Deserts

The 16-acre resort has Airstreams, luxury canvas tents and suites.

New Glamping Resort Opens Near Zion National Park

AutoCamp Zion features a pool, an eatery, a clubhouse and air-conditioned lodgings

Ravens prey on juvenile desert tortoises.

For Young Threatened Desert Tortoises, These Technologies Have Arrived to Help

Biologists are deploying 3D-printed replicas of hatchlings, lasers and drones to curb predation

The new exhibition opened in Saudi Arabia this month.

Andy Warhol Exhibition Opens in the Saudi Desert

Critics say the show helps bolster the regime's reputation—and obscure its human rights violations

Tourists flocked to Walker Canyon to see the poppies during the superbloom in 2019.

Will California See a Wildflower Superbloom This Spring?

If the swaths of show-stopping poppies do appear, officials urge tourists to act responsibly

Members of Western Australia's Department of Fire and Emergency Services search an 870-mile stretch of highway for a radioactive capsule believed to have fallen off a truck.

Radioactive Capsule Safely Recovered in Western Australia

After getting lost in transit, the capsule sat for days on the side of a road in the desert

Sonoran Desert toads live at least ten years and possibly as many as 20. 

Don’t Lick This Toad, National Park Service Says

Sonoran Desert toads secrete a psychedelic toxin strong enough to kill a full-grown dog

A map showing the two-mile-long plume of methane southeast of Carlsbad, New Mexico, detected by NASA's EMIT sensors

NASA Finds More Than 50 Super-Emitters of Methane

While mapping minerals in Earth’s deserts, the agency's new detector on the ISS spotted massive contributors to climate change

Bison typically roam the tall grasses of the American prairie, but a herd in Grand Canyon National Park has found ways to thrive in forest and desert habitats.

Meet the ‘Forest Ninja Bison’ Living in Grand Canyon National Park

Wildlife managers recently relocated dozens of the iconic animals to help restore balance to the park's ecosystem

Paruroctonus soda

These California Teens Discovered Two New Scorpion Species

One of the creatures could be wiped out if its range isn't protected, researchers say

Donkeys often trample plants in the deserts of the southwestern United States, including in Death Valley National Park in California.

Cougars Are Killing Feral Donkeys, and That’s Good for Wetlands

Mountain lions play an important role in the Death Valley ecosystem by preying on the introduced species

A footprint discovered on an archaeological site is marked with a pin flag on the Utah Test and Training Range, July 18, 2022.

Archaeologists Find 12,000-Year-Old Human Footprints in Utah

The 88 individual footprints were were discovered on a remote desert Air Force training site that was once a wetland

The Dixie Valley toad lives only in a remote Nevada valley. 

Nevada Toad Receives Rare Emergency Protection

The construction of a geothermal power plant could create problems for the amphibian

A wooden trestle bridge near Terrace, Utah. The state has more intact miles of original railroad grade than any other in the West.

Untold Stories of American History

What Archaeologists Are Learning About the Lives of the Chinese Immigrants Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad

In the sparse Utah desert, the vital contributions of these 19th-century laborers are finally coming to light

The anthropomorphic carvings represent one of the earliest examples of artistic expression in the Middle East.

Well-Preserved, 9,000-Year-Old Shrine Discovered in Jordan Desert

Researchers uncovered two standing stones featuring anthropomorphic carvings and a model of a "desert kite" used to trap wild gazelles

Flamingos in the Atacama region of Chile

Mining Lithium for Electric Vehicle Batteries May Threaten Flamingos, a Study Finds

A lake in Chile has seen decreases in two flamingo populations over the last 11 years, which researchers link to lithium mining

In the mountains of southwestern Nevada, the dark fossilized remnants of extinct archaeocyath reefs dot the tops of the hills. Millions of years ago, these peaks were at the bottom of the sea.

Fossils From One of the World's First Reefs Can Be Found on Mountains in Nevada

Archaeocyaths were the original reef builders, and one of the best places to see them is in the desert

Chemical analysis of the glass identified minerals only found in extraterrestrial rocks and minerals, such as cubanite, troilite, pyrrhotite lath, or calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions. These minerals were also found in dust collected from the Wild-2 comet in 2004 by NASA during the Stardust mission.

Ancient Meteorite May Have Created Large Patches of Glittering Glass in South American Desert

An exploding comet may have transformed the sandy landscape into pieces of black and green twisted minerals

A donkey digging a well in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona.

New Research

Wild Donkeys and Horses Dig Wells That Provide Water for a Host of Desert Species

A new study finds these equine wells attracted 59 other vertebrate species, boasting 64 percent more species than the surrounding landscape

Sidewinder snakes most likely phased out the spikes along their bellies in favor of a smoother belly that can move with no frictional drag.

Snakeskin Reveals Secrets Behind a Sidewinder's Twisted Wiggle

Serpent bellies seem smooth, but on a microscopic level, their species-specific scale structures may show how they adapted to their environments

A helicopter crew discovered this odd monolith in the middle of the Utah desert on November 18.

Cool Finds

A Mysterious Monolith in the Utah Desert Vanished Overnight

Theories regarding the 12-foot-tall metal structure's origins—and ultimate fate—abound

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