The GeoNerd News 2026

 

Geology (along with mineralogy and paleontology) is fascinating, there’s no end to the amazing things that Mother Earth comes up with. This page shares some of the exciting geological discoveries and events that are in the news. This list is updated periodically, so check back for more browsing fun.

These news items are culled from the Smithsonian Museum’s Smart News service. It shares technically accurate reports of new findings in many fields, including earth science, making these a great starting point for exploring what Mother Earth is cooking up for us.

Your input is greatly appreciated – if you know of any exciting geo-news, or a news source, email us the link at info@taosrockers.com and we’ll have a look. 

For previous year's GeoNerd News articles, visit:

The GeoNerd News 2025
The GeoNerd News 2024
The GeoNerd News 2023
The GeoNerd News 2021-2022  

 

6/24/26 Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Might Be the Oldest Object Ever Seen in Our Solar System, a Study Suggests

6/23/26 Scientists May Have Discovered the Origins of the Euphrates River, Which Helped Nurture Some of the Earliest Known Civilizations

6/23/26 A Vietnam Veteran Collected Fossils for 66 Years. One, Mislabeled 'Baby Lamprey,' Made Paleontologists Reconsider How Vertebrates Moved From Water to Land

6/18/26 What Natural History Objects Represent Your State? You Can Find Out in This New Exhibition of More Than 600 Specimens and Artifacts

6/18/26 Astronomers Discovered a 'Cosmic Fossil' in the Making—the Most Chemically Primitive Galaxy Seen Yet—by Peering Back to the Edge of Time

6/17/26 Scientists Uncover New Clues About the Volcanic Origins of the Giant's Causeway, an Iconic Geologic Structure in Northern Ireland

6/16/26 See a Stunning View of the Southern Lights Dancing Across the Earth Captured by a NASA Astronaut

6/12/26 See a Diamond Planet, an Exploding Star and a Black Hole Up Close in a New Immersive Virtual Reality Experience

6/12/26 Scientists Discover the World's Largest, Deepest Whale Graveyard, Where Cetacean Remains Have Been Piling Up for Five Million Years

6/11/26 A Rare Meteorite Found in the Sahara Desert Offers Evidence of a Lost Protoplanet

6/8/26 Meet the 'Witch Croc,' a Strange Ancient Crocodile Relative With Two Legs and No Teeth That Roamed New Mexico During the Triassic

6/4/26 Tonga's Enormous Volcanic Eruption Cleaned Up Part of Its Own Methane Emissions in 2022, Hinting at a Way to Fight Climate Change

6/4/26 Glittering Gold Can Stay Shiny for Centuries. Scientists Say They've Figured Out Why the Precious Metal Is So Resistant to Tarnishing

6/3/26 'Nothing Short of Magical': Scientists Discover a Dinosaur Bone Nearly 800 Feet Beneath a Parking Lot at a Denver Museum

6/1/26 A Bright Meteor Lit Up the New England Sky Before Exploding With a Loud Boom—and Its Pieces May Have Landed in Cape Cod Bay

5/29/26 Tyrannosaurus Rex and Other Terrifying Predatory Dinosaurs Had Itty-Bitty Arms. Scientists May Have Finally Figured Out Why

5/29/26 What Was the Biggest Dinosaur? Fragmentary Fossils Make It Hard to Tell

5/26/26 Paleontologists Stumble Across 15-Million-Year-Old Fish Fossils That Are So Well Preserved, Their Last Meals Are Intact

5/26/26 A Sudden Landslide Triggered Alaska's 2025 'Mega-Tsunami.' Now, Scientists Have Identified Warning Signs to Predict Similar Events

5/26/26 Paleontologists Discover an Ancient Marine Reptile They've Dubbed the T. Rex of the Sea, Crowning Another King of the Cretaceous

5/26/26 A 35,000-Year-Old Saber-Toothed Cub Was Unearthed in Siberia—and It Still Had Its Whiskers and Claws

5/22/26 Ancient Egyptian Engineering Choices Helped the Great Pyramid of Giza Survive Earthquakes, New Research Finds

