Older than life on Earth

A reservoir of rock that remained intact for nearly the entire history of Earth could tell us about how our planet was built. Its chemistry hints that Earth's building blocks may have had a rough time of it, losing their skins before they could unite.

The rocks were thrown up by volcanoes in the Arctic wastes of Baffin Island and Greenland only 62 million years ago, but it seems they came from a store of rock in the mantle that formed 4.5 billion years ago – just after Earth formed.

-- report

At the edge

The Inughuits thought they were the world's only inhabitants until an expedition led by the Scottish explorer John Ross came across them in 1818.

-- report

Slush puppies

As it's reported that thinning glaciers are driving polar ice loss, Alex Hartley wants you to become a citizen of nowhereisland. And you won't even have to move there as he may be bringing the rocks to a town near you.

Cold road

Good photos from Greenland and Iceland by Nathan Myrhvold. For example this one of a storm over a fjord (large verion here).