Atolls have a long and complex history related to seafloor evolution, and Darwin’s model is only the beginning of the story.
unsolved mysteries
Posted inFeatures
The Bay of Bengal and the Curious Case of the Missing Rift
In a classic detective story, clues from data new and old helped researchers reveal the puzzling chain of tectonic events that followed the Early Cretaceous split between India and Antarctica.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Mysterious Engine of the Madden‐Julian Oscillation
Understanding the fundamental physics of the Madden‐Julian Oscillation, a phenomenon that occurs over the Indian and Pacific Oceans, remains a challenge in tropical atmospheric research.
Posted inAGU News
Edmond Dewan, Citizen Science, and the Mystery of Ball Lightning
In the early 1960s, a physicist enlisted the help of the public to study a rare atmospheric phenomenon.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Curiosity Rover Reveals Oxygen Mystery in Martian Atmosphere
An air-sampling study has captured long-term trends in the concentrations of five key atmospheric gases for the first time.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Explaining the Missing Energy in Mars’s Electrons
Electrons energized and trapped at Mars were thought to lose energy inside the planet’s magnetosheath, but new research suggests a different explanation of spacecraft data.
Posted inNews
Brazil’s Oil Spill Is a Mystery, so Scientists Try Oil Forensics
Thousands of barrels of oil have been tarring Brazil’s beaches since September, and no one knows why. An oil spill scientist is running oil forensics to find out.
Posted inNews
What Inflates the Solar Bubble? Voyagers Count What’s Missing
The first in situ measurement of the pressure at the edge of the solar system reveals that there’s still a lot we don’t know about what sets the size of the heliosphere.
Posted inNews
The Mystery of the Moon’s Missing Metals
For decades, scientists have tried to figure out why the Moon has a thousand times less precious metals than Earth. Turns out the metals may not have been delivered after all.
Posted inNews
The Search for the Impact That Cratered Ancient Scotland
Great Britain’s largest impact crater likely lies in the Scottish Highlands. Scientists dispute whether it’s to the west or the east.