Earth's Systems
- Climate
Explainer: Winds and where they come from
Temperature and pressure are critical factors affecting why the wind blows where it does. Understanding the nature of wind can teach us a lot about weather.
- Earth
Explainer: What makes dirt different from soil
Although most people use the terms dirt and soil interchangeably, scientists argue that they shouldn’t. Soil has provenance — meaning history. Dirt doesn’t.
- Climate
Explainer: Weather and weather prediction
The sun and Earth combine to create the planet’s weather systems. And science is getting good at predicting what they’ll do.
- Physics
Disabilities don’t stop these experts in science and tech
People with disabilities are as varied as the careers some of them pursue in science, technology, engineering and math.
- Climate
Explainer: Hurricanes, cyclones and typhoons
Hurricanes are some of the most destructive forces on the planet. Here’s how they form and why they are so dangerous.
- Earth
Antarctic ice shelf sheds Delaware-sized iceberg
Larsen C is a major ice shelf in Antarctica. An iceberg the size of Delaware has just splintered off of it in one of the largest calving events ever recorded.
- Climate
Cool Jobs: Bringing caves’ dark secrets to light
These three cave researchers study caves to learn more about climate, geology and organisms that can survive some of Earth’s most hostile environments.
- Chemistry
World’s deepest zoo harbors clues to extraterrestrial life
Scientists have found a wide range of life deep below Earth’s surface. The discoveries could help inform our search for life on other planets.
- Climate
Ancient Arctic ‘gas’ melt triggered enormous seafloor explosions
Methane explosions 12,000 years ago left huge craters in bedrock on the Arctic seafloor. Scientists worry more could be on the way today as Earth’s ice sheets melt.
- Earth
To study a geyser, these teens built their own
Fascinated by geysers but unable to see one? These teens decided to build their own. It allowed them to study how temperature and pressure make the water spew into a founta.
- Environment
Maybe ‘shade balls’ should not be balls
So-called shade balls have a range of uses in water reservoirs, from cutting evaporation to reducing the growth of algae. But the best performers might not actually be balls, a Florida teen now shows.
- Earth
Scientists Say: Continent
A continent is a large land mass. Geologists recognize six of them — Africa, Antarctica, Eurasia, Australia, North America and South America.
