‘rogue waves’ capable of sinking ships are raging across our oceans… and scientists don’t know why

Hokusai imagined a massive breaker about to crash on tiny fishing boats. Sandro Botticelli had his Venus float in her shell on a mere sea ripple. Large or small, soothing or frightening, waves have long captivated artists, finds Michael Prodger

A heartbeat-like pulse has been discovered beating deep beneath East Africa – and it’s ripping the continent apart. The strange thumping is caused by a rhythmic surge of molten mantle rock rising and

One summer’s evening in the days before internet weather forecasting, I was deeply involved in the after-race ‘do’ following a Solent Old Gaffers event. In the 1970s these regattas drew entrants large

They’ve recently made headlines for interfering with boats, but intelligent, family-focused and remarkably long-lived orcas–better known as killer whales–contain multitudes,

Probably the worst whirlpool in the world

Of the hundreds of thousands of asteroids in our solar system, it is all too feasible that one could strike Earth. If scientists discover this is likely to happen, what are our options for defending ourselves – and who will make the key decisions? Tomas Weber reports