By trapping huge amounts of water on land, big dams built by humans have slightly changed how Earth spins and where its poles ...

Earth’s spin is not as steady as it looks. As ice melts and groundwater is pumped from deep aquifers to the surface, the ...

Earth’s spin is not as steady as it looks from the ground. As ice sheets melt and aquifers are drained, scientists now say the planet’s axis has shifted by more than 30 inches, a subtle but measurable ...

Humans pumped so much groundwater out of the Earth that the planet has begun to wobble detectably on its axis, a new study has found. On its own terms, the magnitude of the new wobble is slight — a ...

The study of polar motion and Earth's rotation dynamics encompasses the investigation of subtle shifts in the orientation of the planet's rotation axis relative to its crust. These motions are ...

A typical desk globe is designed to be a geometric sphere and to rotate smoothly when you spin it. Our actual planet is far less perfect — in both shape and in rotation. Earth is not a perfect sphere.

Glacial melting due to global warming is likely the cause of a shift in the movement of the poles that occurred in the 1990s. The locations of the North and South poles aren’t static, unchanging spots ...

Earth's shape is an oblate spheroid, slightly bulging at the equator due to its rotation, resulting in a significant difference in distance from the Earth's center between the equator and poles. This ...

Our planet’s magnetosphere has seen dramatic shifts across its history—even total reversals—but this recent wrinkle doesn’t ...

If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the ...

Mercury is the innermost and smallest of the eight major planets in our Solar System, orbiting closest to the Sun. Though ...