5/21/26 Neptune's Moon Nereid Might Be the Sole Intact Survivor of an Ancient Lunar Collision

5/21/26 This Canadian Mine Might Release Enough Natural Hydrogen Each Year to Power 400 Homes, Hinting at an Untapped Source of Clean Energy

5/18/26 A Dimpled Koala Fossil Found in a Cave in Western Australia Revealed Why This Previously Unknown Species Went Extinct

5/15/26 A Man Spotted Strange-Looking Rocks Near a Pond in Thailand. They Turned Out to Be the Bones of a Massive New Dinosaur Species

5/15/26 Could Building a Dam Across the Bering Strait Save the Planet From Some Effects of Climate Change?

5/12/16 It Took Millions of Years for Australia's Famous Twelve Apostles Landmark to Rise Out of the Sea

5/8/26 East Africa Might Break Off From the Continent Sooner Than Scientists Thought—and a New Ocean May Fill the Gap

5/8/26 Mysterious Green Rocks Discovered in a Remote Cave in Spain Might Be Signs of Prehistoric People Working With Copper

5/5/26 This Island in Scotland Is Actually a Man-Made Mini Landmass Resting on a Wooden Platform, New Discovery Shows

5/5/26 Could Pluto Once Again Be Considered a Planet? New Remarks From NASA's Administrator Highlight an Enduring Debate Among Scientists

5/1/26 This Greek Volcano Seemed Quiet for 100,000 Years. Then It Erupted Again. Should Scientists Take a Second Look at 'Extinct' Volcanoes?

4/28/26 Warm Waters Are Usually Trapped Deep Within the Southern Ocean. Now, They're Encroaching on Antarctica, Threatening Its Ice

4/27/26 This Bone-Crunching Octopus Was Nearly the Size of a Semitruck and May Have Feasted on Giant Reptiles 100 Million Years Ago

4/23/26 A Mars Rover Found Building Blocks of Life Never Seen on the Red Planet Before, Boosting the Case for Ancient Habitability

4/21/26 This Ancient God’s Name Was 'Mud.' Archaeologists Discovered a Water-Filled Temple Possibly Tied to Him in Egypt

4/20/26 Extensive Desert 'Lava Tubes' Sheltered Humans for 7,000 Years, Archaeologists Find

4/17/26 Scientists Still Don't Know How or When the Grand Canyon Formed. New Research May Hint at Its Ancient Origins

4/15/26 The Hell Creek Formation Is North America's Legendary Boneyard. See the Top Five Discoveries Found in the Iconic Fossil Bed

4/14/26 Long Misidentified, This Seal Tooth Pendant Was Carefully Crafted by a Prehistoric Human Roughly 15,000 Years Ago

4/13/26 This Nearly 300-Million-Year-Old Mummified Reptile Reveals the Evolutionary Origins of How We Breathe

4/11/26 This Fossil Held the World Record for the Earliest Known Octopus. Turns Out, It's Not an Octopus After All

4/7/26 New Fossils Discovered in China Hint That Complex Life Evolved Millions of Years Earlier Than Scientists Thought

4/7/26 See the Awe-Inspiring New Photos of the Moon and Earth Sent Back From the Artemis 2 Mission

4/7/26 The La Brea Tar Pits Have Been Sucking in Visitors for Millennia. Paleontologists Are Still Finding Out What Lies Within the Ooze

4/6/26 Lightning Strikes on Jupiter Are 100 Times as Powerful as Those on Earth, a New Study Suggests

4/3/26 This 500-Million-Year-Old Fossil of a Claw-Bearing Predator Uncovers the Origins of Spiders, Scorpions and Other Arthropods

4/1/26 These Snorkeling Scientists Stumbled Upon a Surprising Trove of Fossils in a Texas Water Cave

4/1/26 Canadian-based company seeks exploratory permit to drill for uranium in Northern New Mexico

4/1/26 When Did the Earth's Crust Start to Shift? Scientists Uncover Evidence of Plate Tectonics Happening 3.48 Billion Years Ago

