HowStuffWorks Newsletter
Earth Science covers all facets of how the earth works, from from volcanoes to the world's oceans.
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The Poles of Inaccessibility are the locations on Earth that are the farthest away from either water or land and are the most remote spots in the world.
Trovants, found only in a small town in Romania, are stones that actually seem to move and grow. But are they alive?
Does searching through the mud of a riverbank for treasures of old sound like a fun way to spend a day? If so, you may just be a true mudlarker at heart.
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The element lithium is one of just three created during the Big Bang and has been used for mental health care for decades. But now it's in higher demand than ever before.
The U.S. Senate recently passed a bill to make daylight saving time permanent. However, many health groups are against it. What do studies say and should President Joe Biden sign the bill into law?
Cinnabar's bright-red pigment has been used in jewelry, pottery and makeup for millennia. But cinnabar is also the primary ore for mercury, making it a dangerous mineral if the particles are inhaled.
The rose-red mineral rhodonite was first discovered in the 1790s in the Ural Mountains of Russia. Today it's found globally and is associated with compassion, love and healing.
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The curves of the giant snake line up with the sun during equinoxes and solstices.
Mountains might look like they're stoic and still, but research shows otherwise. Massive ones, like the Matterhorn, are moving all the time, gently swaying back and forth every few seconds.
The waters of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans meet at the tip of Cape Horn and never the two shall mix, right?
Some say UFOs, while others say a meteor strike formed the Carolina Bays. Whatever created these isolated ponds and wetlands across North and South Carolina left a wondrous ecosystem that is in dire need of protection.
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Waterfalls are mainly reliant on precipitation to keep flowing. Here are six famous waterfalls that slowed to a trickle when drought set in.
Nutty Putty Cave, near Salt Lake City, Utah, was discovered in 1960 and sealed up forever in 2009. This is the story.
By Dave Roos
The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC, plays an essential role in regulating ocean temperatures, but it looks as if it may be collapsing. What happens next?
The climate crisis is messing with the water cycle. Some places are getting way too much, while others aren't getting any water at all. We'll explain.
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This beautiful pink quartz is found in numerous places throughout the world and is thought to be associated with unconditional love.
Researchers have been asking this question for almost a century and now we're a little closer to the answer. Something else to ponder: Every 27.5 million years there is usually a mass extinction.
Not all diamonds are found on dry land. Many turn up in sediments below the ocean's surface. You just have to know where to look.
By Mark Mancini
Not all deserts have sand and they're certainly not all hot. They're just extremely dry and have little vegetation. That means deserts are located all over the planet, including at super-high elevations.
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The Southern Ocean has finally been officially recognized, though scientists have known about it for over a century.
The Mohs hardness scale is used by geologists and gemologists as a way to help identify minerals using a hardness test. How does it work?
This ancient rock, which forms above copper deposits, is beloved for its swirling patterns and vibrant green color. It's dazzled humans for millennia as jewelry and even in décor.
Tanzanite is so rare, it is sourced from just 8 square miles in Africa. It was first discovered in the late 1960s and it burst onto the jewelry scene thanks to Tiffany & Co.
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It's possible that the giant, deadly serpent hanging out at the bottom of Fosse Dionne spring is just a legend, but divers have disappeared trying to find out, so who knows?
Deep underneath Antarctica, there lies a hidden lake. Roughly the size of North America's Lake Ontario, the buried landmark has inspired curiosity and controversy for decades.
By Mark Mancini