If you haven’t accomplished as much this summer as you had hoped to, you can blame forces far beyond your control: a few of these dog days, by one measure, are among the shortest you’ve ever lived ...

Star trails above the Three Gorges Dam in Yichang, Hubei province, China. Large dams like this one are shifting the Earth's poles away from its axis of rotation. In an ideal model of our planet, the ...

Discover the only planet in our solar system that rotates clockwise. Learn why this 'rebel' planet spins backwards, how a ...

Human engineering appears to have moved the planet, literally. According to new research published this month, the global boom in dam construction over the past two centuries has caused measurable ...

We have all been taught in school that planets revolve in the same direction as the Earth, i.e., in the counterclockwise ...

Russell has a PhD in the history of medicine, violence, and colonialism. His research has explored topics including ethics, science governance, and medical involvement in violent contexts. Russell has ...

Right now, you’re zooming through space at incredible speeds. As just one of all the living creatures on Earth, you’re along for the ride as our planet constantly moves in two major ways. First, ...

Earth just recorded one of its shortest days on record on Wednesday, and scientists say its accelerating rotation is expected to shorten two more days this summer. On July 22 and August 5, Earth's ...

Last Word is New Scientist’s long-running series in which readers give scientific answers to each other’s questions, ranging from the minutiae of everyday life to absurd astronomical hypotheticals. To ...