Caltech geochemist Clair Patterson (1922–1995) helped galvanize the environmental movement 50 years ago when he announced that highly toxic lead could be found essentially everywhere on Earth, including in our own bodies—and that very little of it was due to natural causes.

The key to any healthy relationship is communication. Two types of microbes near the ocean floor use direct electron transfer to coordinate their symbiotic relationship—which results in the consumption of large amounts of methane from deep ocean vents.

Ken Farley, the project scientist for NASA's next Mars rover, a mission called Mars 2020, and the W.M. Keck Foundation Professor of Geochemistry at Caltech, talks about how the Mars 2020 landing site selection process is shaping up.

Yuk Yung, the Smits Family Professor of Planetary Science, has received the 2015 Gerard P. Kuiper Prize from the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences.

More than 100 high school seniors and their families got an inside look at the impact Caltech women are making in the disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

A team of scientists led by Caltech has pieced together the first complete account of what physically happened during the Gorkha earthquake—a picture that explains how the large temblor left the majority of low-story buildings in Kathmandu unscathed.