Geography News

November 7, 2025

Top Headlines

Antarctica’s Collapse May Already Be Unstoppable, Scientists Warn

Nov. 6, 2025 — Researchers warn Antarctica is undergoing abrupt changes that could trigger global consequences. Melting ice, collapsing ice shelves, and disrupted ocean circulation threaten sea levels, ecosystems, and climate stability. Wildlife such as penguins ...

Frozen for 6 Million Years, Antarctic Ice Rewrites Earth’s Climate Story

Nov. 5, 2025 — Scientists discovered 6-million-year-old ice in Antarctica, offering the oldest direct record of Earth’s ancient atmosphere and climate. The finding reveals a dramatic cooling trend and promises insights into greenhouse gas changes over millions ...

Scientists Uncover the Secret Triggers of ‘Impossible’ Earthquakes

Nov. 4, 2025 — Once considered geologically impossible, earthquakes in stable regions like Utah and Groningen can actually occur due to long-inactive faults that slowly “heal” and strengthen over millions of years. When reactivated—often by human ...

Scientists Predict a Wetter, Greener Future for the Sahara Desert

Nov. 3, 2025 — UIC researchers predict that the Sahara Desert could see up to 75% more rain by the end of this century due to rising global temperatures. Using 40 climate models, the team found widespread precipitation increases across Africa, though some regions ...

A Warming Earth Could Accidentally Trigger a Deep Freeze

Nov. 2, 2025 — Earth’s climate balance isn’t just governed by the slow weathering of silicate rocks, which capture carbon and stabilize temperature over eons. New research reveals that biological and oceanic feedback loops—especially involving algae, ...

Soil Microbes Remember Drought and Help Plants Survive

Nov. 2, 2025 — Researchers discovered that soil microbes in Kansas carry drought “memories” that affect how plants grow and survive. Native plants showed stronger responses to these microbial legacies than crops like corn, hinting at co-evolution over time. ...

Earth Has Hit Its First Climate Tipping Point, Scientists Warn

Oct. 29, 2025 — Global scientists warn that humanity is on the verge of crossing irreversible climate thresholds, with coral reefs already at their tipping point and polar ice sheets possibly beyond recovery. The Global Tipping Points Report 2025 reveals how rising ...

Antarctic Robot ‘Lassie’ Uncovers Thousands of Icefish Nests Beneath Antarctic Ice

Oct. 29, 2025 — Beneath the ice of Antarctica’s Weddell Sea, scientists discovered a vast, organized city of fish nests revealed after the colossal A68 iceberg broke away. Using robotic explorers, they found over ...

Melting Ice Is Hiding a Massive Climate Secret Beneath Antarctica

Oct. 27, 2025 — The Southern Ocean absorbs nearly half of all ocean-stored human CO2, but its future role is uncertain. Despite models predicting a decline, researchers found that freshening surface waters are currently keeping deep CO2 trapped below. This ...

Hippos Once Roamed Frozen Germany with Mammoths

Oct. 26, 2025 — New research shows that hippos lived in central Europe tens of thousands of years longer than previously thought. Ancient DNA and radiocarbon dating confirm they survived in Germany’s Upper Rhine Graben during a milder Ice Age phase. Closely ...

Earth Is Splitting Open Beneath the Pacific Northwest

Oct. 25, 2025 — For the first time, scientists have seen a subduction zone actively breaking apart beneath the Pacific Northwest. Seismic data show the oceanic plate tearing into fragments, forming microplates in a slow, step-by-step collapse. This process, once ...

“Lost” Giant Rat Found Alive in Papua Mountains After 30 Years

Oct. 23, 2025 — In the mist-shrouded mountains of New Guinea, a Czech researcher has achieved a world-first — capturing photos, video, and data of the elusive Subalpine Woolly Rat, Mallomys istapantap. Once known only from museum specimens, this giant, shaggy ...

Latest Headlines

updated 12:47pm EST

Killer Whales Perfect a Ruthless Trick to Hunt Great White Sharks

Nov. 3, 2025 — In the Gulf of California, a pod of orcas known as Moctezuma’s pod has developed a chillingly precise technique for hunting young great white sharks — flipping them upside down to paralyze and ...

