John E. Vidale

Nuclear explosions helped scientists triangulate the rate and extent of the oscillation.

USC scientists have found evidence that the Earth's inner core oscillates, contradicting previously accepted models that suggested it consistently rotates at a faster rate than the planet's surface.

A new study of decades worth of seismogram data shows that the surface of Earth's iron and nickel core is more malleable than scientists thought.

Earth's core isn't exactly aligned with its mantle, which results in a cyclical wobble, new research finds.

Don't freak out, but ... Earth's inner core — otherwise known as the "dense center of our planet," as The New York Times describes it — may have actually "paused" its rotation as it prepares to begin turning the other way, a new study published Monday in the Nature Geoscience journal has suggested. Further, the research from study co-authors Yi Yang and Xiaodong Song of Beijing's Pekin University indicates that the…

The "planet within a planet" has been shown to move at its own pace; speeding up, slowing down and rotating, and a new study suggests that the inner core might be operating on a seventy…

Earth's inner core has changed shape over the past 20 years. A team of scientists studied the core's behavior to understand why its rotation slowed down relative...

Seismic waves reveal changes to inner core's surface, likely caused by outer core's 'pushing'

It may seem fantastical to say there is a planet within Earth, but conceptually it is true. Ever since the 1990s, geophysicists have known that Earth's inner core— a ball of iron with a radius of 746 miles (more than two-thirds the size of the moon) — spins in the center of our planet at a different...

I said what I said.

USC scientists identify six-year cycle that affects the length of a day.

Scientists identify a six-year cycle of super- and sub-rotation that affected the length of a day based on their analysis of seismic data. Earth's structure is divided into layers, with the inner core at the center followed by the outer core, lower mantle, upper mantle, crust, and atmosphere. The

Scientists report that Earth's inner core is not perfectly solid. Its surface changes shape over time due to interactions with the outer molten core. The post Earth's inner core changes shape over time first appeared on EarthSky.

Geoscientists from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, the Institute of Geology and Geophysics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Cornell University and the University of Utah say they have detected structural changes near the planet's center.

The surface of Earth's inner core appears to be dynamic, changing shape as it rotates, earthquake waves reveal.

The term used for the current age, by those who think humans caused a new geological era, is "Anthropocene"

Earth's inner core has slowed down — or perhaps even stopped. Here's what this means for life on the surface

Armed with complex models and waves from nuclear tests, researchers are revealing the Pluto-size world beneath our feet

Scientists have found evidence that the Earth's inner core oscillates, contradicting previously accepted models that posited it consistently rotates at a faster rate than the planet's surface.

Earth's core is transforming, which could affect the length of our 24-hour day, Earth's magnetic field, and more