When the moon is positioned farther from Earth's equator and closer to the poles, its pull on the planet becomes weaker. With less resistance, Earth is able to spin a bit faster, which makes the day slightly shorter than usual.

July 9 was unusually short thanks to changes in how fast the Earth is spinning. But two other days this summer are expected to be even shorter.

As Earth spins faster than it has in decades, atomic clocks are catching the difference, and shorter days are on the horizon.

Ever been late because you misread a clock? Sometimes, the "clocks" geologists use to date events can also be misread. Unraveling Earth's 4.5-billion-year history with rocks is tricky business.

Last year, MP Materials produced 45,455 metric tons of rare-earth oxides in concentrate form, 1,294 metric tons of NdPr oxide, and recorded $61 million in revenue. USA Rare Earth, in contrast, had revenue of $0.

The Defense Department is buying $400 million of stock in rare-earth mining company MP Materials as it seeks to boost domestic sources of the critical minerals.

Normally, younger rocks are deposited above older ones, forming predictable geologic layers. In the North Sea, this process is a bit more complicated.

Astronomers claim to have found new evidence supporting a controversial observation that our galaxy is residing in an unusually sparse region in space. If it's correct, it could rewrite cosmology.

Colossal volcanic eruptions like the kind that may have obliterated the dinosaurs more than 65 million years ago are caused by mantle plumes that rise from shifting underground mountains deep within the Earth's mantle,