Animated maps that explain the physical "why" behind our planet: drifting continents, sinking cities, and the rivers, rocks and water that shape where we live.
Latest video
Why Houston Is America's Fastest-Sinking City
Parts of Houston sank more than ten feet. We test the claim like scientists: the physics of who carries the weight underground, why clay never springs back, four lines of evidence, and what happened when the city cut its pumping.
Series
Sinking Cities
Why the ground under the world's cities is moving, and almost always down. One city, one cause, one episode at a time.
Why America's Biggest Cities Are All Sinking
Episode 1. All 28 of America's most populous cities, and the three forces pulling them down.
Why Houston Is America's Fastest-Sinking City
Episode 2. Parts of Houston sank more than ten feet. The physics, the proof, and how the city fought back.
Series
Earth Through Time
One story per episode, each told with real plate reconstructions showing where the continents actually were.
Pangaea
How every continent was once joined, and the clues that proved it.
The Ring of Fire
Why 9 out of 10 earthquakes, and most active volcanoes, circle the Pacific Ocean.
How the Himalayas Were Made
India's race north and the collision that built the roof of the world.
How the Atlantic Was Born
From a narrow crack to an ocean that still grows every year.
The Next Supercontinent
Four scientific ideas for what Earth may look like 250 million years from now.