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Every second counts when a big earthquake hits. As soon as an earthquake sensor picks up the tremor, warnings can be sent over the internet, much faster than the shake travels through the Earth. And now, scientists have found a way to detect big earthquakes fast, maybe even before the ground starts to shake!

If you dug a hole straight down, what would you find? Earth isn’t just solid rock all the way through. There’s a thin rocky crust floating on the slowly flowing mantle, a liquid outer core and solid metal inner core. It turns out that Mars has a similar internal structure to Earth.

If you journeyed to the centre of the Earth, what would you see on the way down? After breaking through the crust there’s the mantle, a layer of mostly solid rock that constantly flows like a glacier. Below that, there’s the outer core made of liquid iron and nickel. Then you come to the inner…

Earth is active down to its very rocks. Earthquakes and volcanoes shake our planet, and the continents themselves drift lazily across the surface. Compared to Earth, the Moon is a cold, hard rock. But even lunar rocks are more active than you might think.

You might not think about it much, but there’s an amazing planet under your feet. Dig down about 50 kilometres and the rocky crust begins to give way to the hot, soft mantle. Deeper down, the rocks get hotter and runnier, reaching temperatures of thousands of degrees.

How fast can you answer this week’s questions? Put yourself to the test with another Double Helix quiz.

Iceland is a remote and beautiful island, brimming with volcanoes. Volcanic eruptions give the Earth an almighty shake, so it’s no surprise that Iceland has lots of earthquake measuring seismometers. But you might be surprised to find out what these instruments are picking up.

Here’s a tasty way to think about tectonics! Learn where many mountains come from, and at the same time, make yourself a delicious pancake breakfast.

Although sand is a solid, did you know it can behave like a liquid? Find out how by trying this activity.