A typical desk globe is designed to be a geometric sphere and to rotate smoothly when you spin it. Our actual planet is far less perfect — in both shape and in rotation. Earth is not a perfect sphere.

Earth’s spin is not as steady as it looks. As ice melts and groundwater is pumped from deep aquifers to the surface, the planet’s mass is shifting, and with it the position of the rotational axis that ...

Climate change is altering the Earth to its literal core, new research suggests. As polar and glacial ice melts because of global warming, water that was once concentrated at the top and the bottom of ...

Stephen has degrees in science (Physics major) and arts (English Literature and the History and Philosophy of Science), as well as a Graduate Diploma in Science Communication. Stephen has degrees in ...

Climate change is causing the ice masses in Greenland and Antarctica to melt. Water from the polar regions is flowing into the world’s oceans –and especially into the equatorial region. “This means ...

Melting ice redistributes mass to Earth's equator, slowing its spin rate. Changes in Earth's spin affect its synchronization with atomic clocks. Sebnem Coskun / Anadolu via Getty Images From time to ...

Earth wobbles on its axis like a spinning top, a motion called precession. This wobble takes about 26,000 years to complete one full circle. Different stars have served as the North Star throughout ...

If you have ever heard that Earth will soon start having 25-hour days, it might be right. The idea itself is not wrong. Scientists do expect Earth’s rotation to keep slowing. What often gets lost is ...