New Atlas

Environment Audio available

Can tropical tectonic activity trigger ice ages?

Michael Irving March 14, 2019

Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is a major driver of shifts in the Earth’s climate, and in the past too little CO2 has been associated with triggering ice ages. Now a team of scientists has found a surprising new mechanism that could lead to ice ages: Tropical tectonic activity.

Tropical tectonic activity, such as that occurring in Indonesia today, may have triggered ice ages in ...

Science

NASA recreates primordial ocean hydrothermal vents to study the origins of life

David Szondy February 25, 2019

To gain a better understanding of how life might have arisen on Earth and other planets, a NASA team led by astrobiologist Laurie Barge recreated the conditions in the vicinity of hydrothermal vents at the bottom of the ocean four billion years ago.

Recent Cassini images of Saturn's moon Enceladus backlit by the sun show the the fine spray ...

Science Audio available

Massive mountain range found in the Earth's mantle

Michael Irving February 14, 2019

According to a new study, Earth's surface is smooth compared to the landscapes found deep within the planet. Using data from one of the biggest earthquakes on record, geophysicists have now found massive mountain ranges hundreds of kilometers beneath our feet.

A diagram of the Earth's layers, including the transition zone – the bottom boundary of which ...

Space Audio available

Liquid lake on Mars might be evidence the Red Planet is still volcanically active

Michael Irving February 12, 2019

Last year a huge lake of liquid water was apparently found beneath the ice at the Martian south pole. A new study has now examined how it might have gotten there, and concluded that Mars must have had volcanic activity much more recently than is normally believed, and may even still be active today.

A visualization of the south pole of Mars, where a huge lake of liquid water is ...

Space Audio available

Massive star may be the reason Earth isn't a waterworld

David Szondy February 11, 2019

Scientists have used computer models to show that our planet has a moderate climate and isn't an ocean world because there was a massive star in the vicinity of the primordial solar system that evaporated some of the water that otherwise would have been delivered to Earth as it formed.

Artist’s rendering of researchers’ simulations showing how planetary systems born in dense and massive star formation ...

Environment Audio available

Ancient glacial landscape unexpectedly found in African desert

Michael Irving February 5, 2019

Today, the desert country of Namibia isn’t somewhere you’d expect to find much ice, but 300 million years ago it was a very different landscape. A team of geologists has now discovered a land formation that’s associated with fast-moving glaciers, and isn’t usually found in the desert.

Geologists have discovered unexpected land formations in Namibia, which indicate the area was once covered in ...

Science Audio available

Earth's north magnetic pole sprints toward Siberia

David Szondy February 4, 2019

Scientists at the US NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) bureau have had to update its World Magnetic Model (WMM) almost a year early because the Earth's north magnetic pole is moving faster than predicted, which could affect global navigation.

An update to the World Magnetic Model (WMM) was required early due to the north magnetic ...

Environment Audio available

Ancient crystals suggest Earth's core is 4 billion years younger than the planet

Michael Irving January 29, 2019

The Earth is almost 4.5 billion years old, but it’s young at heart – literally. Researchers from the University of Rochester have now dated the solid inner core of the planet to just 565 million years, making it a relative toddler compared to the rest of Earth.

A new study dates the Earth's inner core to just 565 million years old – much ...

Science Audio available

Are we living in the age of the chicken?

David Szondy December 12, 2018

Move over humans, there's a new dominant species on Earth – the chicken. According to researchers from the UK and South Africa, the most prominent marker of our age will not be our great monuments or industrial pollution, but the fossilized bones of hundreds of billions of domestic chickens.

A new study suggests the chicken is the most obvious evidence of the Anthropocene

Environment Audio available

10-year study documents massive, mysterious ecosystem deep beneath our feet

Michael Irving December 10, 2018

A study has taken a census of life in the “deep biosphere” beneath the Earth's surface. Among the finds are bizarre creatures that can survive at record depths, pressures and temperatures, and even “zombie” bacteria that may live (in a loose sense of the word) for millions of years at a time.

Researchers have cataloged the extensive biosphere of life deep beneath the surface of the Earth