As you would expect, there's been tons of coverage of the earthquake off the coast of Chile and the resulting tsunami in the mainstream media. And yes, some of it has been notoriously poor.

We recommend: One of EARTH's regular contributors, Callan Bentley, has a thoughtful post up on his blog about what makes a natural disaster. Click through for the link.

Today NASA released new Hubble images of dwarf planet Pluto — and far from being just an icy colorless rock, the images show a mottled, orangey-black world.

Climatologist Michael Mann met the press today at the American Geophysical Union's fall meeting to answer questions about "Climategate" and what those hacked emails really said about climate science.

Is the developed world outsourcing its carbon dioxide emissions? And if so — should we help pay for them?

Last spring, researchers claimed they had found the common ancestor of monkeys and apes, dubbed Darwinius. The discovery of another, very similar, primate fossil provides more evidence that Darwinius was no missing link after all.

NASA crash-landed a rocket on the moon to look for evidence of water. The collision didn't produce a notable plume as expected, but scientists are confident they have the data they need to answer their questions.

A layer of pure ice, buried just a meter or two below the surface, might extend over as much as half of the red planet, scientists from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter team reported today.

For a humbling sense of perspective, the European Southern Observatory has a new way to look at the universe: with a zoom button.

It's MBARI CEO Marcia McNutt.

The first climate report from Barack Obama's presidency synthesizes existing scientific data and has a strong message: Climate change isn't coming; it's already here. The next question: What the country should do about it.gdmfu52rxt

A geologic period just got a little older.

Disney's new movie about the natural world is light on storyline, but offers spectacular views of our planet and its inhabitants.