The ground beneath major U.S. cities is slowly sinking, according to new research that documents land subsidence in all 28 of the nation’s most populous urban areas. Driven primarily by groundwater extraction, the phenomenon poses a structural risk to homes, roads, and infrastructure in cities such as New York, Houston, and Chicago.
Natural disaster-related losses in the first quarter of 2025 have surged to over USD 110 billion, a sharp increase from the decade-long average. While insurers absorbed a substantial portion of these damages, nearly half of the losses remain uninsured. With the US facing mounting risks from severe storms and wildfires, the protection gap remains a growing concern.
Antarctica has shown a rare shift in behavior, gaining ice mass between 2021 and 2023 after years of steady decline. Using satellite gravimetry, researchers tracked this anomaly and linked it to unusual precipitation rather than long-term change. The findings offer insight into the continent’s sensitivity but little certainty about what comes next.
A new study published in PNAS provides the most detailed view to date of the dormant Uturuncu volcano in southwestern Bolivia, revealing that its long-standing ground deformation and seismic unrest are driven by the movement of hot fluids and gases, not by magma ascent. Researchers conclude there is no immediate eruption risk, but confirm that a deep magmatic system remains active beneath the surface.
Gold may not come from where you think. According to new research, some of the gold found in objects like phones and laptops could have been forged in violent magnetar explosions billions of years ago.
Kosmos 482, a Soviet descent module built to survive Venus’s atmosphere, is expected to reenter Earth’s atmosphere between May 8 and 11, 2025, with a high probability of debris survival due to its robust design.
Researchers predict that solar cycle 25 will produce 2 ± 1 extremely strong solar flares (stronger than X14.3) after spring 2027, along with a broader estimate of 5 ± 2 flares exceeding X10, based on solar observations since 1975.
A new study reveals that 14–17 % of global cropland, roughly 242 million ha (598 million acres), is contaminated with toxic metals, affecting food safety for up to 1.4 billion people. The contamination, driven by metals like cadmium and nickel, poses risks to agriculture and human health worldwide.
Researchers using the James Webb Space Telescope have detected molecules in the atmosphere of exoplanet K2-18b that may indicate potential biological activity. The analysis revealed the presence of dimethyl sulfide and dimethyl disulfide—compounds that, on Earth, are primarily produced by biological processes.
Large-scale pressure changes following a strong sudden stratospheric warming event in mid-March 2025, which caused the collapse of the polar vortex, are expected to drive spring weather patterns across Canada and the United States into May. Northerly winds are expected to bring colder air into parts of North America, while high-pressure zones may lead to warmer conditions in the central U.S. and southern Canada. The shifts in weather patterns are consistent with the typical effects observed following a polar vortex disruption, where the jet stream becomes more erratic, leading to unusual temperature distributions and weather events.
