Geology

The U.S. is full of exceptional geological formations. But these five set the bar high as far as landmarks go.

By Mark Mancini

This white-hot metal not only makes beautiful jewelry, it's coveted for industrial, medical and military purposes too.

By Alia Hoyt & Desiree Bowie

Permafrost across the globe is rapidly melting. What could this mean for the future of the planet?

By Mark Mancini

Let's take a look at some of the strongest metals on Earth and their surprising uses.

By Dave Roos & Sascha Bos

It's perhaps one of the strangest fossils ever discovered. We'll explain how it came to be 15 million years ago, and how hikers found it in the '30s.

By Mark Mancini

Cobalt is associated with the color blue, but it's so needed for rechargeable batteries that the U.S. put it on the list of minerals it can't live without.

By Dave Roos

Nutty Putty Cave, near Salt Lake City, Utah, was discovered in 1960 and sealed up forever in 2009. But why?

By Dave Roos & Austin Henderson

Waterfalls are mainly reliant on precipitation to keep flowing. Here are six famous waterfalls that slowed to a trickle when drought set in.

By Laurie L. Dove

Not all fossils are found on dry land. In fact some of the most fascinating fossil finds in history have been submerged for centuries.

By Mark Mancini

The Pacific's Ring of Fire is a 25,000 mile long "ring" that's home to 75 percent of all the world's volcanic activity and 90 percent of the planet's earthquakes. So what makes this area so active?

By Mark Mancini

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.

By Allison Troutner

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.

By Allison Troutner

You can find hematite found all over Earth, as well as Mars. The bloodstone the main source of iron and is also used in jewelry and painting.

By Trevor English & Austin Henderson

The oceans on planet Earth cycle through daily tidal changes. But the ground beneath our feet experiences tides of its own, too.

By Mark Mancini

Will a town in southern Missouri be the epicenter of the next 'big one'?

By Mark Mancini

How, in today's world, could a cave this massive go undetected for so long?

By Patrick J. Kiger

These ancient wonders aren't static sculptures; they vibrate and shift throughout the day, creating a variety of sounds as they stretch their aging, eroding 'bones.'

By Nathan Chandler

Massive gypsum crystals were discovered beneath Mexico's Sierra de Naica Mountain in very inhospitable environs - to humans anyway.

By Mark Mancini

Scientists set up two stations to capture this strange seismic activity.

By Mark Mancini

Hollywood makes T. rex seem fast and agile, but some scientists think it was a scavenger, like a vulture. So which was it?

By Tracy V. Wilson

Ever since its discovery in 2000, a dinosaur fossil named Leonardo has held the interest of paleontologists the world over. A 3-D model of the animal even toured the world. So what's the big deal?

By Tracy V. Wilson

Fossils tell a story, much like the clues at the scene of a crime. Researchers look for evidence and paleontologists study that evidence to answer questions about the past.

By Tracy V. Wilson

Dinosaur eggs and the embryos inside can teach us a lot about dinosaur reproduction and behavior. But how do scientists get the rocky embryos out from the equally rocky shells?

By Tracy V. Wilson

Everyone knows that once a bone has fossilized, it's hard as a rock, right? So how did scientists find soft tissue inside a broken dinosaur bone?

By Tracy V. Wilson

Crack open any science textbook and the authors will tell you that such things don't happen. So how did a couple of paleontologists and an acid bath turn that widespread belief on its head?

By Robert Lamb