The first thing to keep in mind is that ocean currents are very thin compared to the diameter of Earth. They’re only about four kilometers (13,000 feet) deep at most, and surface currents can be just ...

A global game reveals that our idea of the size of continents is more accurate than classic maps and their distortions ...

It was a curious little book. When a few copies began resurfacing, in the 18th century, nobody knew what to make of it. One hundred and three pages long and written in Latin, it announced itself on ...

Think about a map of the world. The image you're picturing will most likely resemble the Mercator projection—a 2D representation of the globe created in the 1500s which most maps you commonly come ...

Have you ever tried smashing a ball into a flat rectangle? When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. Walk into any school classroom and you ...

It's a problem that has plagued cartographers for centuries: How do you accurately represent a round world on a flat map? The most common world map used today, designed almost 450 years ago, is highly ...

Back when mapmaking was still a fledgling profession in the U.S., cartographers had a trick up their sleeves: they would insert fake towns into the maps they drew. Not to screw up travelers trying to ...

A new satellite image shows that the world's largest iceberg, A-76A, has entered the Drake Passage, a waterway that contains a fast-moving ocean current that will send the mighty berg on a one-way ...