Japan's Hayabusa2 probe drops explosive payload and blasts crater in asteroid Ryugu
A Japanese probe on Friday successfully launched an explosive device at an asteroid to blast a crater in its surface, from which it is planned to scoop up material that could shed light on how the solar system evolved. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) ...
Israeli spelunkers say salt cave running through Mount Sodom into Dead Sea is world's longest
Israeli cave explorers said Thursday that a salt cave with striking stalactites near the Dead Sea is the world's longest, beating the record-holder in Iran. The cave, named Malham, stretching over 10 kilometers (6.25 miles), runs through Mount Sodom, Israel's largest mountain, and spills out ...
Researchers discover Japan's oldest known rock, dating back 2.5 billion years
Japanese researchers said Monday they have found the country's oldest known rock, dating back 2.5 billion years, in Shimane Prefecture — around 500 million years earlier than the previous oldest discovery. A team from Hiroshima University collected fragments of the rock, which is located near ...
North magnetic pole's movement forces unprecedented navigation fix
Rapid shifts in the Earth's north magnetic pole are forcing researchers to make an unprecedented early update to a model that helps navigation by ships, planes and submarines in the Arctic. Compass needles point toward the north magnetic pole, a point that has crept unpredictably ...
Indonesia hikes danger level for volcano that spawned killer tsunami
Indonesia on Thursday raised the danger alert level for a volcano that sparked a killer tsunami last weekend, after previously warning that fresh activity at the crater threatened to trigger another deadly wave. Authorities also widened a no-go zone around Anak Krakatau to 5 kilometers ...
Tsunami triggered by underwater slope failure on Indonesia's Anak Krakatau volcano kills hundreds
A volcano-triggered tsunami has left at least 222 people dead and hundreds more injured after slamming without warning into beaches around Indonesia's Sunda Strait, officials said Sunday, voicing fears that the toll will rise further. Hundreds of buildings were destroyed by the wave, which hit ...
NASA's Martian quake sensor, InSight, expected to work despite landing at slight angle
NASA's unmanned Martian quake sensor, InSight, has landed at a slight angle on the red planet, and experts are hopeful the spacecraft will work as planned, the U.S. space agency said Friday. The $993 million lander arrived Monday at its target, a lava plain named ...
Geologists are keeping a close eye on the crater of Hawaii's Kilauea volcano and a lava-spouting cone on its flank for possible signs a nearly three-month eruption may be slowing. Up until Thursday, Kilauea had not had an explosion in 53 hours, the longest break ...
Lava from Kilauea 'collapse explosion' destroys evacuated Hawaiian structures
A "collapse explosion" at the summit of Hawaii's Kilauea volcano on Wednesday sent a surge of lava that destroyed structures in an evacuated housing development, geologists and civil defense authorities said. The blast sparked by the gradual collapse of the volcano's crater was equivalent to ...
Scientists defy 'force of nature' to unlock secrets of Hawaii volcano
Dressed in heavy cotton and wearing a helmet and respirator, Jessica Ball worked the night shift monitoring fissure 8, which has been spewing fountains of lava as high as a 15-story building from a slope on Hawaii's Kilauea volcano. The lava poured into a channel ...
Thousands of tourists stranded as Bali eruption closes airport
Thousands of tourists were stranded Friday as Bali shuttered its international airport following a volcanic eruption on the Indonesian resort island that shot a thick plume of ash and smoke thousands of meters into the sky, officials said. The early morning closure of Ngurah Rai ...
Mars' surface hardened quickly, boosting odds of life: study
The crust that encases rocky planets and makes possible the emergence of life took shape on Mars earlier than thought and at least 100 million years sooner than on Earth, researchers said Wednesday. Analyzing grains of the mineral zircon extracted from a Martian meteorite known ...
