A Visit with the Glacier Squad

For 35 years, a scientist and his team have been taking the pulse of 10 coastal glaciers. The diagnosis is in.

Jul 16, 2019 | 4,100 words, about 20 minutes

Brazil Just Got a Huge New Oil Field. Or Did It?

Brazil is petitioning the United Nations to extend its territorial waters to include the new oil field, but opinions are divided as to whether the country needs to wait for approval before it can start drilling.

Jul 15, 2019 | 850 words, about 4 minutes

Feeling the Heat in Winter

This year in Alaska, an abnormal rise in temperature has, like in much of the north, disrupted isolated communities, upset subsistence hunting patterns, and even led to some deaths.

May 29, 2019 | 950 words, about 4 minutes

The Search for Life on Mars Begins in Iceland

NASA is sending a rover to Mars in 2020 to look for signs of life. To know which signs to look for, scientists are studying geothermal sites in coastal Iceland.

Dec 12, 2018 | 900 words, about 4 minutes

The Cavernous World under the Woods

On Vancouver Island, karst researchers hustle to save one of Earth’s most underappreciated—and fragile—ecosystems: an ecosystem hidden in plain sight.

Nov 20, 2018 | 5,400 words, about 27 minutes

The Mysterious Origin of Oolitic Sand

New evidence is emerging for the odd hypothesis that this strange, egg-shaped sand is built by microbes.

Aug 23, 2018 | 450 words, about 2 minutes

What Bones, Genes, and Space-Singed Rocks Tell Us About the Peopling of the Americas

Two new studies add to the emerging narrative of how the first people arrived in and settled the Americas.

May 31, 2018 | 1,000 words, about 5 minutes

When Mountains Fall into the Sea

As glaciers melt, unstable slopes are being exposed and are on the precipice of collapse.

May 1, 2018 | 2,800 words, about 14 minutes