Scientists Discover a Stunning New Golden-Tongued Lizard in China

Oct. 30, 2025 — A new species of mountain lizard, Diploderma bifluviale, has been discovered in the upper Dadu River Valley of China. Its distinct traits and isolated habitat highlight the hidden biodiversity of the ...

Earth’s “boring Billion” Set the Stage for Complex Life

Oct. 28, 2025 — Scientists have traced the origins of complex life to the breakup of the supercontinent Nuna 1.5 billion years ago. This tectonic shift reduced volcanic carbon emissions, expanded shallow seas, and ...

Ancient Tides May Have Sparked Humanity’s First Urban Civilization

Oct. 27, 2025 — New research shows that the rise of Sumer was deeply tied to the tidal and sedimentary dynamics of ancient Mesopotamia. Early communities harnessed predictable tides for irrigation, but when deltas ...

Hidden 5-Mile Wide Asteroid Crater Beneath the Atlantic Revealed in Stunning 3D

Oct. 27, 2025 — A massive crater hidden beneath the Atlantic seafloor has been confirmed as the result of an asteroid strike from 66 million years ago. The new 3D ...

El Niño Could Soon Turn Deadly Predictable, Scientists Warn

Oct. 24, 2025 — Scientists have discovered that El Niño and La Niña could become far more powerful and predictable as the planet warms. By 2050, the tropical Pacific may hit a tipping point, locking ENSO into ...

China’s Coastal Cities Are Sinking as Seas Rise at Record Speed

Oct. 23, 2025 — Sea levels are rising faster than at any time in 4,000 years, scientists report, with China’s major coastal cities at particular risk. The rapid increase is driven by warming oceans and melting ...

They Were Drilling Off Oregon. What They Found Could Shake All of California

Oct. 23, 2025 — Scientists have uncovered evidence that megaquakes in the Pacific Northwest might trigger California’s San Andreas Fault. A research ship’s ...

Atlantic Dolphins Are Dying Much Younger. Scientists Sound the Alarm

Oct. 22, 2025 — Common dolphins in the North Atlantic are living significantly shorter lives, with female longevity dropping seven years since the 1990s. Researchers found this decline by analyzing stranded ...

Scientists Just Found Hidden Life Thriving Beneath the Arctic Ice

Oct. 21, 2025 — Melting Arctic ice is revealing a hidden world of nitrogen-fixing bacteria beneath the surface. These microbes, not the usual cyanobacteria, enrich the ocean with nitrogen, fueling algae growth that ...

MIT Finds Traces of a Lost World Deep Within Planet Earth

Oct. 17, 2025 — Researchers have discovered chemical fingerprints of Earth's earliest incarnation, preserved in ancient mantle rocks. A unique imbalance in potassium isotopes points to remnants of “proto ...

Forged in Fire: The 900°C Heat That Built Earth’s Stable Continents

Oct. 16, 2025 — New research reveals that Earth’s continents owe their stability to searing heat deep in the planet’s crust. At more than 900°C, radioactive elements shifted upward, cooling and strengthening ...

Earth’s Climate Just Crossed a Line We Can’t Ignore

Oct. 13, 2025 — Humanity has reached the first Earth system tipping point, the widespread death of warm-water coral reefs, marking the beginning of irreversible planetary shifts. As global temperatures move beyond ...

They’re Smaller Than Dust, but Crucial for Earth’s Climate

Oct. 10, 2025 — Coccolithophores, tiny planktonic architects of Earth’s climate, capture carbon, produce oxygen, and leave behind geological records that chronicle our planet’s history. European scientists are ...

Record Amazon Fires Release More Carbon Than an Entire Country

Oct. 8, 2025 — The Amazon has suffered its most destructive fire season in more than two decades, releasing a staggering 791 million tons of carbon dioxide—on par with Germany’s annual emissions. Scientists ...

Ocean Heatwaves Are Breaking Earth’s Hidden Climate Engine

Oct. 7, 2025 — Marine heatwaves can jam the ocean’s natural carbon conveyor belt, preventing carbon from reaching the deep sea. Researchers studying two major heatwaves in the Gulf of Alaska found that plankton ...

