Earth's core is not solid nor liquid as we have long believed but something "quite abnormal," scientists have claimed. In fact, they believe it's a weird mix of elements that make it a bit of both. Or as experts have called it, a " superionic state.

This article was originally featured on Hakai Magazine, an online publication about science and society in coastal ecosystems. Read more stories like this at hakaimagazine.com. Hidden inside the Earth-within the first several hundred kilometers below the crust-there is another ocean. It is, most likely, the largest ocean in the world.

Scientists have found a massive volume of water 1,000km inside of our planet, around a third way to Earth's core: "This water is much deeper than ever found before, at a third of the way to the edge of Earth's core."

Space mining is an idea that began taking hold at the turn of the century, and 10 years ago, it was passionately discussed. Many argued that space mining could revolutionise the commercial space economy by employing robots and private astronauts to explore and mine near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) for precious metals and even rare earth metals.

Nuclear power is going mini. Former SpaceX engineers are creating a portable microreactor that is lightweight and cost-effective, calling it the "world's first portable, zero-emissions power source." It was originally a project imagined for Mars, but the team decided Earth needed it more (or, at least, sooner).

In a find unlike anything seen before, a piece of opal from the island of java in indonesia holds some remarkable cargo: a stunningly preserved insect that may be at least four to seven million years old. Previously, plenty of ancient insects have been found in amber, a gemstone made of fossilized tree resin.

image-51]Data from satellite sensors show that during the Northern Hemisphere's growing season, the Midwest region of the United States boasts more photosynthetic activity than any other spot on Earth, according to NASA and university scientists. Healthy plants convert light to energy via photosynthesis, but chlorophyll also emits a fraction of absorbed light as fluorescent glow that is invisible to the naked eye.

KB: We asked ourselves, "what obliquity, what misalignment would Planet Nine induce in the solar system?" because it must induce some. We know that Planet Nine's orbit in inclined. As a result, when Planet Nine torques the rest of the solar system, the two sort of act as two precessing tops.