desert
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Satellite Photos Reveal Extent of Floods at This Year’s Burning Man
Tens of thousands of Burning Man attendees in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert had to trudge through rain and mud last Friday and into last weekend after an unusual bout of rain in the region. The Black Rock Playa, where the festivities are held each year, is a flat expanse that hosted a prehistoric lake over…
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The Southwest’s Famous Cacti Are in Trouble
One of the Southwest’s most familiar plants may be in deep trouble. The towering, multi-armed saguaro cactus, which is found only in the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, California, and parts of Mexico, has faced increasing instability as climate change alters its natural habitat through droughts and wildfires. The cacti can live well over a century…
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After Dune, You’ll Never Think About Water the Same Way Again
The latest iteration of Dune, set to hit theatres on December 2, will serve as a potent reminder of our troubled relationship with water, particularly as we manage the catastrophic effects of climate change and increasingly venture out into space.
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Qatar’s Deserts are Hot, Dry, and Full of Invasive Toads
As the sun descends behind sand dunes and wind-carved escarpments, central Qatar’s Al Rayyan region gets a reprieve from the intense heat of day. In the calm of twilight, a once-foreign sound emerges: the rasping croaking of toads drifts in over miles of parched rock and sand. Qatar’s harsh landscape is home to a growing…