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New research from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and Cornell University deepens the understanding of Earth’s crust by testing and ultimately eliminating one popular hypothesis about why continental crust is lower in iron and more oxidized compared to oceanic crust. The iron-poor composition of continental crust is a major reason why vast portions of the Earth’s surface stand above sea level as dry land, making terrestrial life possible today. The study, published in Science, uses laboratory experiments to show that the iron-depleted, oxidized chemistry typical of Ea...

Iron-depleted, oxidized chemistry in Earth’s continental crust likely didn’t come from crystallization of the mineral garnet

Continents are part of what makes Earth uniquely habitable for life among the planets of the solar system

This expert-curated list of the best read-aloud books for kindergarteners will help your little ones fall in love with reading.

 E-Mail IMAGE: Zircons studied by the research team, photographed using cathodoluminescence, a technique that allowed the team to visualize the interiors of the crystals using a specialized scanning electron microscope. Dark circles... view more  Credit: Michael Ackerson, Smithsonian. Scientists led by Michael Ackerson, a research geologist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, provide new evidence that modern plate tectonics, a defining feature of Earth and its unique ability to support life, emerged roughly 3.6 billion years ago. Earth is the only planet known t...