Environment
Drones reveal massive ‘buried glaciers’ in the US. They could guide search for water on Mars
A major breakthrough in the search for water on Mars has been made thanks to a pioneering new study
It’s named after the god of the underworld and contains creatures so weird they haven’t been identified yet
The deepest part of the ocean – the Challenger Deep – is in the hadal zone, a deep-sea region named after the Greek god of the underworld
East River DNA reveals secrets of life (and death) in New York
New Environmental DNA study sheds light on local wildlife and dietary habits of New Yorkers.
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It’s millions of years old, larger than California and home to creatures that exist nowhere else on Earth
This ancient island contains hundreds of endemic (and iconic) species
It’s deep enough to hide Mount Kilimanjaro, contains bone-eating worms and is the world’s largest habitat
The fourth of five ocean zones – the abyssopelagic zone or the abyss – stretches from 4,000 to 6,000 metres deep
It's big enough to swallow cities, deep enough to hide skyscrapers and inside lies an ancient, thriving 'lost world' cut off from everything above
At the bottom of a vast limestone chasm in southern China, a self-contained forest has taken root in near-permanent shadow, creating an isolated ecosystem that feels more like a lost world than a place on Earth.
"It’s one of the few places on Earth where tigers stalk & attack humans, & the only jungle where the leading cause of human death is an apex predator"
A vast, tangled delta of mangrove forests straddling India and Bangladesh, the Sundarbans is a hauntingly beautiful yet lethal wilderness, where shifting tides conceal stealthy Bengal tigers and other deadly predators
"It’s filled with dangerous species. If provoked one will use its claw to rip open the soft bellies of humans to devastating effect."
"There's no life there, period. At least not in the last 20-30,000 years or so...”
A frozen desert at the edge of Antarctica, the McMurdo Dry Valleys offer a rare glimpse into one of the harshest – and most Mars-like – environments on Earth.
“The crushing pressure can be anywhere between 100 to 400 atmospheres, which would kill a human instantaneously.”
Between 1,000 and 4,000 metres deep, there isn’t any sunlight at all so creatures find new strategies to survive
Satellite images reveal more than 1,000 unmapped coral reefs in Australia
The discovery of thousands of previously unchartered coral reefs could reinforce conservation efforts in northern Australian waters, say researchers.
The Colorado River vanished for 5 million years. Scientists may have just figured out where it went
University of California researchers may have solved the mystery of the US river's disappearance from the geological record.
It can be seen from space, is the size of Morocco and home to animals found nowhere else on Earth
Fungi may survive extreme conditions of Mars and space, say scientists
New study suggests microbes could survive the long trip to Mars
It's the size of Gambia and one and a half times deeper than the Grand Canyon – Discover Earth’s most mysterious underwater giant
"Sand pours off and disappears below like an underwater waterfall. This eerie phenomenon looks like a monstrous plume of smoke being dragged down into the darkness"
Plummeting down for more than 200 metres, Dean’s Blue Hole in the Bahamas is one of the world’s deepest blue holes
Nearly as big as Wales, hotter than 50°C – Inside the inhospitable and rugged Death Valley, where not everyone gets out alive - yet inconceivably wildlife thrives
Welcome to one of the harshest, hottest most inhospitable places on Earth
This 2-billion-year-old giant is 14km long and rises almost 3km into the sky. And it's home to a hairy carnivore
Some of the planet's rarest – and strangest – animals and plants live on the top of South America's otherworldly Mount Roraima.
It ruptured the eardrums of sailors, was heard thousands of miles away and the pressure wave circled the Earth
What’s the loudest noise recorded in history? Well, it depends on how you measure it
These crabs are racing up the US coastline – and scientists think they know why
The mangrove fiddler crab is being found hundreds of kilometres north of its traditional range. Here's what's going on
‘Pet food accounts for similar levels of global greenhouse gas emissions to the entirety of the Philippines.’ Which animal has the highest carbon footprint?
While it’s a term we mostly use in relation to humans, can we work out the carbon footprint of animals?
Thylacine paintings discovered in Australian cave less than 1,000 years old, say scientists. Here's why that's a big deal
The carnivorous marsupial is widely thought to have gone extinct on mainland Australia about 3,000 years ago. Artworks found recently in Northern Territory suggests otherwise.
Why San Francisco Bay has suddenly become a death trap for gray whales
Climate change is pushing starving gray whales into California's San Francisco Bay, where they are often hit and killed by boats, according to a new study.
It's home to the largest concentration of crocodiles on the planet – 10 million of these ferocious reptiles to be precise. Swimming here is inadvisable...
In the flooded forests and winding rivers of South America’s vast wetlands the black caiman reigns as one of the most formidable predators alive today.
