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."

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.

In the remote desert of western Egypt, near the Libyan border, lie clues to an ancient cosmic cataclysm. Libyan desert glass is the name given to fragments of canary-yellow glass found scattered over hundreds of kilometres, between giant shifting sand dunes. Interest in Libyan desert glass goes back more than 3,000 years.