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!
Earth’s magnetic field is crucial for our existence, as it shields the life on our planet’s surface from deadly cosmic rays. It is generated by turbulent motions of liquid iron in Earth’s core. Iron is a metal, which means it can easily conduct a flow
Two new U.S. Geological Survey publications that highlight historical hydraulic fracturing trends and data from 1947 to 2010 are now available.Hydraulic fracturing is presently the primary stimulation technique for oil and gas production in unconventional resource reser
Comprehensive cross-section measurements from air from December 30, 2014 and January 21, 2015 show that the lava field has thickened substantially during these three weeks and that the volume of the lava field is now little less than 1.4 km³. The flow of magma, dur
Archaeologists continue to debate the reasons for the collapse of many Central American cities and states, from Teotihuacan in Mexico to the Yucatan Maya, and climate change is considered one of the major causes.A University of California, Berkeley, study sheds new ligh
The population balance of some marine ‘pests’ could be drastically changed as the world’s oceans become increasingly acidic.Populations of certain types of marine organisms known collectively as the ‘biofouling community’ – tiny
CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology released climate change projections for Australia that provide updated national and regional information on how the climate may change to the end of the 21st century.The projections are the most comprehensive ever released for Austral
A swarm of tiny probes each equipped with a different sensor could be fired into the clouds of Jupiter and grab data as they fall before burning up in the gas giant planet's atmosphere, according to a recently presented concept in International Journal of Space Scie
A bioluminescent algal bloom created by Noctiluca scintillans, commonly known as Sea Sparkle, is turning Hong Kong's seashores into a spectacular and disturbing sight this week. Scientists say the fluorescent blue glow is an indicator of a harmful algal bloom. Altho
The electric comet idea forces us to consult the astronomical testimony of our earlier forebears, where independent accounts, told with different words and different symbols in different parts of the world, convey a story of planetary catastrophe. Watch Update #1: The R
Scientists using ice-penetrating radar data collected by NASA’s Operation IceBridge and earlier airborne campaigns have built the first-ever comprehensive map of layers deep inside the Greenland Ice Sheet. This new map allows scientists to determine the age of lar
