-
![]()
Eric Bronson / Michigan Photography / University of … A Mystery That Took 13,200 Years to Crack
Hidden in the tusk of a 34-year-old mastodon was a record of time and space that helped explain his violent death.
-
![]()
Brendan Pattengale The Terrifying Warning Lurking in the Earth’s Ancient Rock Record
Our climate models could be missing something big.
-
![]()
Joe & Clair Carnegie / Libyan Soup / … What Made Me Reconsider the Anthropocene
Whether our civilization is transient or not, its effects on the living world will last forever.
-
![]()
Marizilda Cruppe / Amnesty International / Reuters The Amazon Is Not Earth’s Lungs
Humans could burn every living thing on the planet and still not dent its oxygen supply.
-
![]()
Stuart Gleave / Getty The Anthropocene Is a Joke
On geological timescales, human civilization is an event, not an epoch.
-
![]()
John Schults / Reuters When a Killer Climate Catastrophe Struck the World's Oceans
The worst extinction in Earth’s history offers chilling predictions for the planet’s future—and for humanity’s efforts to keep climate doom at bay.
-
![]()
Bob Strong / Reuters A Climate Catastrophe Paved the Way for the Dinosaurs’ Reign
“The need to understand strange events like the Carnian Pluvial Episode has taken on new urgency."
-
![]()
Mike Hutchings / Reuters Scientists Have Uncovered a Disturbing Climate Change Precedent
During the rise of mammals, Earth's temperatures spiked in a scary way that the planet may experience again soon.
-
![]()
Zoë van Dijk Why Earth’s History Appears So Miraculous
The strange, cosmic reason our evolutionary path will look ever luckier the longer we survive.
-
![]()
NASA / AP A Foreboding Similarity in Today’s Oceans and a 94-Million-Year-Old Catastrophe
The ocean is suffocating—but not for the first time.
-
![]()
Mohammad Hannon / AP The Strange Future Hurricane Harvey Portends
Climate change is pushing more water into the atmosphere—with bizarre consequences.
-
![]()
Mike Hollingshead / Corbis / Getty Burning Fossil Fuels Almost Ended All Life on Earth
A road trip through the geological ruins of our planet's worst mass extinction.
-
![]()
NASA / Reuters Earth Is Not in the Midst of a Sixth Mass Extinction
“As scientists we have a responsibility to be accurate about such comparisons.”
-
![]()
jamesteohart / svrid79 / Benny Marty / imaginasty … A Possible Break in One of Evolution's Biggest Mysteries
Whales have a history that is among the strangest and least-understood of any animal—and barnacles might be the key to unlocking their secrets.
-
![]()
Lucas Jackson / Reuters The Last Great Arctic Shipwreck
What we can learn from the ruins of the HMS Terror
-
![]()
albund / shutterstock / Paul Spella / The … Is Middle America Due For a Huge Earthquake?
In the early 19th century, a series of massive quakes rocked Missouri. Some experts predict that the state could be in for another round of violent shaking, while others warn that a big quake could strike elsewhere in the center of the continent.
