The concept is a few years away from testing but could see rapid deployment.

If you want to understand why some sandcastles are tall and have intricate structures while others are nearly shapeless lumps of sand, it helps to have a background in geotechnical engineering, writes Joseph Scalia, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, Colorado State University.

While accurately predicting earthquakes is in the realm of science fiction, early warning systems are very much a reality. As advances in research and technology make these systems increasingly effective, they’re vital to reducing an earthquake’s human, social and economic toll.

Some scientists say an engineered climate recovery must be taken seriously, with aggressive and deliberate management strategies put in place, writes Jaqueline McLeod Rogers of the University of Winnipeg. We need to cultivate citizen interest and government support for research into the development of large-scale geoengineering projects.

Microscopic organisms known as extremophiles inhabit some of the last places on Earth you might expect to find life, from the extreme pressures of the ocean floor to freezing ice caps. Understanding how these microbes survive by interacting with different metals and gases is opening up new knowledge about Earth’s elements and their potential uses.

There are about 1,500 potentially active volcanoes worldwide and about 50 eruptions occur each year. But it is still difficult to predict when and how these eruptions will happen or how they will unfold. Now, new insight into the physical processes inside volcanoes are giving scientists a better understanding of their behaviour, which could help protect the one billion people who live close to volcanoes.