Featured
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Nature Podcast |
How an increased heart rate could induce anxiety in mice
A method to directly stimulate a rodent’s heart shows how bodily states can affect emotions, and assessing the impact of NASA’s mission to move an asteroid.
- Nick Petrić Howe
- & Shamini Bundell
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News |
Secrets of Earth’s inner core revealed by large quakes
Seismic waves travel differently through innermost core than through outer section.
- Bianca Nogrady
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Article |
Weak upper-mantle base revealed by postseismic deformation of a deep earthquake
The Earth’s mantle viscosity is studied following a deep earthquake located near the bottom of the upper mantle, and a weak layer is detected that is consequential to the understanding of mantle dynamics.
- Sunyoung Park
- , Jean-Philippe Avouac
- & Adriano Gualandi
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Article |
Core origin of seismic velocity anomalies at Earth’s core–mantle boundary
Investigations of the crystallization of FeSi in Fe–Si–H melt under high pressure−temperature conditions provide evidence of a new process that explains geochemical and geophysical observations at the core–mantle boundary.
- Suyu Fu
- , Stella Chariton
- & Sang-Heon Shim
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Where I Work |
Searching the ocean for secrets to help fight climate change
By sampling prehistoric sediments in the ocean floor, geologist Hartmut Schulz hopes to identify ancient analogues of today’s warming world.
- James Mitchell Crow
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News Explainer |
Turkey–Syria earthquake: what scientists know
Turkey and Syria’s buildings have always been vulnerable to earthquakes, but war has made things worse.
- Miryam Naddaf
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News |
Scientists made a new kind of ice that might exist on distant moons
The 'amorphous' solid is denser and could be water ‘frozen in time’.
- Jonathan O'Callaghan
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News |
Has Earth’s inner core stopped its strange spin?
Earthquake data hint that the inner core stopped rotating faster than the rest of the planet in 2009, but not all researchers agree.
- Alexandra Witze
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Research Highlight |
Underwater volcano near Greece is a sleeping menace
Magma chamber is discovered beneath Kolumbo volcano, near the Greek island of Santorini.
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Article
| Open AccessPericlase deforms more slowly than bridgmanite under mantle conditions
The authors model the creep of MgO periclase at lower mantle pressures and temperatures, finding that it deforms more slowly than bridgmanite at mantle strain rate.
- Patrick Cordier
- , Karine Gouriet
- & Philippe Carrez
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Article |
Grain shape effects in bed load sediment transport
Theoretical and experimental analysis of the effect of grain shape in bed load sediment transport is performed and a shape-corrected sediment transport law that provides greater accuracy in predictions is proposed.
- Eric Deal
- , Jeremy G. Venditti
- & J. Taylor Perron
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Article |
Extreme redox variations in a superdeep diamond from a subducted slab
The authors investigate chemical anomalies in superdeep diamond inclusions, leading them to suggest that there is an extremely variable redox environment in the deep mantle.
- Fabrizio Nestola
- , Margo E. Regier
- & Jeffrey W. Harris
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News |
NASA Mars rover to cache first rock samples for delivery to Earth
Perseverance will leave ten tubes of Martian rock and other materials at a safe drop spot for possible trip off the red planet.
- Alexandra Witze
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Research Highlight |
Blue diamonds from the deep Earth are all wet
Chemical analysis of rare gems suggests that seawater played a part in their creation.
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News Explainer |
Are we in the Anthropocene? Geologists could define new epoch for Earth
Researchers have zeroed in on nine sites that could describe a new geological time, marked by pollution and other signs of human activity.
- McKenzie Prillaman
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Research Highlight |
A city’s sprawl triggers ominous changes underground
Rapid growth in a city in Central Africa is causing a landslide to speed up.
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Research Highlight |
Molten rock lurks not far below Yellowstone tourists’ feet
The magma chamber of an enormous volcano lies closer to Earth’s surface than previously estimated.
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Comment |
Biodiversity loss and climate extremes — study the feedbacks
Enough of silos: develop a joint scientific agenda to understand the intertwined global crises of the Earth system.
- Miguel D. Mahecha
- , Ana Bastos
- & Christian Wirth
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Article |
Anomalous thermal transport under high pressure in boron arsenide
Competition between three- and four-phonon scattering processes is shown to be the source of a unique anomalous thermal conductivity in boron arsenide at high pressures.
