Environmental Science

If geology has taught us anything about Earth's history, it's that nothing is permanent. And that goes for mountain ranges, all of which are constantly rising and falling.

By Mark Mancini

For centuries, ancient cultures celebrated the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, as the "day the sun came back." Here are five enlightening facts about the winter solstice.

By Kathryn Whitbourne

Scientists from The Ohio State University have drilled longest ice core from outside the poles.

By Mark Mancini

Ever wondered what's the difference between a river, a stream, a brook and a tributary?

By Amanda Onion

Getting your home to zero waste doesn't have to mean re-structuring your entire life. Sure, you'll have to make changes, but most of them are surprisingly easy.

By John Donovan

Ocean water is not actually blue, but appears in different shades for many reasons.

By Amanda Onion

The Sahara has expanded by about 10 percent in the past century, mostly due to natural causes, but not all. We can blame the rest on man-made climate change.

By Kristen Hall-Geisler

Plastic may be the longest-lasting legacy of human beings on this planet. But there are lots of ways, big and small, that we can all stop using it. Today.

By Jesslyn Shields

Buckingham Palace announced that Queen Elizabeth II is making changes to the Royals solid-wasted plan, and that includes banning many plastics.

By John Perritano

Helium balloons are dangerous to the environment and wildlife - so why isn't releasing them illegal?

By Jesslyn Shields

The Great Lakes are named so for several reasons. HowStuffWorks looks at why the Great Lakes are so great, including their impressive depths.

By Mark Mancini

Petrified wood can be found all over the world, but how is it created?

By Mark Mancini & Desiree Bowie

Wine pomace - the portion of grapes left over from winemaking - has a variety of uses, from fertilizer to a nutrition-enhancing ingredient in foods.

By Patrick J. Kiger

The spring, or vernal, equinox traditionally marks the first day of spring - but climate scientists use a different date altogether. Find out more about this and other facts about the spring equinox.

By Mark Mancini

About 70 percent of our energy comes from non-renewable sources like oil and natural gas. When they're gone, they're gone for good. Learn some simple ways to conserve energy through these five simple experiments.

By John Kelly

You probably think all parasites are disgusting little critters, but that's not always the case. Several are actually critical to the planet.

By Mark Boyer

Farming technologies have allowed the world to be fed, even though most people no longer farm. Only 2 percent of Americans are farmers, versus 90 percent in the 1700s. Which tools and technologies have had the most impact on farming and why?

By Laurie L. Dove

The stratosphere is one of Earth's five atmospheric layers that also includes the troposphere, mesosphere, thermosphere and exosphere.

By Mark Mancini

Sweden puts less than 1 percent of its household trash into landfills, in part because it burns nearly half to generate heat and electricity.

By Patrick J. Kiger

Trovants, found only in a small town in Romania, are stones that actually seem to move and grow. But are they alive?

By Jennifer Walker-Journey

There are caves all over the world, but some are in places that are hard to explore - hidden by rocks, ruins or even under ice. We've found seven secret caves you probably never knew existed.

By Stephanie Parker

Critics warn that cryptocurrency networks, whose computers use enormous amounts of electricity to verify transactions, could be a factor in warming the planet. The industry is working to change that.

By Patrick J. Kiger

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.

By Patrick J. Kiger

Rossby waves influence everything from high tides to extreme weather patterns, and not just on Earth. They also occur on the sun and on Venus and Jupiter as well. So, what are they exactly?

By Mark Mancini

Split as if by a laser, the Al Naslaa rock in Saudi Arabia's Tayma Oasis baffles scientists and amateur geologists alike. How did this perfect split happen?

By Laurie L. Dove