EXPLAINER: Why Haiti is prone to devastating earthquakes

Earthquakes have been wreaking havoc in Haiti since at least the 18th century, when the city of Port-au-Prince was destroyed twice in 19 years. Saturday's powerful quake killed hundreds and injured thousands more. Eleven ...

Slow slips offer insights into earthquakes

Significant earthquakes, from gentle shaking to devastating tremors, are hazards caused by a sudden release of stress that has built up in geological faults. More subtle events called slow slips are attracting increasing ...

Early Earth was bombarded by series of city-sized asteroids

Scientists know that the Earth was bombarded by huge impactors in distant time, but a new analysis suggests that the number of these impacts may have been 10 times higher than previously thought. This translates into a barrage ...

Darkling beetles have natural lubricant in 'knee' joints

A team of researchers from the University of Kiel in Germany and Aarhus University in Denmark, has found that darkling beetles create a type of lubricant in their legs to prevent their leg joints from wearing away. They describe ...

Continuous activity of small earthquakes makes mountains grow

From a human perspective, earthquakes are natural disasters—in the past hundred years, they have caused more than 200,000 deaths and enormous economic damage. Mega-earthquakes with a magnitude of nine or higher on the Richter ...

Cities 'must become car-free to survive'

Cities must become fully car-free in order to be liveable in the future, according to the UCL experts behind a new modeling report looking at urban car use.

Subduction initiation may depend on a tectonic plate's history

Subduction zones are cornerstone components of plate tectonics, with one plate sliding beneath another back into Earth's mantle. But the very beginning of this process—subduction initiation—remains somewhat mysterious ...

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