- Suixuan Li
- , Zihao Qin
- & Yongjie Hu
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Article
| Open AccessExtensive inland thinning and speed-up of Northeast Greenland Ice Stream
Analysis of global navigation satellite system observations and satellite data shows that frontal changes in 2012 of the North-East Greenland Ice Stream led to speed-up and thinning at least 200 km inland.
- Shfaqat A. Khan
- , Youngmin Choi
- & Anders A. Bjørk
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News & Views |
Glaciers sparked volcanism that harmed ocean health
Sediment records from Alaska, spanning the past 20,000 years, suggest that melting glaciers triggered volcanic episodes that removed oxygen in the northeastern Pacific Ocean, explaining ‘dead zones’ that lasted millennia.
- Weiqi Yao
- & Ulrich G. Wortmann
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News Round-Up |
Volcano charges, Omicron boosters and wandering elephants
The latest science news, in brief.
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Article |
Synchrotron tomography of a stem lizard elucidates early squamate anatomy
A study using high-resolution synchrotron phase-contrast tomography documents the near-complete skeleton of a stem squamate, Bellairsia gracilis, from the Middle Jurassic epoch of Scotland, providing insights into early squamate anatomy.
- Mateusz Tałanda
- , Vincent Fernandez
- & Roger J. Benson
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Matters Arising |
Triassic sauropodomorph eggshell might not be soft
- Seung Choi
- , Tzu-Ruei Yang
- & Noe-Heon Kim
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Article |
Calcium dissolution in bridgmanite in the Earth’s deep mantle
Experiments show that calcium solubility in bridgmanite increases with depth in Earth’s lower mantle, resulting in the disappearance of CaSiO3 perovskite and indicating a transition from a two-perovskite to a single-perovskite domain.
- Byeongkwan Ko
- , Eran Greenberg
- & Sang-Heon Shim
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News |
COVID derailed polar research projects. Here’s how students have coped
Disruption from the pandemic forced graduate students to find innovative workarounds — and some changes might stick.
- McKenzie Prillaman
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News |
Charge dropped against New Zealand science agency after deadly volcano eruption
The charge related to how GNS Science communicated volcanic risk to the public in the lead-up to the 2019 eruption on Whakaari White Island.
- Dyani Lewis
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News & Views |
From the archive: detecting counterfeit whisky, and the legends behind Scottish boulders
Snippets from Nature’s past.
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Article |
Nd isotope variation between the Earth–Moon system and enstatite chondrites
Isotopic analysis reveals that the samarium/neodymium ratio of the Earth–Moon system is higher than that of chondrites, and that the neodymium composition of Earth is similar to that of enstatite chondrites.
- Shelby Johnston
- , Alan Brandon
- & Peter Copeland
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Article |
The oldest complete jawed vertebrates from the early Silurian of China
Two new species of well-preserved jawed fishes with complete bodies from the early Silurian period (Telychian age, around 436 million years ago) of Chongqing, South China are described: a jawed stem gnathostome, Xiushanosteus mirabilis, and a chondrichthyan, Shenacanthus vermiformis.
- You-an Zhu
- , Qiang Li
- & Min Zhu
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News |
China’s Mars rover finds hints of catastrophic floods
Radar images reveal clues to the history of a largely unexplored region.
- Smriti Mallapaty
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Article
| Open AccessLayered subsurface in Utopia Basin of Mars revealed by Zhurong rover radar
A ground-penetrating radar survey of Martian subsurface structure in a southern marginal area of Utopia Planitia constructed a detailed subsurface image profile showing a roughly 70-m-thick, multi-layered structure below regolith.
- Chao Li
- , Yikang Zheng
- & Fuyuan Wu
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News |
NASA’s Mars rover makes ‘fantastic’ find in search for past life
Perseverance has collected four rock samples from an ancient river delta where organisms might have thrived.
- Alexandra Witze
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Research Briefing |
A glimpse into the deepest parts of the Fagradalsfjall volcanic system
After around 780 years without volcanic activity, Iceland’s Reykjanes peninsula sprang to life in 2021, when magma breached the surface at the Fagradalsfjall volcano. Observed changes in the lava composition have provided an unprecedented record of the supply and mixing mechanics of deep magma at the base of the crust.
