Italy's Mount Etna has erupted in spectacular fashion, sending ash, gas, and other volcanic material high into the sky above Sicily. Watch footage of the eruption. Mount Etna erupted on Monday (June 2) with a ginormous cloud of ash and triggered an avalanche of volcanic material that has ripped down the side of Europe's largest active volcano. The massive eruption on the Italian isla
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At 9:46 AM Eastern Daylight Time on June 1, 2025, instruments registered a geomagnetic K-index of 8, creeping toward 9 – a level rarely reached outside the most intense solar episodes. Such readings signal strong electric currents racing through Earth’s magnetic shield – the first sign that a severe solar storm disturbance has arrived. Power operators, satellite
Geneva — The search for a 64-year-old man was suspended Thursday due to unsafe conditions after a huge mass of rock and ice from a glacier crashed down a Swiss mountainside the day before. The landslide sent plumes of dust skyward and coated with mud nearly all of an Alpine village that authorities had evacuated earlier this month as a precaution. State Councilor Stéphane Ganzer tol
The universe will smile back at us on May 29, thanks to an uncanny cosmic alignment The moon will team up with Castor and Pollux to create a smiling face in the night sky on May 29. (Image credit: Starry Night) A crescent moon will appear alongside the bright stars Castor and Pollox to form a lopsided grin in the night sky on May 29. Skywatchers in the U.S. will find the cosm
Anting 🐜 is a behavior exhibited by some birds in which they allow ants 🐜 to crawl on their feathers and skin, or they actively apply ants, other insects, or substances ants secrete, to their feathers. They do this as part of their preening, or self-care, routine. Anting is a curious behavior exhibited by a surprisingly wide range of birds – over 200 species across the gl
A French grocery store parking lot with solar panels AFP via Getty Images In a surprisingly strong move, the French Senate has voted to require that all parking lots in France above a certain size be covered with solar panels. This is forecast to generate 11 gigawatts, adding to France’s 160 gW capacity and nearly doubling the amount of solar. What’s particularly interesting is the
It’s safe to say that anyone who has seen a woodpecker in action has probably been surprised by the strength and speed with which they attack a tree’s wood. In fact, the most common way to find a woodpecker is by following the sound of its pecking until you can spot it amongst the trees. It is safe to say that anybody who has seen a woodpecker in action has been amazed at the strength and s
A beloved gathering spot and an emblem of resilience during the civil rights movement, this ancient South Carolina live oak is poised for an exciting future Photo: Courtesy of Lowcountry Land Trust The Angel Oak on Johns Island, South Carolina. As a student at the College of Charleston in South Carolina, Samantha Siegel drove almost every day to Johns Island to sit beneath the
Two days after its new phase, the moon will make a close pass to Jupiter in the evening sky while the summer constellations will be rising. An illustration of the new moon of May 2025 near the sun on May 27. (Image credit: Chris Vaughan/Starry Night) The new moon of May occurs on May 26. Two days later the moon will make a close pass to Jupiter in the evening sky, and
We have already written about a newly discovered giant sinkhole in China that has a primeval 'lost world' inside, but this one takes it to another dimension. Imagine a sinkhole so deep it takes half a day or more to hike from top to bottom and back. That's the reality of Xiaozhai Tiankeng, also known as the Heavenly Pit, the world's deepest sinkhole. Located in Fengjie County, China, this awe-