Tectonics and Structural Geology

Why do Earth’s hidden stress fields matter for our future? Let’s explore the latest insights from the World Stress Map database

Asmae Ourkiya July 17, 2026

World Stress Map 2025. Source: Patterns of contemporary horizontal stress orientation in the Earth's crust derived from the World Stress Map Database 2025

Beneath the serene landscapes we inhabit, the Earth’s crust is a battleground of constant, immense, and invisible tectonic forces. While humanity typically only notices this deep-seated stress when it violently releases in the form of an earthquake and volcanoes, these forces have always been shaping the structural bedrock of our planet. Understanding this hidden architecture is one of the most vi ...[Read More]

A leap of faith: Should we trust AI with a million-year problem?

Asmae Ourkiya August 8, 2025

Photo by Dan Meyers. Source: Unsplash

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been here a while, and it isn’t going anywhere, not any time soon. It has become an integral part of many lives and businesses. When I speak of AI, I am not referring to GenAI (generative AI) that writes your emails for you: Think about the algorithms that suggest what movie you should watch next, the voice assistant that adds milk to your shopping list, and ...[Read More]

Sixty years under the mountain: A geoscientific odyssey through the Mont Blanc tunnel

Asmae Ourkiya July 16, 2025

Aiguiile du Midi, Mont Blanc Massif. Photo by Andy Smedley. Source: Imaggeo

On July 16, 1965, the Mont Blanc Tunnel, 11.611 km of tunnel piercing the heart of the Alps, opened to traffic, marking a triumph of engineering, geology, and international cooperation. Sixty years later, this civilian artery connecting Chamonix (France) and Courmayeur (Italy) stands not just as a testament to human inventiveness but as an ongoing marvel if viewed through a geoscientific lens. On ...[Read More]

A Geoscientist’s Colorful Journey from Research to Children’s Books

Anna Katsigera and Lucia Perez-Diaz May 1, 2025

How the Earth Works digs into all that happens beneath our feet in an accessible and lively manner. The pages of this book are charged with Dr. Lucía Pérez-Díaz’s passion and expertise, as she helps us to explore the inner workings of our planet. (Credit: Ryan Cowan)

In today’s blog we’re having a chat with our very own Dr Lucia Perez-Diaz. As Lucia put it at the start of this year’s General Assembly, us scientists get to wear many “hats”, and she lives up to that statement. Besides a brilliant geoscientist, she is an incredible artist – also featured as last year’s artist in residence – and a budding press assistant! But more importantly, she is the author of ...[Read More]