earth sciences

Jessica Watkins earned her Ph.D. in geology from UCLA in 2015.

A UCLA-led team of scientists discovered a white dwarf star in the constellation Boötes whose atmosphere is rich in carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen.

Students in “Intro to Oceanography” spoof music videos for the sake of science.

From the capuchin monkeys of Costa Rica to the Los Angeles area's mountain lions, UCLA experts are developing new techniques and advancing knowledge.

Previous research showed that ice shelves are vulnerable to even small increases in greenhouse gases, but the new study was the first to demonstrate that huge, land-based glaciers are also vulnerable.

UCLA’s Seulgi Moon and her colleagues devised a mathematical model that estimates the amount of stress bedrock is under, which will enable scientists to predict where fractures may occur.

New research indicates that some dinosaurs, at least, had the capacity to elevate their body temperature using heat sources in the environment, such as the sun.

The models predict that the area burned by Santa Ana fires will increase by 64 percent and the are burned by non-Santa Ana fires will increase by 77 percent.

The hands-on, 3-D virtual landscape lets students sculpt mountains, valleys and rivers — then fill them with water.

Researchers from UCLA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory found that extra heat from greenhouse gases has been trapped in the subsurface waters of the Pacific and Indian oceans.

Findings suggest that similar isotopic signatures could exist for many biological processes, including some that are difficult to observe with current tools.

One of the new meteorites, found in Namibia and weighing in at 811 pounds, is now the largest meteorite in Los Angeles.

While both planets are rocky with iron cores, the complex dynamics of Mercury's interior create an unusual magnetic field that is three times stronger at its northern hemisphere than its southern one.

A group of 47 eminent scientists who met in the laboratories of UCLA paleobiologist J. William Schopf produced two remarkable books documenting the earliest history of the Earth. Thirty-five of them will reunite at UCLA for a July 22-24 conference.

The frustrated attempts of a UCLA graduate student to quantify the amount of water draining from Greenland's melting ice sheet led him to devise a new way to measure river flows using satellite images.

Drawing lessons from the Northridge earthquake and many more since, dozens of UCLA researchers are helping ensure that we are better prepared for future quakes.

"Many of these are the first rocks that formed anywhere in the solar system," curator John Wasson said of the gallery's 1,500 meterorite specimens.

A scientist, together with a graduate student, used cutting-edge research tools at UCLA to help Turkish archaeologists decipher a large, neolithic mural that many believe is the world's earliest depiction of a volcanic eruption.

"Wow, that’s one big fish!" That was the reaction of everyone at UCLA’s Translational Research Imaging Center when a monster fish story became reality in the form of a rare 14-foot, 250-pound oarfish.