The phrase “mass extinction” typically conjures images of the asteroid crash that led to the twilight of the dinosaurs. Upon impact, that 6-mile-wide space rock caused a tsunami in the Atlantic Ocean, along with earthquakes and landslides up and down what is now the Americas. A heat pulse baked the Earth, and the Tyrannosaurus rex

As the frozen Antarctic landscape at the bottom of the world adjusts to an ever hotter planet, we keep finding more mysterious phenomena beneath and within the ice. Now, there are “ice quakes” to add to that list. It wasn’t all so long ago that earthquakes were thought to not exist on this unforgiving continent.

The last three ice ages might have been triggered by tectonic collisions between Earth’s continents, according to new research, and it could give us clues as to how the planet’s climate might suddenly shift again in the future. What’s likely to have happened, the new study says, is these massive collisions pushed oceanic rocks up

No matter what we do, the Arctic of the future is going to be poles apart from the one we know today. A new paper from the UN reveals that even if we pull the plug on all carbon emissions tomorrow, our hands are ultimately tied; the Arctic region is still going to warm by

Congratulations Italy! Scientists just discovered a new coral reef in the Adriatic Sea, near the town of Monopoli in Puglia. Not only is it the first coral reef known to be off the Italian coast (at least in modern time), it’s also a rather unusual one. Stretching for at least 2.5 kilometres (about 1.5 miles),

Waterfalls are one of the most majestic things on the planet: a beautiful, thunderous display of water and physics. But where do these cascading creations come from? The conventional wisdom has it that waterfalls are formed by external forces, such as earthquakes, landslides, or changes in sea level that vastly alter and disrupt landscapes and

A team of scientists and designers recently teamed up to create a tool that would show Australians what the climate is expected to be like in their cities in the year 2050 – and it led to a startling discovery. “In 30 years’ time, winter as we know it will be non-existent,” researcher Geoff Hinchliffe

Death Valley, the hottest and driest place in North America, isn’t exactly known for record rainfall or pop-up lakes stretching as far as the eye can see. But after a massive storm lashed the desert with rain and brought chilly temperatures through Southern California, that’s exactly what happened, according to photographer Elliott McGucken. He was trying

For something that’s supposed to help save the planet, solar geoengineering sure has a lot of enemies. Critics warn that artificially reflecting sunlight to cool the planet could unleash drastic, unintended consequences – but a Harvard-led team of scientists insists that such fears are overblown. In a new study, researchers say spraying chemicals into the

Much of the United States could be gripped by significant water shortages in just five decades’ time, according to predictions made in a new study. From the year 2071 on, scientists say the combined effects of climate change and population increases are projected to present “serious challenges” in close to half of the 204 watersheds

When it comes to recycling plastic waste, Norway is ahead the pack. In fact, the Scandinavian nation has virtually lapped the rest of the world. Through an organisation called Infinitum, Norway has created one of the most efficient and environmentally friendly ways of recycling plastic bottles, and the results are so impressive that many nations

Fish populations in the world’s oceans are depleting at an alarming rate, new research has found, with worrying consequences for those higher up the food chain – which includes humans. If we don’t act fast, the situation is going to get worse. Data collected from 1930 to 2010 has shown that sustainable fish stock declined

Air pollution is a major problem no matter where you live, but it can get particularly bad in Seoul, the capital of South Korea – and so the government authorities are taking drastic action to try and deal with the smog that settles over the city. The latest plan from President Moon Jae-in is to

Some icebergs look white. Others look blue. But perhaps the most precious of all appear emerald green. Ever since the 1900s, sailors and explorers have occasionally seen these strange green icebergs, or jade bergs, floating around in the grey Antarctic landscape. Their curious colour has been puzzling scientists for decades; now, we might finally have

Rare earth elements are essential for building everything from smartphones to solar power plants, but extracting them from the ground comes with a high cost in terms of expense, effort, and environmental impact. That could be about to change. Researchers have discovered a new way to get some of these elements out of phosphate rock waste (or

Yesterday, over the course of a single afternoon, Lee County, Alabama, was ravaged by back-to-back tornadoes. The one-two punch brought winds of 170 miles per hour (270 kilometres per hour), which ripped homes off their foundations, destroyed property, injured dozens, and killed at least 23 people. But these twisters were only two of some three

The town is called Bella Vista, but for thousands of residents living in this quiet, northwest corner of Arkansas, the outlook in recent times has been anything but. For a staggering seven straight months, Bella Vista has harboured a toxic open secret: an endless smouldering fire at a former illegal dumping site, burning deep underground

Species come and go, but never quite like this. Our biosphere’s diversity is thinning at a shocking rate, with fingers pointed at everything from global warming to hunting to habitat clearing as agents of destruction.  Now, it turns out one offender stands head and shoulders above the rest. Alien invaders of the Earthly variety –

The world is getting dangerously hot. Storms have been ferocious. Whole land masses are disappearing. Have you noticed this incredibly bad weather of late? Not fully, scientists say. New research demonstrates a terrifying adaptability of 21st century human beings: in the face of unprecedented climate change, we are normalising the weather temperatures, and not realising

The deepest parts of the ocean aren’t easy to get to. They’re found in fissures in the seafloor, and the creatures there are strange – adapted to the dark, the cold, and the crushing pressure. But in those trenches, at hadopelagic depths greater than 7,000 metres (20,000 feet), our impact on this world has still