Latest about Planet Earth
Eerie blackwater dive image shows paper nautilus floating on stick after volcanic eruption
A photograph of a paper nautilus in the aftermath of the Taal volcano eruption in the Philippines has won 2023 Ocean Photographer of the Year award.
How many tectonic plates does Earth have?
The number varies from a dozen to almost 100 — and most of these don't even appear on official maps.
Massive New Zealand eruption 1,800 years ago flung volcanic glass 3,000 miles to Antarctica
Scientists disagree about the timing of the Taupō volcanic eruption — one of the largest on Earth in the past 5,000 years — but shards of glass discovered in Antarctic ice could settle this debate.
Scientists discover ghost of ancient mega-plate that disappeared 20 million years ago
A long-lost tectonic plate dubbed 'Pontus' that was a quarter of the size of the Pacific Ocean was discovered by chance by scientists studying ancient rocks in Borneo.
Earth's crust swallowed a sea's worth of water and locked it away beneath Pacific seafloor
Porous rock that formed during one of Earth's biggest volcanic eruptions absorbed so much water as it eroded that it created a huge reservoir over the eons, now buried deep in Earth's crust.
Strange methane leak discovered at the deepest point of the Baltic Sea baffling scientists
A huge methane leak discovered in the Baltic Sea spans 7.7 square miles, with masses of gas bubbles rising almost all the way to the ocean surface.
China discovers never-before-seen ore containing a highly valuable rare earth element
A new ore, dubbed niobobaotite, was discovered in Inner Mongolia's Bayan Obo deposit and contains the rare earth element niobium — a valuable metal that acts as a superconductor and could revolutionize battery technology.
Zealandia, Earth's hidden continent, was torn from supercontinent Gondwana in flood of fire 100 million years ago
Scientists have fully mapped the lost continent of Zealandia in a world first, discovering new details about how it broke away from the supercontinent Gondwana through the ignition of a huge volcanic region tens of millions of years ago.
What's inside Earth?
The center of Earth lies around 4,000 miles beneath our feet — but what lies beneath the outer crust and the inner core?
'One of the biggest on record': Ozone hole bigger than North America opens above Antarctica
Satellite data shows that this year's ozone hole grew to around twice the size of Antarctica. Researchers say the eruption of Tonga's underwater volcano early last year may be partially to blame for the enormous cavity.
