“Crustivoltaics” – A New Way To Replace Biocrusts Damaged by Humans
Generating new soil crust in deserts using solar farms. In the dry lands of the American Southwest, there is a hidden world beneath us. Biocrusts,…
Desert News
Scientists Reveal the Invisible Secret Behind Spectacular Blooms in the World’s Driest Desert
Diversity in flower color and patterning is even greater for pollinators. The Atacama desert, which stretches for nearly 1,600 kilometers along the western coast of…
Puzzling Scientists for Nearly 50 Years: Mystery of Namibia’s Fairy Circles Finally Solved
Inexplicable circles are caused by plant water stress, not termites, according to research from Göttingen University. For almost 50 years, researchers have been perplexed by…
Robust Increases in “Atmospheric Thirst” Across Much of U.S. During Past 40 Years
Largest changes centered over Rio Grande region of Southwestern U.S. In arid Western states, the climate is growing warmer and drier, leading to increased demand…
NASA-Qatar OASIS Project Aims to Find Buried Water in Earth’s Deserts
Researchers will design a mission to learn about underground aquifers in areas such as the Sahara and how climate change will affect them in the…
Moisture Farming: Harvesting Fog Can Provide Fresh Water in Desert Regions
Moisture farming is not just for the deserts of Tatooine — advances in fog harvesting technology may provide an additional fresh water source in foggy…
Microbial Oasis Discovered Under Atacama Desert in Chile
Researchers have discovered a veritable microbial oasis, under the Atacama Desert in Chile. The region is known for the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), but…
