October 2020

Antarctica Yields Oldest Fossils of Giant Birds With 21-foot Wingspans

A paleontologist cleans a fossilized bird cranium at Peru’s National History Museum in Lima, Friday, Photo: Martin Mejia, As…

A Giant Mammoth Graveyard Was Just Discovered Outside Mexico City

The position of the bones suggests to scientists that the mammoth may have been partially cut up by a human group.   Archaeo…

Fault Near Portland Could Unleash a Major Earthquake

New evidence for geologically recent earthquakes near Portland, Oregon metro area A fault near Portland, Oregon, has the…

Long-Lost Tectonic Plate Discovered Hundreds of Miles Below Canada

A 3D block diagram across North America showing a mantle tomography image reveals the Slab Unfolding method used to flatten …

Geologists Solve Crucial Mystery Surrounding The Deposits of Rare Earth Elements

A handful of europium. Credit: Alchemist-hp, CC BY-SA   An international team of scientists has helped to unravel a longstan…

Seismic Study Proves Rain Really Can Move Mountains

Painted Desert Arizona   A pioneering technique which captures precisely how mountains bend to the will of raindrops has hel…

Turning Diamond Into Metal

Long known as the hardest of all natural materials, diamonds are also exceptional thermal conductors and electrical insu…

800 Years Ago, Old Faithful Went Quiet. Soon, It Might Happen Again

Old Faithful Geyser next to the Old Faithful Inn, illustrating how high the eruptions can reach. Photo: Jeff Vanuga   Old Fa…

What Lies Beneath a Volcano?

The complex plumbing system beneath volcanoes has been revealed in the clearest detail ever, marking a "major step fo…

Earth Grows Fine Gemstones in Minutes

Tanzanite crystal. photo: Collector's Edge Minerals   Rome wasn't built in a day, but some of Earth's finest gem…

New Insights Into the Origin of Diamonds in Meteorites

Scientists have offered new insights into the origin of diamonds in ureilites (a group of stony meteorites). These diamo…

Arkansas Man Finds 9-carat Diamond at Crater of Diamonds State Park

Kevin Kinard was visiting Arkansas' Crater of Diamonds State Park when he discovered a 9.07 carat diamond. A bank mana…

3,000-pound Triceratops Skull Named 'Shady' Excavated in South Dakota

A 7-foot-long, 3,000-pound triceratops skull dubbed "Shady" has been unearthed in the Badlands of South Dakota, a …

Gold Miners Discover 100 Million-year-old Meteorite Crater Down Under

The newly discovered crater is thought to be five times bigger than Wolfe Creek Crater (pictured), one of the largest meteor…