Latest articles by Stephanie Pappas
3.5 billion-year-old rock structures are one of the oldest signs of life on Earth
Fossils called stromatolites from Western Australia were created by microbes 3.48 billion years ago.
Weird quantum experiment shows protons have more 'charm' than we thought
Protons can contain a charm quark, an elementary particle 1.5 times heavier than the proton itself.
Deepest earthquake ever detected should have been impossible
Researchers have detected the deepest earthquake ever, 467 miles below the Earth's surface.
Mountain-size chunk of rock hiding under Japan is channeling earthquakes
An underground mountain-sized chunk of rock may be affecting paths of large earthquakes in southern Japan.
Rare plutonium from space found in deep-sea crust
A rare type of plutonium has been found in the crust below the deep sea, offering new clues as to how heavy metals form in star explosions and mergers.
Giant blobs in Earth's mantle may be driving a 'diamond factory' near our planet's core
Water driven toward Earth's center by plate tectonics could lead to the creation of diamonds at the boundary between the core and the mantle.
4 billion-year-old chunk of Earth's crust found below Australia
An ancient piece of crust is hiding below Western Australia, having survived 4 billion years of upheaval.
Document supposedly written by Galileo is a fake
A document thought to have been handwritten by Galileo Galilei is in fact a 20th-century fake.
For the first time, scientists have named a heat wave
For the first time, authorities have given a heat wave a name. Scientists hope that naming extreme heat events will help the public protect itself.
Exploding meteor startles Utah
A loud explosion heard Saturday (Aug. 13) in Utah may have been an exploding Perseid meteor.
Did a second killer asteroid finish the dinosaurs off? Crater in West Africa hints yes.
A 66 million-year-old impact crater has been discovered off the coast of West Africa, raising questions about just how many deadly space rocks the dinosaurs had to deal with.
Extreme physics of 'supercritical' matter may be surprisingly simple
At 'supercriticality,' the difference between the liquid and gas phases of a material seems to disappear. New research finds that this weird tipping point may be simpler than scientists thought.
Siberian tundra could vanish in less than 500 years
The Siberian tundra could disappear by the year 2500, unless greenhouse gas emissions are dramatically reduced.
Watch the biggest-ever comet outburst spray dust across the cosmos
The dust trail from the largest comet outburst on record will be visible to amateur astronomers in late July 2022.
Sunspot sends off double flare, as solar activity ramps up
A restless sunspot sent off a double solar flare on Monday (April 25), temporarily disrupting some radio communications in Asia and Australia.
'Dead sunspot' launches ball of plasma toward Earth
The "corpse" of a sunspot exploded Monday (April 11), triggering a mass ejection of solar material that is headed in Earth's direction.
4 planets line up like ducks in a row in gorgeous night-sky image
The moon is leading a parade of four planets across the predawn sky this week.
Massive meteorite impact created the hottest mantle rock ever
It's confirmed: The hottest rock ever discovered in Earth's crust really was super-hot.
Scientists create weird pumpkin-shaped nucleus that vanishes in nanoseconds
A newly created isotope of the silvery metal lutetium has a strange squashed nucleus and a half-life of just a few hundred nanoseconds.
Is it time to send another message to intelligent aliens? Some scientists think so.
Scientists have crafted a new message for intelligent extraterrestrials
Earth's core is a billion years old
The solidification of the inner core may have strengthened Earth's magnetic field.
NASA set to launch 2 rockets into the northern lights
Researchers plan to launch two rockets into the heart of the northern lights. Here's what they might find.
Odd circular shape beneath the ocean in Google Earth images is probably not aliens
A circular shape on the seafloor visible on Google Earth is raising cries of "UFO," but chances are … it's not aliens.
