If big rocks fall far enough they can explode with more energy than any non-nuclear bomb – and the ensuing shockwave can snap large trees half a kilometre away

Vast machines have left the subterranean world of a potash mine in the Urals with ammonite-like whorls, photographed for a project to highlight lasting human impacts on the planet.

The next generation of geothermal plants will unlock more of Earth's bountiful, underground energy and could allow the technology to finally fulfil its promise

Some rocks in Tasmania, Australia, look out of place. Now an analysis suggests they were once part of the rocks that form the Grand Canyon in the US

A rash of recent earthquakes in Lancashire, UK has prompted fracking operations to halt temporarily on six separate occasions

How did water survive Earth's searingly hot birth? A radical new answer turns planetary history on its head – and could revolutionise the search for alien life

Radar surveys have revealed a crater left when a kilometre-wide asteroid hit Greenland – and the impact could explain a climate mystery

If you want to save Earth, argues a new book, quit sitting around in the present hoping for the best and learn to think really long term, like a geologist

From Kenyan children picking through plastic waste to swathes of Germany laid waste for coal mining, a film shows why we are in a new, human-created epoch

A tsunami kept pinging back and forth for three days after being triggered by the 8 September 2017 Mexico earthquake, posing even more risk to human life

Exciting tales of heroic polar explorers make a great exhibition, but a book on the North Pole shows that times are too changed not to seek deeper narratives

A fossil so well preserved that its skin is still flexible is revealing much more about the marine reptiles called ichthyosaurs that swam in the sea during the age of dinosaurs

Armed with drones, helicopters and military-grade software, a British photographer has developed a new way to remember glaciers

On Christmas Eve 1968, Apollo 8 became the first crewed spacecraft to circle the moon. Emerging from its dark side, one astronaut reached for his camera

The ancient practice of water divining is still used across the world to locate water sources. Forty years ago, we wondered whether it might actually work

The most detailed ever look at Earth's prehistoric climate suggests many habitats changed in the past 800,000 years – and this may be why we evolved big brains

Sea level rise estimates are moving upwards. There could be at least a 1.3 metre rise by 2100, which would spell disaster for coastal communities

Many people assume an asteroid triggered the mass extinction that killed the dinosaurs, but geologists say massive volcanic eruptions occurred at the same time

If you read a book painting the very worst-case scenarios about what global warming means for human life you could easily panic. Here’s why you shouldn’t

Fossil traces hidden deep underground may solve the mystery of dark matter, the elusive substance that makes up 80 per cent of the universe

Megafloods, broken backstops and retreating ice sheets combine in a geological epic: the dramatic story of Britain's protracted original exit from Europe

We often think waterfalls indicate ancient tectonic or glacial activity – but it turns out they can form all by themselves without these external influences

Check out new books charting the state of our planet, see a movie thriller with a quantum physics twist, and launch your own robot uprising against humankind

A dead whale found in the Philippines with 40 kilograms of plastic inside its body is the latest example of the problem of plastic pollution

The controversial Gaia hypothesis sees Earth as a superorganism adapted to be perfect for life. A weird type of evolution may finally show how that actually happens

Some of the first dinosaurs may have lived and hunted on the largest delta plain ever discovered, which was 10 times the size of the Amazon river delta

The landscape of Banks Island in the far north of Canada is being reshaped by global warming-triggered land slumps, and the situation is set to get much worse

For 30 years, one man has been obsessed with the whisperings of the aurora borealis. His search for its origins may finally be over

Scientists are setting out to drill for the world’s oldest ice, in a bid to shed light on a dramatic tipping point in the world’s climate 900,000 years ago

Watch a new series charting our planet from above, read all about the biggest living things, fend off space rocks for fun, plus more picks for your diary

From the development of our remarkable brains to the geographic divides in the way we vote, our shape-shifting planet has guided the path of humanity

Dozens of people have died in Indonesia and Mozambique as a result of storms and flooding, possibly driven by climate change

No matter how deep we dig, life has always found a way to survive. The remarkable story of these impossible microbes can teach us about how life evolved

An emotional and intellectual voyage into an underground mythical world imagined by the Sami people reveals truths about our collective future

With increasing public concern over climate change, interest is turning to geoengineering again. Is it time to take a serious look at engineering our climate?

An analysis of pollen suggests cannabis evolved on the Tibetan Plateau, not far from a cave that was frequented by our ancient Denisovan cousins

Ever since the breakup of the supercontinent Pangaea, sea water has been flowing deep into the planet, causing sea levels to fall over millions of years

In his new book Upheaval, polymath Jared Diamond says nations need a special kind of therapy to solve big problems like climate change, Brexit and nuclear proliferation

The magnetic north pole is racing towards Siberia - but why? It's a mystery with huge implications, and to solve it, we're building an explosive model of the planet's core

Ocean Outbreak unveils the little-known diseases wreaking havoc in the seas and the book does a first-rate job of inspiring readers at the same time

Lessons from the deep past reveal that human-induced warming could create more extreme conditions than Earth has ever experienced

Helium's essential for party balloons, but also for MRI scanners, physics experiments and space rockets. But supplies on Earth are getting dangerously low, warns Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

Boris Johnson has become the new prime minister of the UK after winning the Conservative party leadership campaign. Here's what Johnson has said and done about climate change

We now know that past periods when Earth cooled and warmed were only regional. The finding rebuffs the myth that today's planet-wide warming is a natural blip

The influential scientist talks about his Earth-as-superorganism hypothesis and predicts a new era for humanity, unfettered by the constraints of our bodies

A valley longer than the Grand Canyon hidden beneath the Greenland ice sheet may carry running water. How quickly it flows may affect how the ice melts

We thought the Amazon got the essential nutrient phosphorus from Saharan dust. Now it appears it mainly comes from forest fires and people burning wood

Earth’s continents may have been shifting for 2.5 billion years, according to a study of ancient rocks that finds plate tectonics evolved far earlier than we thought

Contrary to recent reports, new research suggests the next reversal of Earth’s magnetic pole won’t happen in a human lifetime and could take tens of thousands of years

Interstellar dust has been found in Antarctic snow samples. The discovery could provide a way of mapping the clouds of dust Earth has passed through in space