The dazzling lights of the aurora are created when high-energy particles from space collide with Earth's atmosphere. While ...

Andy Weir’s bestselling story The Martian predicts that by 2035 NASA will have landed humans on Mars three times, perfected return-to-Earth flight systems and collaborated with the China National ...

Gary Glatzmaier, professor of Earth and planetary sciences at UC Santa Cruz, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of his excellence in original scientific research.

A new international study published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters reveals that the boundaries between geological epochs and periods, even though randomly distributed, follow a hidden, ...

At the Cascadia subduction zone in the Pacific Northwest, one tectonic plate is moving underneath another. New experimental work at UC Davis shows how rocks on faults deep in the Earth can cement ...

Scientists are trying to understand why the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere changed by about 90 parts per million (ppmv) between icy (glacial) and warmer (interglacial) periods in Earth’s history.

I’m a planetary scientist who was born the year of Sputnik’s launch. Over the course of my 40-year career, I’ve witnessed not one but at least five separate revolutions that fundamentally transformed ...

A study published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters has uncovered evidence of an extreme ancient solar storm that struck Earth over 14,000 years ago, during the waning days of the ...

Researchers discovered a new field of ancient tektites in South Australia, revealing a long-forgotten asteroid impact. These 11-million-year-old glass fragments differ chemically and geographically ...

Mars, often depicted as a barren red planet, is far from lifeless. With its thin atmosphere and dusty surface, it is an energetic and electrically charged environment where dust storms and dust devils ...