Earth Science

The pigment ultramarine was as expensive as gold in medieval Europe; so how did it end up in the teeth of a nun buried at a monastery in rural Germany?

By Jesslyn Shields

What makes peat bogs so perfect at preserving human remains? We look at what's behind these waterlogged areas of decaying plant matter.

By Mark Mancini & Desiree Bowie

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

Sastrugi are gorgeous snow formations found in the polar north, but they're also no fun to travel over.

By Jesslyn Shields

The Ancient Earth visualization map shows the movement of the planet's tectonic plates in a really cool way.

By Patrick J. Kiger

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

Around 90 percent of an iceberg is under the water, but changing weight distribution caused by melting can make it flip.

By Stell Simonton

The super-cool phenomenon of tidal bores happens in only a few places on the globe, and it takes a very specific set of conditions to occur.

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

Rough times call for creative measures. The world is filled with oceans, and oceans are filled with wave energy that could potentially be transformed into power. Is wave energy a viable fossil fuel alternative?

By Jane McGrath

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

It's colorless, odorless and definitely life-sustaining, but is it invisible to the naked eye? Not usually. So what's going on with everyone's favorite liquid?

By Robert Lamb

Also known as "freak waves," these colossal walls of water have been alleged to be in the range of 100 feet or more. Learn what separates rogue waves from other large waves, what causes them and find out about some of the better-known rogue wave incidents.

By Ed Grabianowski

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

Of course you know what gravity is. It's the force behind Wile E. Coyote plummeting off the face of a cliff and you stumbling spastically in front of your crush. But did you know it can bend light and help us detect hidden cosmic phenomena, too?

By Robert Lamb

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

We humans love to create. We build soaring skyscrapers from the ground up. We fill blank canvasses with timeless, magnificent art. Can we achieve the ultimate feat and generate matter?

By Robert Lamb

As global freshwater sources become scarcer, desalination plants play an increasingly pivotal role, transforming our vast oceans into drinkable reserves. Let's delve deeper into the mechanics of these vital facilities.

By Laurie L. Dove & Desiree Bowie

The circle is only 5,000 miles wide.

By Jesslyn Shields

The Denmark Strait cataract dwarfs every other waterfall in the world, but you can't see it because it's deep under the Atlantic Ocean.

By Jesslyn Shields

Climate change may be melting glaciers, but it's also reducing the oxygen of the world's oceans. Without oxygen, many marine organisms may no longer be able to survive.

By John Perritano

Talk about a Brexit! Scientists have clues to catastrophic flooding that destroyed a land bridge that once connected England and France.

By Patrick J. Kiger