Natural Disasters

After a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off the coast of Japan and set off tsunami warnings, there’s an elevated risk of a “megaquake” following in its wake

Atmospheric scientist Perry Samson was doing fieldwork when he was unexpectedly caught inside a tornado—making him one of the few such people who have lived to tell the tale

New insights into a tiny, tough microbe have huge implications for the search for life beyond Earth

Record warmth followed by a huge snowfall led to the recent avalanche that killed at least eight skiers

From planet-scorching stellar outbursts to cataclysms so powerful they shiver the very fabric of spacetime, these are some of the biggest blasts our cosmos has to offer

Depending on how you look at it, this catchphrase from a 1980s pop song is decently accurate: you can actually melt the planet if you stop its turning

Whether space, health, technology or environment, here are the issues in science that the editors of Scientific American are focusing on for 2026

Hawaii’s Kilauea, one of Earth’s most active volcanoes, sent lava fountains spewing into the air, obliterating a U.S. Geological Survey camera

Japanese officials said to expect a tsunami of up to 3 meters in some areas after a magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck off the east coast of Japan

Hurricane Melissa raged as a Category 5 storm in the Caribbean last month—and now scientists have confirmed that its strongest gusts neared record speeds

Seismometers picked up the ferocious winds and waves of Hurricane Melissa, showing how the tools can be used to better understand storms today and those from the past

A nearly perfect alignment of factors has enabled Hurricane Melissa to become one of the most intense Atlantic storms ever recorded