From Gentle Giants to Ghostly Hunters, Sharks Face an Unseen Peril

Oct. 4, 2025 — New research reveals that deep-sea mining could dramatically threaten 30 species of sharks, rays, and ghost sharks whose habitats overlap with proposed mining zones. Many of these species, already at ...

1,000 Swiss Glaciers Already Gone, and the Melting Is Speeding Up

Oct. 2, 2025 — Swiss glaciers lost nearly 3% of their volume in 2025, following a snow-poor winter and scorching summer heatwaves. The melt has been so extreme that some glaciers lost more than two meters of ice ...

The Billion-Year Reign of Fungi That Predated Plants and Made Earth Livable

Oct. 1, 2025 — Fungi may have shaped Earth’s landscapes long before plants appeared. By combining rare gene transfers with fossil evidence, researchers have traced fungal origins back nearly a billion years ...

The Red Sea That Vanished and the Catastrophic Flood That Brought It Back

Oct. 8, 2025 — Researchers at KAUST have confirmed that the Red Sea once vanished entirely, turning into a barren salt desert before being suddenly flooded by waters from the Indian Ocean. The flood carved deep ...

Scientists Just Found the Shocking Reason Chile’s Quake Shook So Hard

Oct. 2, 2025 — A massive quake struck Calama, Chile, in 2024, surprising scientists with its unusual depth and destructive power. Unlike typical deep quakes, it broke past thermal limits and triggered an intense ...

Japan’s Hot Springs Hold Clues to the Origins of Life on Earth

Oct. 2, 2025 — Billions of years ago, Earth’s atmosphere was hostile, with barely any oxygen and toxic conditions for life. Researchers from the Earth-Life Science Institute studied Japan’s iron-rich hot ...

Hidden “electron Highways” Beneath Our Feet Could Revolutionize Pollution Cleanup

Sep. 26, 2025 — Electrons flow underground in ways far more extensive than once believed, forming networks that link distant chemical zones. Minerals, organic molecules, and specialized bacteria can act as bridges, ...

Diamonds Reveal Hidden Chemistry Deep Inside Earth

Sep. 23, 2025 — South African diamonds have revealed nickel-rich metallic inclusions, offering the first direct evidence of reactions predicted to occur deep in Earth’s mantle. The study shows how oxidized melts ...

This Surprising Building Material Is Strong, Cheap, and Sustainable

Sep. 22, 2025 — A team at RMIT University has created a cement-free construction material using only cardboard, soil, and water. Strong enough for low-rise buildings, it reduces emissions, costs, and waste compared ...

A Giant Asteroid Hit Earth, but Its Crater Is Missing

Oct. 16, 2025 — Researchers discovered a new field of ancient tektites in South Australia, revealing a long-forgotten asteroid impact. These 11-million-year-old glass fragments differ chemically and geographically ...

Earthquakes Release Blistering Heat That Can Melt Rock in an Instant

Sep. 19, 2025 — MIT scientists have unraveled the hidden energy balance of earthquakes by recreating them in the lab. Their findings show that while only a sliver of energy goes into the shaking we feel on the ...

Tiny Skaters Beneath the Arctic Ice Rewrite the Limits of Life

Sep. 12, 2025 — Hidden within Arctic ice, diatoms are proving to be anything but dormant. New Stanford research shows these glass-walled algae glide through frozen channels at record-breaking subzero temperatures, ...

Why Alaska’s Salmon Streams Are Suddenly Bleeding Orange

Sep. 18, 2025 — Warming Arctic permafrost is unlocking toxic metals, turning Alaska’s once-clear rivers into orange, acid-laced streams. The shift, eerily similar to mine pollution but entirely natural, threatens ...

Hungry Flathead Catfish Are Changing Everything in the Susquehanna

Sep. 9, 2025 — Flathead catfish are rapidly reshaping the Susquehanna River’s ecosystem. Once introduced, these voracious predators climbed to the top of the food chain, forcing native fish like channel catfish ...