Earth
Did Cosmic Dust Deliver the Phosphorus Needed for Life?
Without phosphorus, there's no life. It's a necessary part of DNA, RNA, and other biological molecules like ATP, which helps…
There’s So Much Pressure at the Earth’s Core, it Makes Iron Behave in a Strange Way
It's one of nature's topsy-turvy tricks that the deep interior of the Earth is as hot as the Sun's surface.…
Landsat 9’s First Images are Here
The latest satellite in the Landsat family of Earth observation spacecraft has collected its “first light” images of our planet.…
Scientists Simulate the Climate of Arrakis. It Turns Out Dune is a Pretty Realistic Exoplanet
Science fiction author Frank Herbert is renowned for the richly-detailed worlds he created. None of his work is more well-known…
Researchers Use Ancient Literature to Track 3,000 Years of Auroras
Auroral activity on Earth varies over time. As the magnetic poles drift, auroras can appear at different latitudes around the…
What Are Your Options When you’ve Only Got Hours or Days to Prevent an Asteroid Impact?
Imagine a scenario where we detect an asteroid heading straight for Earth. Imagine that it will arrive in a couple…
You Can Blow Up an Asteroid Just a few Months Before it Hits Earth and Prevent 99% of the Damage
So far, the battle between life on Earth and asteroids has been completely one-sided. But not for long. Soon, we'll…
Greenland’s Ice Sheet is Similar in Many Ways to the Solar System’s Icy Worlds and Can Teach Us How to Search for Life
Many regions on Earth are temperate, nutrient-rich, stable environments where life seems to thrive effortlessly. But not all of Earth.…
Landsat 9 Joins a Fleet of Earth Observation Satellites
Earth has a new eye in orbit to monitor our changing planet. Landsat 9 launched on September 27, 2021…
This is the Reactor That Could Make it Possible to Return From Mars
Remember when engineers proposed one-way trips to Mars, because round trips are just too expensive to bring people back to…