Posted on December 14, 2022 (Updated on July 9, 2025)
Bottom formation
Natural EnvironmentsPlants rarely grow on bare rock. They need a soil from which they can draw nutrients and in which they can form roots. For such soil to develop, weathering is necessary: rain and oxygen, heat and cold, water and wind grind the rock and thus grind even hard granite into smaller and smaller grains. What
Posted on December 14, 2022 (Updated on July 9, 2025)
Moving earth magnetic field
Natural EnvironmentsThe earth’s magnetic field behaves much like that of an ordinary bar magnet. However, there are also decisive differences. For example, the earth’s magnetic field is not rigid, but dynamic. Its magnetic poles are constantly in motion. At present, the magnetic south pole is close to the geographic north pole. At about 40 kilometres a
Posted on December 10, 2022 (Updated on July 9, 2025)
Mountains on the move
Natural EnvironmentsMighty and rigid mountains rise up into the sky. It seems as if nothing and no one can move them from the spot. But this is not true: mountains are constantly moving – but so slowly that we cannot see the change with the naked eye. The reason for this: the plates of the earth’s
Posted on December 10, 2022 (Updated on July 9, 2025)
From the bowels of the earth: ores and dignified metals
Natural EnvironmentsCopper was the first metal that man discovered in the earth’s crust. It could be formed into simple tools or weapons and was so important that an entire era was named after it: the Copper Age. The tools got better when man mixed the copper with tin and thus invented bronze. And when he learned
Posted on December 10, 2022 (Updated on July 9, 2025)
Magical dripstone cave discovered
Natural EnvironmentsWorkers at the Biggethal lime works in the Sauerland region were astonished when they suddenly looked directly into the belly of the earth on 19 July. A blast in the limestone had exposed a crevice in the rock. Driven by curiosity, they crawled inside. What they saw inside left them speechless: a fabulous landscape of
Posted on December 10, 2022 (Updated on July 9, 2025)
Rebirth of the Amber Room
Natural EnvironmentsIt has been lost for decades. There are countless speculations about where it is and whether it still exists at all. Whatever may have happened to the legendary Amber Room, it can now be admired again. On 31 May, Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder presented a reconstruction of the work of