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Article
| Open AccessRapid shifting of a deep magmatic source at Fagradalsfjall volcano, Iceland
Primitive lavas of the Fagradalsfjall eruption present a window into the deep roots of a magmatic system previously inaccessible to near-real-time investigation, showing that eruptible batches of basaltic magma mix on a timescale of weeks.
- Sæmundur A. Halldórsson
- , Edward W. Marshall
- & Andri Stefánsson
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Article
| Open AccessDeformation and seismicity decline before the 2021 Fagradalsfjall eruption
As observed for the 2021 Fagradalsfjall eruption in Iceland, a release of tectonic stress followed by a decline in deformation and seismicity rate may be a characteristic precursory activity for a certain class of eruptions.
- Freysteinn Sigmundsson
- , Michelle Parks
- & Thorbjörg Ágústsdóttir
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News & Views |
The search for eruption signals in volcanic noise
A volcano that erupted with few precursory signals offers a test bed for seeking out ways of forecasting disaster — and a reminder that analysis on a global scale is necessary for a comprehensive understanding of volcanoes.
- Emily K. Montgomery-Brown
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Article
| Open AccessPrecursor-free eruption triggered by edifice rupture at Nyiragongo volcano
The 2021 eruption of Mount Nyiragongo, DR Congo demonstrated that magma storage close to the surface in open systems means that eruptions may occur with very short-term precursory activity, raising major challenges for their monitoring.
- D. Smittarello
- , B. Smets
- & A. Syavulisembo Muhindo
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Where I Work |
Defying ISIS terrorists through research
Abdulrahman Bamerni is working to understand Iraq’s ancient geology to avenge himself against terrorists who put a target on his back on account of his friendships.
- Benjamin Plackett
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Comment |
Huge volcanic eruptions: time to prepare
More must be done to forecast and try to manage globally disruptive volcanic eruptions. The risks are greater than people think.
- Michael Cassidy
- & Lara Mani
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News |
Scientists have unearthed what could be the world’s oldest ice core
Antarctic sample dated to between three million and five million years old extracted as international ice-drilling teams race to extend Earth’s climate record.
- McKenzie Prillaman
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Article |
Giant impacts and the origin and evolution of continents
Oxygen isotope compositions of dated magmatic zircon show that the Pilbara Craton in Western Australia, Earth’s best-preserved Archaean continental remnant, was built in three stages initiated by a giant meteorite impact.
- Tim E. Johnson
- , Christopher L. Kirkland
- & Michael I. H. Hartnady
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Research Highlight |
Fault that no one noticed sprung a destructive surprise
A damaging earthquake in Indonesia is ascribed to a previously unknown fracture in Earth’s crust.
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Comment |
How climate change and unplanned urban sprawl bring more landslides
More settlements will suffer as heavy rains and unregulated construction destabilize slopes in the tropics, models show.
- Ugur Ozturk
- , Elisa Bozzolan
- & Thorsten Wagener
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News & Views |
Atmospheric waves reinforced tsunami after Tongan eruption
The global tsunami and atmospheric waves that followed the eruption of the Tongan volcano Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha’apai were observed around the world. Analysing the data could reshape our understanding of such events.
- Emily M. Lane
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Article |
Timescales for pluton growth, magma-chamber formation and super-eruptions
Analysis of inherited zircons and sanidines from Miocene ignimbrites in the Central Andes shows that plutons were emplaced for up to 4 million years prior to onset of volcanism and that disruption of plutonic rock occurs a few decades or less just before or during super-eruptions.
- M. E. van Zalinge
- , D. F. Mark
- & A. Rust
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Research Highlight |
Balloon flotilla detects an earthquake from high in the sky
Sensors on board balloons identified a 2021 quake from thousands of kilometres away, suggesting that they could do the same on other planets.
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News |
Dust-up over dust storm link to ‘Valley Fever’ disease
Researchers are divided over whether rising cases of the fungal infection in the United States can be linked to dust storms.
- Virginia Gewin
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Career Q&A |
From hydrocarbons to history: building research capacity in Ghana
Cyril Boateng is helping to connect members of the African diaspora to their ancestral lands through geophysics research, using skills he acquired during a PhD and postdoc in China.
- Kendall Powell