Boston University

Geosciences

University News

Boston University Program’s Name Change Reflects Its Transnational Focus

September 15, 2025

Photo: Microbes under a microscope, they appear as red and scattered

Microbes

Microbes Reveal Clues About Extraterrestrial Life

April 16, 2025

Seismic activity map. A 3.8 magnitude earthquake in Maine was felt throughout much of coastal New England—including at Boston University.

Earthquakes

Did Monday’s Earthquake Rattle You?

January 27, 2025

Photo: A picture of many polymetallic nodules, bumpy rocks, on the ocean floor

Marine Science

Oxygen Produced in the Deep Sea Raises Questions about Extraterrestrial Life

August 15, 2024

Collage: (From left to right, top down) Photo: Philadelphia Eagles' C.J. Gardner-Johnson catches a pass during practice at the NFL football team's training facility, Friday, Feb. 3, 2023, in Philadelphia. A Black man wearing a dark green and white Eagles' football uniform and helmet catches a football in his hands, Photo: A flatlay of the iLet Bionic Pancreas, a bionic pancreas approved at the FDA. The device is a black box with a wire attached with two additional attachments, Photo: An unidentified person standing in a generic store pharmacy holds over the counter medicine in the aisle as they try to make a decision, and Photo: A white hands holds up a petri dish holding the yeast candida auris in a laboratory. a Petri dish with speckles of white dots/fungi is shown.

2023 IN REVIEW

What Were BU’s Most-Read Science and Research Stories in 2023?

December 11, 2023

An image with a green background and a lightbulb shaped like a brain flickering yellow. The text reads "Today I Learned"

Listen Now

Today I Learned: Boston’s topography was shaped by glaciers more than 20,000 years ago

May 30, 2023

Photo: Iceland’s Fagradalsfjall volcano erupts in the background as Peter Schroedl, a person wearing black clothes, a face mask, orange neon vest collects specimens from volcanic rocks in the foreground.

Microbes

What Microbes Can Tell Us about Life on Earth and in Space

April 24, 2023

Photo: Dr. Bokulich, a white woman with long, dark brown hair and wearing a long black dress with long sleeves, poses in her cozy office. A tall warm-light lamp lights the room as Bokulich stands and poses next to a floral armchair and in front of a small, filled bookcase.

Philosophy of Geoscience

Are We Really in a Sixth Mass Extinction?

April 10, 2023

Photo: A birds-eye view of the destruction from the earthquake in Turkey. Mass rubble from a fallen structure is scattered everywhere.

Earthquakes

Why Were the Two Earthquakes That Struck Turkey and Syria So Catastrophic—and Could They Have Been Predicted?

February 9, 2023

Collage: (From left to right, top down) Photo: Bruce Willis at a speaking engagement wearing a blue collared shirt with a white undershirt, Photo of BU Medical student, Molly Jia Yong Zhao gives a flu shot to a patient during a clinic on September 29, 2020, vector illustration of a brain pixelating and dissolving from left to right, and Photo of Clinical Assistant Professor in Health Science, Hagere Yilma, posing for a photo. A Black woman with shoulder-length black hair styled in a twist-out hairstyle wearing a black, tunic-style blouse stands in front of a brick wall and smiles to the camera.

2022 in Review

Best of The Brink 2022: BU’s Most-Read Science and Research Stories

December 13, 2022

Image: A Modern wire frame mesh design vector illustration of the year "2022". Numbers are depicted with glowing neon blue low polygonal digits on dark blue background. .

2022 in Review

Best of The Brink 2022: 10 Amazing Discoveries and Mind-Blowing Facts

December 12, 2022

Photo of Pamela Templer (center), Shawn Jones (left), and Yasmin Romitti. From left, a tall Black man with glasses, a dark grey blazer, purpled collared shirt and black pants stands next to a shorter white woman with arms crossed wearing black blouse and pants and red cardigan, and on right a younger, shorter white woman wearing a black and white polka dot shirt and jeans. They all stand, pose, and smile next to each other.

Climate Change

Building a Diverse, Strong Climate Workforce

June 10, 2022

Image of BU Earth and environment researchers Catherine Mahoney, and Amanda Vieillard at Belle Isle Marsh Reservation in Boston, Mass. The women crouch in the yellow grass and set up portable carbon sensors. The Boston City Skyline is seen behind them.

Blue Carbon

Empowering Citizen Scientists to Study and Protect Coastal Wetlands

March 3, 2022

BU engineers Brian Walsh and Emil Atz work on the Cusp Plasma Imaging Detector (CuPID) satellite which uses a new kind of optical technology to enable wide-field X-ray imaging of magnetic fields from inside a shoebox-size package.

SPACE SCIENCES

CuPID Satellite Will Take Widest Ever Images of Earth and Sun’s Magnetic Fields

September 27, 2021

Thick haze from wildfire smoke in New England is shown hanging over the Boston skyline as viewed from Fenway Park.

Climate Science

Wildfire Smoke in New England Is “Pretty Severe from Public Health Perspective”

July 27, 2021

Deepwater Discoveries

There’s More to the Story behind Rare Glass Octopus Footage

July 21, 2021

A photo of a person putting their hand to their forehead in extreme heat

Heat Illness

How Does Heat Exposure Affect the Body and Mind?

July 6, 2021

Heat map of the Boston metro area

Environmental Health

As Temperatures Set Records, Heat Exposure Hits Some Neighborhoods Harder than Others

June 25, 2021

A photo of a mushroom with a red head and white dots

Soil Microbiome

Why Scientists Want to Solve an Underground Mystery about Where Microbes Live

May 7, 2021

An aerial view of a forest

Climate Change

Northern Forest Fires Could Accelerate Climate Change

April 29, 2021

Northern Forest Fires Could Accelerate Climate Change