Mysteries of Our Planet Earth

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Unknown Earth: Our planet's seven biggest mysteries

24 September 2008
Magazine issue 2675. Subscribe and get 4 free issues.
It's the place we call home, but there is much about planet Earth that remains frustratingly unknown. How did it form from a cloud of dust? How did it manage to nurture life? And just what is going on deep within its core? New Scientist investigates these and other fundamental questions about our beautiful, enigmatic world.

How come Earth got all the good stuff?

What happened during Earth's dark ages?

Where did Earth's life come from?

Why does Earth have plate tectonics?

What is at the centre of the Earth?

Why is Earth's climate so stable?

Can we predict earthquakes and volcanic eruptions?

Explore an interactive map of our Unknown Earth


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read all 19 comments Comments 1 | 2
Earthquakes & Haarp
Mon Sep 29 11:26:26 BST 2008 by James S

"...some researchers believe that electrical disturbances on the edge of the Earth's atmosphere - which some say may have preceded a number of major earthquakes - could also be used as a predictor"

See: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ecLwVgvvTvU @ 5 minutes onwards.

This video suggests HAARP (High Frequency Active Auroral Reasearch Program) could potentially be used to trigger earthquakes.

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Creation Or Evolusion
Mon Sep 29 16:55:15 BST 2008 by Mark

It is unthinkable to believe that life exists because of chance, the acuracy that everything coexist, speaks volumes about creation as we have acustom ourselves with creating new things day in and day out. Take for instance the technological advances we have made in a short space of time, all of which could not have existed by chance could it?

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Creation Or Evolusion
Mon Sep 29 18:31:02 BST 2008 by Boozer

However 'unthinkable' it may be to your creationist mind, evolution happens. Nobody is monitoring your thoughts so let your them run wild.

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Creation Or Evolusion
Mon Sep 29 18:54:30 BST 2008 by Tiffany

I prefer to think that it is all chance and chaos. If I believed in creationism I'd have to accept that the same creator decided to create the following: diseases, disasters, genocide, war, starvation, pain, injustice, corruption, hate, intolerance, etc., etc.

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Creation Or Evolusion
Mon Sep 29 20:38:10 BST 2008 by Daniel

Yes, I severely doubt any apologist could ever convince me that any such being could be anything other than cruel given the evidence. (pardon me regarding potentially humerus use of word evidence)

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Creation Or Evolusion
Mon Sep 29 22:27:08 BST 2008 by Tiffany

Exactly. If I had the power to create a universe I'd certainly use that power to remove the unpleasant things in our world, like pedophiles, malaria, animal-abusers, GW Bush, tsunamis, etc. (not necessarily in that order)

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Creation Or Evolusion
Thu Oct 02 06:25:37 BST 2008 by Nicholls

Tiffany, please think about your statement.

God created the Universe - which includes the Earth, animals and Homo sapiens. All the ills of the world that you mentioned are caused by man. How could chance or mutations cause a beautiful baby, sunset, or music by Mozart?

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Creation Or Evolusion
Sat Jan 03 16:37:30 GMT 2009 by Chris R

But Nicholls, of the ills that Tiffany mentions at least two - malaria and tsunamis - don't involve human agency at all. There are plenty of other examples in a similar vein. It stretches credibility slightly to suggest that we were responsible for, say, the 2004 Asian tsunami.

In addition, one (and arguably two) of your examples of beauty are absolutely the products of chance. You don't seriously believe that God himself paints the sky every evening, do you?

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Creation Or Evolusion
Sat Jan 03 23:58:05 GMT 2009 by James

So entertaining a discussion. For critical analysis: (long URL - click here). Viva science!

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Radio Metric Dating
Mon Sep 29 17:00:49 BST 2008 by Mark

How do we know how much of the isotope used in dating an object was within the object at it's start? Seems to me that this would greatly impact the dating of said object.

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Radio Metric Dating
Tue Sep 30 18:58:39 BST 2008 by Matthys

The carbon isotope that you speak of is being created in the atmosphere at a near-constant rate. It decays at a rate which is proportional to the total amount which means that the total amount of isotope is equalibrium and doen't change. As living organisms grow they absorb carbon from the atmosphere. The ratio of the radioactive carbon to non-radioactive carbon is essentialy constant in all living organisms. From the point that the organism dies, no futher carbon is absorbed so that the amount of radioactive carbon in the body/corpse decreases via radioactive decay.

Basically we know the amount of isotope in the "object" at it's start becuase the ration of non-radiactive to radioactive carbon is near-constant for all living organisms.

Carbon dating only applies to organic matter and relies on the known ratio of the carbon isotopes. If the carbon isotope ratio for a certain point in time is unknown then carbon dating would break down.

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Radio Metric Dating
Sun Oct 12 20:35:19 BST 2008 by Simon Emerson

Yes, this works well for Carbon, but other isotopes are used for dating rocks. What starts the clock for these?

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