Earth

Environment

Broadcom MASTERS: Meet the winners!

Young teens show off the research that won them a place in the national spotlight.

Earth

Water helped erect Iceland’s lava towers

Science pointed the way to understanding why these curious natural pillars form.

Earth

Hacking the planet

The big backup plan: Scientists reluctantly consider altering Earth’s climate to head off the catastrophic effects of global warming.

Climate

The certainty of climate change

How sure are scientists that people are to blame for global warming? “Extremely likely,” says an international panel of climate change researchers in a new report.

Earth

World’s biggest volcano is hiding under the sea

Tamu Massif is currently sleeping with the fishes some 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) below the surface of the Pacific Ocean.

Microbes

Mystery microbes of the sea

Biologists find archaea a true curiosity. They make up one of life’s three main branches. The two better known branches are bacteria and eukaryotes (u KARE ee oatz). That last branch includes animals, plants and fungi. But archaea have remained mysterious. Very little is known about them. In fact, their unique status wasn’t even recognized until relatively recently, in 1977.

Animals

Alien carp leap onto the scene

Last summer, Alison Coulter got a big surprise as she piloted a boat along the Wabash River in Indiana. Startled by her boat’s motor, a 60-centimeter (24-inch) carp leaped out of the river. In some cases, jumping Asian carp have broken a boater’s nose, jaw or arm.

Animals

Mud worth more than gold

Reed Scherer and Ross Powell have studied mud from all over the world. It is different in each place. Mud from the Sulu Sea near Borneo is as smooth as cream cheese. Mud from Chesapeake Bay, in the mid-Atlantic United States, clings to your skin like peanut butter.

Earth

Explainer: Ice sheets and glaciers

Ice sheets and glaciers give scientists clues about climate change.

Earth

Explainer: Antarctica, land of lakes

There are many, although they tend to be buried under rivers of ice.

Environment

Unconventional spill

An accidental spill of extra-heavy crude oil points to some unusual challenges in safely getting this petroleum to market.

Environment

Explainer: All crude oil is not alike

Crude oil comes in conventional and unconventional types.