Fireballs in the summer sky may signify a chance to probe their mysterious origin.
unsolved mysteries
Posted inScience Updates
Untangling a Web of Interactions Where Surf Meets Coastal Ocean
In 2017, an ocean research team launched an unprecedented effort to understand what drives ocean currents in the overlap regions between surf zones and continental shelves.
Posted inNews
New Model Shines Spotlight on Geomagnetic Jerks
Scientists get one step closer to being able to predict jerks—notoriously capricious changes to Earth’s geomagnetic field detectable by satellites.
Posted inScience Updates
Seismologists Search for the Indian Ocean’s “Missing Mass”
An Indian scientific team set out to sea last year to find clues to the source of an unusually weak gravitational potential in the middle of the Indian Ocean.
Posted inFeatures
The Unsolved Mystery of the Earth Blobs
Researchers peering into Earth’s interior found two continent-sized structures that upend our picture of the mantle. What could their existence mean for us back on Earth’s surface?
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Observations Show Gravity Waves Above Antarctica Dance in Winter
Year-round observations show gravity waves above Antarctica exhibit seasonal patterns that peak in winter, which could help researchers trace the source of this mysterious phenomenon.
Posted inNews
The Akkadian Empire—Felled by Dust?
Chemical measurements of a stalagmite from a cave in Iran reveal a large uptick in dust activity in northern Mesopotamia roughly 4,200 years ago, coincident with the decline of the Akkadian Empire.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Peering into Pores: What Happens When Water Meets Soil?
New research sheds light on the long-standing puzzle of how and why soil water density differs from free water density.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Cassini Reveals a Missing Link on Saturn’s Rotating Aurora
The bright aurorae dancing in the sky are produced by charged particles traveling along the magnetic field lines from tens of planetary radii. By why do aurorae rotate at Saturn but not at Earth?
Posted inResearch Spotlights
The Case of the Missing Lunar Heat Flow Data Is Finally Solved
Decades-old data analyzed for the first time suggest that astronauts’ disturbance of the Moon surface increased solar heat intake, warming the ground below.