Top 10 Planet Earth Puzzlers

Forget deep-space exploration; even basic questions about Earth still have scientists scratching their heads, LiveScience reports. A panel of geologists and planetary scientists lists its top lingering mysteries.

1. How did Earth form into such a distinct body?
2. What happened during Earth's first 500 million years?
3. How did life start on this planet?
4. What’s happening inside Earth and how does this affect the surface?

5. Why does Earth have constantly moving plates and what do they affect?
6. How are the planet’s biggest movers and shakers, like plate tectonics, controlled by things like atomic structure?
7. Why causes climate change and how much can it change?
8. How has geology affected biology, and vice versa?
9. Can we predict earthquakes and volcanic eruptions?
10. How do fluids move underground and how does this affect us?

(More Earth stories.)