In the 1960s the US was experimenting with nuclear weapons and decided to blow one up in a salt mine to make an underground lake of salt. Seriously.
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In the decades after their invention, the US has conducted hundreds of tests of nuclear weapons, and those tests don't always go according to plan.
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When you explore the inky depths of deep water, you never know what surprises you may find, which is just as true of Lake Baikal as it is the ocean.
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Humans drill lots of holes in the ground, but things took an unexpected turn when Soviet scientists went deeper than had ever been drilled before.
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The Appalachian Mountains are one of the most prominent geographic features in the US, and they're hiding a mineral-rich surprise in their rocks.
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Back in the 2000s, a crater was discovered at the bottom of the North Sea off the coast of England, and scientists finally know how it formed.
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Figuring out which of the world's thousands of rivers is the oldest is no simple task, but the top contender is about as old as fish or plants.
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Coal mining operations clearly cause heavy pollution, but they're far more disruptive than that, harming wildlife and ecosystems that they touch.
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Uranium is an vital part of nuclear power, but extracting it often comes at a high cost to the environment, which may be the case in South Dakota.
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Scientists studying Canadian Shield rock from the Precambrian era found pockets of this gas, which could eventually play a part in how the world gets powered.
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Given that we live here, there's a lot we know about Earth, but there is still tons of knowledge to uncover, some of which was discovered this year.
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Fossils and ice cores are fine if you want to study the past 2 billion years, but if you want to look at Earth's deep past, you need another tool.
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Yellowstone is one of the most famous supervolcanoes in the world, but it's poorly understood, now some researchers think they have it figured out.
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In the 1970s, government scientists drilling off the Atlantic coast found something surprising, but recent work has turned it into something amazing.
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Tucked in the slopes of California's Sierra Nevada mountains is a region known as 'Little Patagonia,' and it could be in trouble from climate change.
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When volcanoes erupt and ecosystems are under threat, most people wouldn't think of calling in a garden pest for help, but most people are wrong.
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It's generally accepted that climate change causes Antarctic ice to melt, but you might be surprised to learn how that ice melt affects the climate.
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Around the world are deep holes in otherwise shallow waters, the most famous is the Great Blue Hole in Belize, but we've recently found the deepest.
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Scientists are confident that Mars once had water and life, but to better understand Mars' development, they have to look to analogs here on Earth.
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Curiosity has been exploring the surface of Mars since 2011, but what it found inside a rock last year has changed our understanding of the planet.
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Scientists have had their eye on an Alaskan lake, watching an island suddenly emerge, largely as the strange result of the world's changing climate.
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For as unforgiving as rocks seem, they can be turned to a liquid, probably better known as magma, and there are a few unique processes to make that happen.
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Mapping out geology across the U.S. is surprisingly difficult, but the USGS has managed just that, and its map is more detailed than you'd ever expect.
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Have you ever wondered why a river splits? Scientists have, and until very recently they haven't had any idea about how this phenomenon happens.
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Meteorites are uncommon, Martian meteorites even more so, so it shouldn't be a surprise that a big rock from Mars has sold for an astonishing price.
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When most people think of volcanoes, they tend to think of giant clouds of ash and fire, but it turns out that most volcanoes are actually underwater.
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The Grand Canyon is one of the most beautiful natural wonders in the world, but that tranquility could be under threat by something in the ground.
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