A court in the western German state of Hesse has said Google is "spying" on people and has no right to publish information about their property on its Maps and Earth sites. The case stems from images taken from the air.
Human activities have become intertwined with how water is distributed across the continents. A new study brings their effects into sharper focus.
Japan launched a spacecraft on Tuesday on a five-year mission to explore Mars' mysterious moons, Phobos and Deimos, and bring back samples for the first time. The $578 million project aims to deliver dust, soil and rocks to Earth in 2031, potentially shedding light on how the moons formed and the origins of life.
Human activity is driving plants and animals to extinction at an unprecedented rate. As countries meet in Armenia to discuss ways to reverse nature loss, DW reveals how declining biodiversity is already harming people.
A spacecraft is set to launch on an ambitious mission to bring 10g of Martian moon dust back to Earth.
Shortly after NASA’s Artemis II mission splashed down on April 10, 2026, U.S. Navy divers captured underwater imagery of the Orion spacecraft’s heat shield. In the months after, the agency measured whether the thermal protection system effectively safeguarded the crew and Orion systems as the spacecraft reentered Earth’s atmosphere. This rigorous analysis confirmed that the […]
A phenomenon rarer than a solar eclipse and more powerful than any single storm system is unfolding this fall, and NASA is tracking it closely. El Niño is a natural climate pattern that emerges roughly every two to seven years marked by warmer-than-normal water temperatures in parts of the equatorial Pacific. NASA scientists are keeping […]
U2 will be playing in stadiums around the globe next year, the group announced Thursday, with a tour dubbed “Carnaval De Luz presents: The Greatest Show On Earth” kicking off Feb. 23 in Mexico City and set to continue through 2027 “and beyond.” Only the first six dates of the Live Nation-produced tour were unveiled […]
Timekeepers add a leap second occasionally to keep our clocks and the Earth's rotation in tune. That could now change.
