Earth's inner core has begun drifting backward relative to the surface after decades of moving slightly faster
Aug 17, 2026
What's new in
Earth & Environment
Climate, energy, ecology, and the systems that keep the planet running.
The Amazon is often called “the lungs of the Earth,” but a mature rainforest's net oxygen contribution is close to zero
Aug 17, 2026
We assume the deepest parts of the ocean are dark and empty, but the walls of the Mariana Trench hold snailfish drifting five miles down…
Aug 16, 2026
A 300-megawatt nuclear reactor running flat-out produces about 2.6 terawatt-hours a year
Aug 15, 2026
Every year, roughly 27.7 million tonnes of dust lift off the Bodélé Depression in Chad, cross 5,000 kilometres of Atlantic Ocean, and…
Aug 14, 2026
Rain fell across part of the Atacama Desert in 2015 and again in 2017 after roughly five centuries without it, but instead of reviving the…
Aug 14, 2026
In 1956, one watt of solar capacity cost about $1,865 in today's money
Aug 14, 2026
At its peak 6,000 years ago, a lake in the Sahara covered roughly 360,000 square kilometres, more than all five Great Lakes combined, yet…
By Mal James · Aug 14, 2026
In 1996 Norway made the first roughly $300 million deposit into its oil fund, and by mid-2026 the fund was worth about $2.3 trillion
By Mal James · Aug 14, 2026
The Philippines is the world's largest importer of rice, buying more of the grain from foreign countries each year than any other nation on…
Aug 13, 2026
There is a lake in Venezuela where lightning flashes so often it becomes part of the landscape
By Daniel Moran · Aug 13, 2026
A single bolt of lightning is five times hotter than the surface of the Sun
Aug 13, 2026