It's a dizzyingly busy time for scientists searching for life on distant planets. To date, astronomers have cataloged more than 6,000 planets beyond our solar system and are searching the atmospheres of the most promising worlds for chemicals that might be byproducts of life.

Warming air temperatures are causing glaciers to shrink by about 8% each decade. Human activity is putting serious strain on groundwater supplies around the world, a new study suggests. Forecasters are monitoring three cyclones set to make landfall on North American coastlines over the next two days.

Scientists have discovered that magma deep inside Earth can store surprising amounts of extra oxygen, potentially revealing a hidden contributor to our planet's oxygen-rich atmosphere. The findings suggest that ancient volcanic eruptions may have helped transform Earth's atmosphere billions of years ago,

At the request of NASA (Science Mission Directorate’s Earth Science Division), the National Academies is initiating “ESAS 2028,” the Decadal Survey for Earth Science and Applications from Space 2028–2037 . This community-based effort will develop a ...

Suppose that you could create a K–12 science and engineering curriculum from scratch. How would you go about doing it? Over the past four years, that’s essentially what we have done: first by writing the National Research Council’s report, Receive ...

The Department of Earth Science (formerly Geological Sciences) offers Master of Science (MS) and doctoral (Ph.D.) degree programs. Students interested in graduate work in the Earth sciences should carefully read the detailed information regarding ...