3/30/26 These 17-Million-Year-Old Fossils Could Rewrite the Evolutionary Tree of Apes—Including Humans

3/30/26 Was Spinosaurus Really a 'Hell Heron'? Digging Into the Star of Netflix’s 'The Dinosaurs'

3/30/26 Scientists Identify the World's First Known Dog, Which Pushes Back the Animals' Genetic Record by About 5,000 Years

3/27/26 Two Green 'Fireballs' Streaked Across the West Coast Sky, Some of the Latest in a String of Dazzling Meteors Above the U.S.

3/25/26 If Mount Vesuvius Erupted in August, Why Were Pompeii Victims Wearing Heavy Wool Garments?

3/24/26 This Suspected Meteorite Tore Through the Roof of a Suburban Houston Home

3/23/26 These Mesmerizing Waterfalls Flow Only Every Few Years. See the Rare Marvel Now in Southwest Utah

3/19/26 A Meteor Streaked Across the Morning Sky as a Dazzling 'Fireball' Before Exploding With a Thunderous Boom Above Ohio

3/17/26 Life's Genetic Code Requires Five Key Ingredients. The Asteroid Ryugu Has All of Them, a New Study Suggests

3/16/26 This 74-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Bone May Have Belonged to a Surprisingly Large Ancestor of Tyrannosaurus Rex

3/13/26 Astronomers Witnessed the Birth of a Magnetar for the First Time. It Explains the Mysterious Flickering of an Ultrabright Supernova

3/11/26 This Museum Is Using Pokémon to Teach Visitors About Fossils. Fans Are Waiting for Hours to Snag Tickets

3/11/26 This Ancient Reptile Started Life on All Fours. As It Grew, It Stood Upright and Started Walking on Two Legs Instead

3/8/26 Chimps Seem to Love Crystals. Their Attraction Might Help Explain Humans' Obsession With the Shimmering Stones

3/8/26 Asteroid 2024 YR4 Won't Slam Into the Moon, According to NASA

3/5/26 This Map Lets You Plug in Your Address to See How It's Changed Over the Past 750 Million Years

3/5/26 Could Life on Earth Have Descended From Microbes That Traveled From Mars Long Ago?

3/5/26 Mosquitoes Have Been Biting Humans for More Than One Million Years

3/3/36 Like an 'Eight-Ton Chicken,' Tyrannosaurus Rex May Have Run on Its Tiptoes to Catch Speedy Prey

2/26/26 Smashing New Proposal About Saturn's History Might Explain Its Iconic Rings and Some of Its Odd Moons

2/23/26 Scientists Still Have So Much to Learn About Archaeopteryx, the Dinosaur That May Have Flown Like a Bird

2/22/26 This Giant Carnivore Ran on Hooves. Scientists Are Investigating Its Massive Skull and Crushing Teeth to Decipher the Beast's True Nature

2/22/26 The Sahara Desert Hasn’t Always Been a Dry, Desolate Landscape. Some Scientists See Signs It May Be Greening Again

2/22/26 Couples Have Been Kissing Under the Lovers' Arch in Italy for Years. On Valentine's Day, It Collapsed Into the Sea

2/22/26 Researchers Retrieve the Deepest-Ever Rock Core From Beneath Antarctica's Ice. It Holds Clues About the Earth's Past—and Future

2/18/26 How Did Animals Conquer the Deep Sea? Mussels and Clams Point to Two Different Strategies

2/18/26 Astronomers Discover an Exoplanet in the Wrong Place, Hinting at a Planetary System That Was Born 'Inside Out'

2/16/26 Seven Surprising Facts About the Matterhorn

2/16/26 How Do Thousands of Clear Blue Lagoons End Up In These Brazilian Sand Dunes?

