Articles for category: Ecology, Insects

The Overdue Earthquake Zone Hiding in the U.S. Midwest

The Overdue Earthquake Zone Hiding in the U.S. Midwest

Andrew Alpin

Most Americans picture California or Alaska when earthquakes come to mind, but there’s a seismic time bomb ticking right in America’s heartland. You drive through Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Illinois every day, never knowing that beneath your feet lies one of the most dangerous fault systems in the entire country. The truth might shock ...

What Earth's Oldest Crater Reveals About the Origin of Life

What Earth’s Oldest Crater Reveals About the Origin of Life

Jan Otte

When you think about life’s beginnings, massive asteroid impacts might not come to mind as nurturing forces. Yet a groundbreaking discovery in Western Australia’s remote Pilbara region has revealed something extraordinary. What may be the world’s oldest known impact crater, hidden beneath ancient rock layers for nearly three and a half billion years, is rewriting ...

Big fruits

Why Some Trees Produce Fruits Too Big for Any Living Animal to Eat

Maria Faith Saligumba

In the lush, vibrant world of plants and animals, nature often leaves us with mysteries that ignite our curiosity. One such enigma is the existence of fruits so large that no living animal seems capable of consuming them. These oversized fruits, dangling from branches, almost appear as forgotten relics of an ancient past. But what ...

Why Some Lakes Turn Pink Every Summer

Why Some Lakes Turn Pink Every Summer

Gargi Chakravorty

Picture this: you’re standing at the edge of what looks like a massive strawberry milkshake stretching to the horizon. A pink lake is a lake that has a red or pink colour. “I didn’t believe that it could be that pink, but it’s like a Pepto Bismol pink,” one visitor describes. This isn’t some chemical ...

The Ocean's Hidden Rivers: How Water Flows Beneath the Sea

The Ocean’s Hidden Rivers: How Water Flows Beneath the Sea

Andrew Alpin

Picture yourself standing at the edge of a vast ocean, watching waves crash against the shore. Above the surface, everything seems calm and predictable, yet beneath your feet lies an intricate network of flowing currents that dwarf any river system on land. These underwater highways carry water masses across entire ocean basins, creating hidden rivers ...

The Hidden Rivers Flowing Beneath Major U.S. Cities

The Hidden Rivers Flowing Beneath Major U.S. Cities

Jan Otte

Walking through the concrete jungle of America’s major cities, you step over countless untold stories rushing silently beneath your feet. Every day, millions of people cross ancient waterways that once shaped the landscape, supported wildlife, and determined where early settlers would build their communities. These forgotten underground rivers still flow, carrying with them centuries of ...

The Tree That Can Clone Itself for Thousands of Years

The Tree That Can Clone Itself for Thousands of Years

Andrew Alpin

You walk through what appears to be an ordinary forest, towering trees swaying gently in the breeze. The peaceful scene conceals one of nature’s most extraordinary secrets. These aren’t individual trees at all. Instead, you’re standing within a single living organism that has been quietly cloning , possibly predating entire human civilizations. This phenomenon isn’t ...

11 U.S. Lakes So Deep We Still Don't Know What's at the Bottom

11 U.S. Lakes So Deep We Still Don’t Know What’s at the Bottom

Jan Otte

Beneath the shimmering surfaces of America’s waters lie mysteries that scientists are still trying to solve. You might think we’ve mapped every inch of our planet, but the truth is far more intriguing. Some of our deepest lakes plunge into darkness so profound that their true depths remain unknown, hiding ecosystems and secrets that have ...