Mexico's active Popocatepetl volcano erupted yesterday, spewing ash and incandescent rock almost three miles high. And as you'll see in this dramatic video, the explosion produced a massive shockwave — sending huge chunks of burning debris to the surrounding areas.

Here's how the skylines of Toronto, Chicago, Boston and Montreal compare against the icesheets covering those locations during the last ice age.

Travel photographer Quang-Tuan Luong has put together this gorgeous video showcasing the active volcanoes of Hawaii National Park.

And where the hell does it come from, anyway?

The British Antarctic Survey has produced the sharpest image yet of Antarctica’s rugged topography. And as you can clearly see, without its mile-thick layer of ice, the polar continent would be an incredibly mountainous terrain, indeed.

Two days ago, as the 2013 Moore tornado struck Oklahoma, Charles Gifford sought refuge in a storm shelter. After he was safe inside, and with the door securely shut, Gifford poked his camera through a small hole, allowing him to capture this insanely up-close video of the 1.3 mile wide tornado.

Get ready to take a trip. Your 6,000 mile (9,000 km) long journey will start in Russia and extend down to the northern tip of South Africa — and you'll see it all from a height of 438 miles (705 km).

Oklahoma has been ravaged by a massive, mile-wide tornado, with more predicted to come. We talked about the megastorms with atmospheric scientist Karen Kosiba, whose work is showcased in documentary Tornado Alley.

There is nothing that embodies the idea of "terrible beauty" more than an approaching sandstorm. Here is what these awe-inspiring forces of nature look like, right before they consume the ocean or landscape in blinding clouds.

Lurking beneath Yellowstone National Park is a massive underground reservoir of magma, capped by the park's famous caldera. 640,000 years ago, a super eruption rocked the region. What would happen if another such event blasted the park today? We asked USGS geologist Jake Lowenstern, scientist-in-charge of the…