Natural Disasters

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

Category 5 Hurricane Melissa’s exceptional strength and slow pace could make it more destructive than Hurricane Gilbert, which hit Jamaica in 1988

This is only the second time we’ve had more than two Category 5 storms in a single Atlantic hurricane season

Melissa is a Category 5 major hurricane and moving relatively slow—a brutal combination that will drench some parts of Jamaica with up to 40 inches of rain

In a version of the Fujiwhara effect, Hurricane Humberto is pulling Tropical Storm Imelda eastward and away from the U.S.