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 ...

Discover how the Earth started spinning, the impact of the Theia collision, and how the Moon's gravity is gradually slowing ...

Every second, the Earth spins at an incredible speed, completing a full rotation in just 24 hours. While this may seem ...

Earth’s rotation is the continuous spinning of the planet around its axis, an imaginary line running from the North Pole to the South Pole. One full rotation takes about 24 hours, creating the cycle ...

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 ...

Earth rotates once in about 24 hours with respect to the Sun, but once every 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds with respect to other distant stars. Scientists call this difference crucial to ...

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 ...

James is a published author with multiple pop-history and science books to his name. He specializes in history, space, strange science, and anything out of the ordinary.View full profile James is a ...

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 ...

James O'Donoghue receives funding from the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). Earth will complete a rotation 1.33 milliseconds earlier than usual on Tuesday, August 5. That makes it ...