The Watchers team and our contributors bring the latest on extreme weather, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, space weather, and all things science. We're all about making sense of the natural world and keeping you informed on what’s happening. Got a tip or a question? Hit us up using the form at newstips!

  • The anomaly in the Earth’s magnetic field which has geophysicists abuzz

    In this interview, EGU's Laura Roberts Artal speaks with Jay Shah, a Ph.D. student at Imperial College London, who is investigating the South Atlantic Anomaly, a patch over the South Atlantic where the Earth’s magnetic field is weaker than elsewhere on the…

  • OSIRIS-REx slingshots past Earth toward Asteroid Bennu

    OSIRIS-REx, NASA’s asteroid sample return spacecraft successfully used Earth’s gravity on Friday, September 22, 2017 to slingshot itself on a path toward the Asteroid Bennu, for a rendezvous next August. The spacecraft came within 17 237 km (10 711…

  • Jupiter’s auroras present a powerful mystery

    Scientists on NASA's Juno mission have observed massive amounts of energy swirling over Jupiter's polar regions that contribute to the giant planet's powerful auroras – only not in ways the researchers expected. Examining data collected by the…

  • Tectonic plates weaker than previously thought

    Experiments carried out at Oxford University have revealed that tectonic plates are weaker than previously thought. The finding explains an ambiguity in lab work that led scientists to believe these rocks were much stronger than they appeared to be in the natural…

  • Plane dodges tornadoes in hair-raising landing in Sochi, Russia

    A plane was filmed landing in the Russian city of Sochi with three large tornadic waterspouts right behind it on August 29, 2017. Up to twelve tornadoes were spotted off the coast on the same day, and it is the second week in a row that the columns have ripped…

  • Electric comets: The most dramatic displays

    In our previous episode, we began a commemoration of the 5-year anniversary of Space News from the EU with a comprehensive summary of the most significant findings to date from comet missions. Today, we continue our commemoration with a review of the some of the…

  • Floods affect 16 million, kill 500 in Nepal, India and Bangladesh

    More than 16 million people in Nepal, India and Bangladesh are affected by monsoon floods in one of the most serious crises the region has seen in many years, IFRC reports. So far, floods in those three countries are thought to have killed about 500 people….

  • Plutonium and americium detected in air near Highway 240 at Hanford site

    Radioactive plutonium and americium were detected in air samples collected on Thursday, June 8, 2017 at the Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington, US, state officials said Tuesday, August 8. According to Hanford officials, State of Washington's Department of…

  • Breakthrough device heals organs with a single touch

    Researchers at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and Ohio State's College of Engineering have developed a new technology, Tissue Nanotransfection (TNT), that can generate any cell type of interest for treatment within the patient's own body….