Sparticl

What should you know about the ground beneath your feet? Well, for starters, Earth is the only planet in our solar system not named after a Greek or Roman god. The word actually means "ground."

Investigate the third planet from the sun with this in-depth look at Earth's size, surface, atmosphere, and orbit — and the space missions that have shaped our understanding of home.

No doubt you're an expert on which foods taste delicious and which ones taste disgusting to you. But have you ever thought about why foods taste different? And why is it that other people sometimes love foods you hate?

Sample the science behind taste, including how your taste buds help you enjoy the many flavors of food. Then investigate why your tastes may change as you grow older.

Extracting natural gas from inside the earth is a complicated process. The method known as fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, drills deep and injects water, sand, and chemicals at high pressure. The resulting tiny explosions shatter hard shale rocks.

Examine the mechanics of this controversial practice, as well as the debate over safety and environmental impacts.

You can find bears on every continent other than Antarctica and Australia. But most of the 8 species of the Ursidae family live in the northern hemisphere.

Meet this "small group of mostly large mammals" that all have small, rounded eyes and very short tails — and find out why they're often the top predator in their ecosystems.

A fancy car purrs to life. It's hard to believe that inside the engine, violent explosions are going off thousands of times a minute.

Turning heat into motion, internal combustion engines have come a long way in the last 150 years. In different forms, they now power not only cars, but jets and rockets. True, they pollute. But, as you’ll see here, they may still have a long way to go.