Members of the Society for Exploration Geophysicists have a new mission: Using geophysics to solve humanitarian problems.

Thousands of abandoned coal mines in Pennsylvania have left a legacy: Mine drainage with sky-high metal concentrations is polluting Pennsylvania’s streams and groundwater.

Siberia’s Lake Baikal — the deepest lake in the world — is one of the planet’s great geological treasures.

Near the ghost town of Prypiat, Ukraine, the ruins of Chernobyl's reactor number four remain buried under 200 meters of concrete — the remnants of the worst nuclear disaster in history.

A newly discovered web-footed mammal may shed new light on the land-to-sea animal evolutionary theory.

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

The first official celebration of Earth Day on April 22, 1970, was actually the result of seven years of planning. With the 40th anniversary of Earth Day approaching in 2010, the once-grassroots call to arms for environmental causes has become a worldwide event.

When burned, coal releases more carbon dioxide than any other fossil fuel — but the world's growing demand for electricity means more coal will likely be burned in the near future, not less. Coal-fired power plants that capture their carbon dioxide emissions and permanently store them underground, however, may drastically reduce their impact on the global climate.

Iraq’s fertile marshes may have once inspired the biblical Garden of Eden, but decades of dams, dikes and canals on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers turned many of the marshes to patches of parched soil by 2000. Post-Saddam Hussein, restoration efforts had begun to help the marshes — but now they're shrinking again. 

It's not just lava and ash: Some volcanic plumes are associated with waterspouts, dust devils and powerful flashes of lightning — in fact, volcanic columns can strongly resemble mesocyclones, the spinning columns of air at the heart of tornadic thunderstorms.

How the new administration's policymakers treat energy research and development will be telling: If they’re smart, say commenters Alix Broadfoot and Michael Webber, they’ll avoid earmarks.

Despite all of our efforts to date, no domestic, sustainable, scalable, affordable and environmentally friendly alternative for transportation fuels has emerged. Is it time to give coal-to-liquids a chance?

Earthquake prediction is considered by most seismologists to be both unreliable and unscientific — historically, it has relied on oddities like animal behavior or lights in the sky. But events like the deadly 2004 Sumatra quake and Monday's quake in central Italy may draw new funding to quake prediction researchers.

The magnitude-6.3 earthquake killed at least 90 people and destroyed historic buildings.

Jupiter’s face has undergone a few changes over time. Even as the gas giant’s most famous feature — the colossal storm known as the Great Red Spot — appears to be shrinking, other spots have appeared.