Modern continental rocks carry chemical signatures from the very start of our planet's history, challenging current theories about plate tectonics. Researchers have made a new discovery that changes ...

Earth’s crust, which is composed of several tectonic plates, like puzzle pieces, began to jiggle. Provoked and stimulated by the torrent of elemental forces churning within the mantle, some larger ...

A new model uncovers how Earth’s liquid core has sustained its magnetic field since the planet’s beginnings, offering new insights into its future. Earth benefits from the presence of a magnetic field ...

Smithsonian researcher Ingrid Romero studies fossil pollen to reconstruct ancient climates and predict future changes ...

The first life emerged about four billion years ago, when the planet was still new. Back then, the cutting edge of earthly biology were single-celled organisms and microbial mats. It took half a ...

Earth was grazed by a tiny asteroid last week, which passed about as close as the International Space Station (ISS).

Millions of people around the world will pause on Tuesday, at least for a moment, to mark Earth Day. It's an annual event founded by people who hoped to stir activism to clean up and preserve a planet ...

When Maureen Long talks to the public about her work, she likes to ask her audience to close their eyes and think of a landscape with incredible geology. She hears a lot of the same suggestions: ...