Earth's Systems

Climate

Where will lightning strike?

When lightning strikes, the results can be deadly. But nature’s dazzling light show also can provide scientists with insights into when and where the next thunderbolt might strike.

Physics

Bracing sand sculptures with gravity

Natural sculptures of sandstone withstand strong winds and rains. The reason, a new study concludes: Gravity holds the sand grains together.

Fossils

Fossil hunting can start as child’s play

Paleontology isn’t just for professionals. You don’t even need to be a teen to sometimes make startling — and scientifically important — contributions.

Fossils

Explainer: How a fossil forms

Minerals can replace any bone, shell or once-living tissue and also fill in the spaces between these hard parts, birthing a fossil.

Climate

This umbrella ‘listens’ to rain — for science

Scientists have developed an umbrella that ‘listens’ to falling raindrops. One day, a fleet of such simple rain gauges may help scientists better map weather patterns and changes in Earth’s water supplies.

Earth

Thirst for water moves and shakes California

Here’s a scary cost to pumping up groundwater to slake the thirst of crops in California’s Central Valley: It may uplift nearby mountains and trigger tiny earthquakes, experts find.

Math

Teen puts calculus on ice

Jacob Nichols wondered if he could use calculus to find the volume of the icicles building up outside his house. His study earned him a spot at the 2014 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.

Oceans

Digging a trench to stop a tsunami

Boyd Kane built his own wave tank to study tsunamis and how he might change the seafloor to stop their advance.

Earth

The quake that shook up geology

North America’s biggest earthquake struck 50 years ago. Here’s what science has learned about Earth since the 1964 Great Alaskan Earthquake.

Earth

Explainer: Telling a tsunami from a seiche

Waves that hit coastlines with ferocious power, tsunamis are one of the planet’s most devastating forces of nature. And seiches: They’re tsunamis little, but still potentially deadly, cousins.

Environment

Burning to learn

Fires cause billions of dollars of destruction to homes and forests every year. But not all fires are bad, especially for forests. With a better understanding of fire, scientists can both help people prevent dangerous fires — and identify which ones it would be better to let burn.

Environment

Explainer: How and why fires burn

A fire’s colorful flame results from a chemical reaction known as combustion.