2/16/26 Dinosaur National Monument Construction Work Turns Up New Fossils, Leading to the First Excavation at One Site in More Than a Century

2/13/26 Gallop Into the Year of the Horse With These Five Amazing Equine Discoveries

2/13/26 Earth's Core Might Hold Dozens of Oceans Worth of Hydrogen, Hinting at the Origins of the Planet's Vast Water Supply

2/13/26 A Football-Size Creature That Lived 307 Million Years Ago May Have Been One of the First Land Vertebrates to Eat Plants

2/11/26 An Asteroid Ended the Age of the Dinosaurs. But How Did Their Reign Begin? Mysterious Early Reptiles May Hold the Answer

2/9/26 An Asteroid Might Slam Into the Moon in 2032—and Create a Fiery Flash That's Visible to Earthlings, New Research Suggests

2/6/26 After the Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Wrecked the Planet, Life May Have Bounced Back Surprisingly Fast

2/6/26 What’s Buried Beneath Antarctica's Ice? A New Map Unveils the Continent's Hidden Landscape Like Never Before Seen

2/2/26 Megalodons Went Extinct Millions of Years Ago. The Prehistoric Predator Could Become Maryland's Official State Shark

2/2/26 A New App Can Match Footprints to the Dinosaurs That Made Them

2/2/26 A Fossil Trove in China Provides a Rare Window Into a Mass Extinction Event That Happened More Than 500 Million Years Ago

1/31/26 The Earliest Known Vertebrates Had Four Eyes—and They Worked a Lot Like Ours Do, New Research Suggests

1/27/26  Witness to Water - Hierophant Publishing and Insight Events

1/27/26 Mars May Have Been Half Covered by an Ocean Three Billion Years Ago

1/27/26 Researchers Discover a New Phase of Ice by Squeezing Water Between Diamonds

1/27/26 Archaeologists Unearthed a 430,000-Year-Old Stick. After Careful Analysis, They Say It Could Be the Oldest Wooden Tool Ever Discovered

1/26/26 Giant Kangaroos That Lived During the Ice Age May Have Hopped—Despite Weighing Up to 550 Pounds

1/26/26 Strange, Shovel-Tusked Elephants Puzzled Paleontologists, Until Experts Took a Closer Look at Their Teeth

1/26/26 This Hammer Created From an Elephant Bone 480,000 Years Ago May Be the Oldest Known Tool of Its Kind Ever Found in Europe

1/26/26 Tyrannosaurus Rex Was Probably a Late Bloomer—and May Have Taken Around 40 Years to Grow Up

1/23/26 This Mysterious 407-Million-Year-Old Fossil May Represent a Previously Unknown Branch of Life

1/23/26 Sonic Booms and Earthquake Sensors Can Help Researchers Track Space Junk as It Plummets to Earth

1/23/26 United Nations Declares That the World Has Entered an Era of 'Global Water Bankruptcy'

1/20/26 This Dinosaur May Have Used Its Strange Clawed Hands to Pilfer and Pierce Eggs

1/16/26 Jupiter's Moon Europa Is a Top Candidate for Hosting Alien Life. But It May Lack the Geologic Activity Needed to Birth Microbes

1/13/26 The Race Is On to Save the Alps' Famous Huts and Trails as Melting Permafrost Threatens to Destroy Them

1/9/26 Sharklike Fish With Weird, Buzz-Saw Jaws Sliced Through the Seas, Then Vanished. Now, Paleontologists Are Unraveling Their Secrets

1/8/26 Earthquakes Deep Below Antarctic Waters Seem to Have Surprising Effects on Life at the Surface

1/6/26 New Fossil Analysis Suggests This Seven-Million-Year-Old Primate Walked on Two Legs, Potentially Making It the Oldest Known Human Ancestor

1/5/26 A New Pterosaur, Ancient Asteroid Brine and More Discoveries from the National Museum of Natural History in 2025 | Smithsonian Voices | National Museum of Natural History Smithsonian Magazine

1/1/26 Don’t Miss These Ten Celestial Events in 2026, From Aligned Planets to a Total Solar Eclipse

12/31/25 The Top Ten Dinosaur Discoveries of 2025, From Preserved Blood Vessels to the Return of a Short King