Stories by Becky Oskin

Hurricane season officially kicks off June 1, and forecasters expect the Atlantic Ocean will spawn a near-average number of hurricanes in 2016

Scientists are closer to understanding volcanic lightning, which stems from both ash and ice

Two volcanic islands that were recently born in the Red Sea are providing scientists with new information about a rift in Earth's crust

The fireball, spotted on April 19, 2014, near the Finnish-Russian border, likely escaped from the innermost region of the asteroid belt

Tampons absorb traces of laundry detergent, toothpaste, cleaners and other whitening chemicals, enabling scientists to detect sources of sewage pollution

The most active volcano on the island of Hawai'i has been erupting since 1983

"Heterotrophic" microbes were identified 6.8 miles (11 km) below sea level in an undersea canyon that's the lowest point on Earth's surface

Before the era of artificial lights, clouds hid the light coming from the stars. But now, the sky grows brighter when clouds roll in, possibly adversely affecting animals and plants

Data from three major climate-tracking groups agree: Earth's combined land and ocean surface temperatures hit new highs this year

The eruption that killed more than 30 people this weekend was a shallow steam explosion that is nearly impossible to predict

The temblor that shook Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula last year was one of only six supersonic earthquakes ever identified

Recent quake swarms signal that magma is squeezing into Mauna Loa's magma storage chambers in the same spots below where the 1984 eruption occurred

In the abraded heart of South Africa's Vredefort impact crater lie striking green-black "impact" melt rocks that were thought to have been lost to time

Pollution from China's coal-burning power plants has increased the strength of storms in the Pacific Northwest by 10 percent over the last three decades

The fault is not significant and will likely not cause more major earthquakes in the future, seismologists say

The moss, taken from frozen soil core samples, is the oldest known resurrection of a frozen plant

The diamond contains ringwoodite, which is water-rich but only forms naturally under the extreme pressure found in Earth's mantle

By studying current lava flows over lava and ice, scientists are learning how volcanic eruptions through ancient ice sheets can hold clues to past ice ages

The deep, salty currents that carry oxygen and nutrients to the ocean depths have been disappearing over the past few decades

The levels of radiation detected are well below the safety limit for drinking water

As the Pine Island Glacier shrinks, it uncovers rocks indicating that the glacier underwent a similar melting process thousands of years ago

California’s giant sequoias only thrive atop granite with a particular chemical composition

The well-preserved nature of the fossils gives scientist a snapshot of life more than 500 million years ago

More than 90 percent of all life on Earth died off in a geologic blink during the Permian mass extinction, and scientists suspect multiple environmental factors were at play