Earth's Systems

  1. Chemistry

    Scientists Say: Salinity

    The higher the salinity, the saltier a body of water.

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  2. Earth

    One 2022 tsunami may have been as tall as the Statue of Liberty

    A massive volcanic eruption in the South Pacific, earlier this year, appears to have triggered one tsunami that was initially 90 meters (nearly 300 feet) tall.

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  3. Climate

    Heat waves appear more life-threatening than scientists once thought

    This is bad news as a warming planet leads to growing numbers of excessive heat waves — and millions more people facing potentially deadly temperatures.

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  4. Physics

    Scientists used lasers to make ‘smoke rings’ of light

    Physicists had a bright idea: Make light into swirling, ring-shaped vortices, similar to smoke rings or bubble rings.

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  5. Earth

    Uplifting Antarctic shores point to accelerating loss of glaciers

    It appears the Pine Island and “Doomsday” Thwaites glaciers are losing ice — and shrinking faster — than at any time in the past 5,500 years.

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  6. Materials Science

    Let’s learn about diamond

    Diamond is born under extreme heat and pressure inside Earth and elsewhere in the universe.

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  7. Earth

    Scientists Say: Fault

    A fault is a crack in Earth’s crust where pieces of rock scrape past each other.

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  8. Earth

    Tiny gemstones show when Earth’s crust first started moving

    Chemical hints observed in zircons suggest when the important process of plate tectonics first took off.

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  9. Space

    Gravitational waves ‘kicked’ a newborn black hole across space

    Two black holes merged into one, and then sped off at around 5 million kilometers (3.1 million miles) per hour.

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  10. Earth

    Scientists Say: Atmosphere

    An atmosphere is an envelope of gas around a planet, dwarf planet or moon.

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  11. Tech

    This sun-powered system delivers energy as it pulls water from the air

    The device not only produces electricity but also harvests water for drinking or crops. It could be especially useful in remote and dry parts of the world.

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  12. Earth

    A bold plan to save the planet turns carbon dioxide into stone

    Scientists hope that capturing carbon dioxide this way will limit both further warming of our planet and an escalation of extreme weather events.

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