News
Beneath the Grand Canyon's famous walls, a secret water highway keeps millions of visitors alive " and scientists are finally mapping it
4+ hour, 15+ min ago (737+ words) On a summer day at the Grand Canyon, a hiker stops at a water station deep in the gorge " exhausted, overheated, grateful for a cold refill. What they likely don't know: every drop of that water flows from a single…...
Princeton, Iowa spent $800, 000 on a new well and now its 350 residents are drinking from a pipe drilled in 1963
1+ day, 22+ hour ago (831+ words) Princeton, Iowa sits on the banks of the Mississippi River with roughly 1, 000 residents and, until recently, a single aging well drilled in 1963 as its only source of drinking water. After years without a backup, the town invested nearly $800, 000 to drill…...
Scotland's strangest sea cave spent 60 million years turning volcanic rock into a concert hall that moved Mendelssohn to tears
2+ day, 18+ hour ago (490+ words) What shaped this place " and why it has drawn composers, poets, and royalty across centuries " turns out to be a story 60 million years in the making. Staffa's dramatic geometry begins with an eruption. During the Paleocene epoch " roughly 66 to 56 million…...
Old rocks in Australia reveal Earth's tectonic plates were already drifting 3. 5 billion years ago " far earlier than many scientists believed
1+ week, 10+ hour ago (533+ words) Scientists have been studying for many years to reveal an ancient history buried deep beneath layers of rock. Earth's continents are moving very slowly today as they create oceans, affect climate and support all forms of life. But until now,…...
An underwater volcano no one had mapped just erupted in the Bismarck Sea " and it may be building a new island
2+ week, 2+ hour ago (345+ words) Scientists can map the surface of Mars in sharper detail than stretches of Earth's own ocean floor. Nowhere is that gap more glaring than the Bismarck Sea, a deep, geologically tangled basin north of Papua New Guinea " a place where…...
These four glaciers have existed since the age of the mammoths, and now they could disappear for the first time in human history
3+ week, 4+ day ago (575+ words) These four glaciers have endured for thousands of years in changing environments. They first formed when mammoths still wandered across North America. Now, scientists warn that the ancient ice could disappear within decades. Researchers now think some Sierra Nevada ice…...
Archaeologists discovered Pompeii had been operating in "emergency mode" long before Vesuvius buried the city
4+ week, 8+ hour ago (594+ words) Pompeii was already operating in emergency mode long before Mount Vesuvius buried the city. Seventeen years earlier, a violent earthquake devastated the region Many buildings never fully recovered. Archaeological evidence proves Pompeii entered a permanent survival state after 62 CE. Instead…...
Scientists are investigating the Great Salt Lake after mysterious red, blue, green, and pink islands suddenly began appearing across its surface
4+ week, 1+ day ago (240+ words) Researchers noticed strange patches of colorful "islands" on the Great Salt Lake in Utah. They now believe the lake's salt concentration is to blame....
This library has had silent "employees" protecting its books for 300 years until you realize they've never been paid and never stop working
1+ mon, 1+ week ago (567+ words) Credits: Xiquinhosilva from Cacau (CC 2. 0 Generic, no changes made) Every night, silent "employees" sweep through a historic library, guarding books without fail. They never clock in, never ask for payment, and have occupied these stacks for over three centuries. Visitors…...
Ancient tectonic plates buried 2, 900 kilometers deep are still warping Earth's mantle and scientists just mapped them globally for the first time
1+ mon, 2+ week ago (443+ words) Nearly 2, 900 kilometers below the surface, just above Earth's molten core, something has been quietly reshaping the planet's deepest rock for millions of years. Now, for the first time, scientists have mapped that deformation on a global scale. To do it,…...