Iraq"s Garden of Eden now "like a desert"
To feed and cool his buffaloes, Hashem Gassed must cross 10 kilometers (six miles) of sunburnt land in southern Iraq, where drought is devastating swathes of the mythical Mesopotamian Marshes......»»
Climate change is shifting the zones where plants grow. Here"s what that could mean for your garden
With the arrival of spring in North America, many people are gravitating to the gardening and landscaping section of home improvement stores, where displays are overstocked with eye-catching seed packs and benches are filled with potted annuals and p.....»»
Water persisted in Mars" Gale crater for longer than previously thought, study finds
Billions of years ago, Mars was home to abundant water, and its Gale crater contained a lake. Gradually, the climate changed, drying the red planet and creating the dusty desert world we know today......»»
Vietnam farmers struggle for fresh water as drought brings salinization
Every day, farmer Nguyen Hoai Thuong prays in vain for rain to fall on the cracked dry earth of her garden in Vietnam's Mekong Delta—the country's "rice bowl" agricultural heartland......»»
Fairy circles: Plant water stress causes Namibia"s gaps in grass
Namibia's legendary fairy circles are mysterious, circular, bald patches in the dry grasslands on the edge of the Namib Desert. Their formation has been researched for decades and has recently been the subject of much debate. With extensive fieldwork.....»»
Dune: What the climate of Arrakis can tell us about the hunt for habitable exoplanets
Frank Herbert's Dune is epic sci-fi storytelling with an environmental message at its heart. The novels and movies are set on the desert planet of Arrakis, which various characters dream of transforming into a greener world—much like some envision.....»»
Deadly morel mushroom outbreak highlights big gaps in fungi knowledge
Prized morels are unpredictably and puzzlingly deadly, outbreak report shows. Enlarge / Mature morel mushrooms in a greenhouse at an agriculture garden in Zhenbeibu Town of Xixia District of Yinchuan, northwest China's Ningxia Hu.....»»
Scientists describe new orchid species related to famous Darwin"s orchid
Missouri Botanical Garden scientists and collaborators discovered and described a new orchid species in Central Madagascar with a record-setting nectar spur and close ties to the famous "Darwin's orchid." This novelty species needs urgent conservatio.....»»
Giant sequoias are a rapidly growing feature of the UK landscape
Imported giant sequoia trees are well adapted to the UK, growing at rates close to their native ranges and capturing large amounts of carbon during their long lives, finds a new study led by UCL researchers with colleagues at the Royal Botanic Garden.....»»
Off-roading EVs find a home at King of the Hammers
For the second year, Optima has set up a charging station in the desert. Enlarge / EVs are making in-roads at the annual King of the Hammers event in California. (credit: Michael Teo Van Runkle) Electric vehicles are few.....»»
A giant meteorite has been lost in the desert since 1916—here’s how we might find it
A tale of "sand dunes, a guy named Gaston, secret aeromagnetic surveys, and camel drivers." Enlarge / Chinguetti slice at the National Museum of Natural History. A larger meteorite reported in 1916 hasn't been spotted since. (cre.....»»
Examining a century of change in a New York City urban forest
There haven't been many long-term studies on urban forests, but data collected from the Thain Family Forest, which the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) has been stewarding for more than a century, has provided an opportunity for scientists from The F.....»»
Erratic weather fueled by climate change will worsen locust outbreaks, study finds
Extreme wind and rain may lead to bigger and worse desert locust outbreaks, with human-caused climate change likely to intensify the weather patterns and cause higher outbreak risks, a new study has found......»»
Groundwater upsurge floods homes in Libyan coastal town
Much of Libya is bone-dry desert but one Mediterranean coastal town is suffering the opposite problem—its houses and fields have been inundated by a mysterious upsurge of groundwater......»»
Desert ants: Earth"s magnetic field calibrates their navigation system
They are only a few centimeters tall and their brains have a comparatively simple structure with less than 1 million neurons. Nevertheless, desert ants of the Cataglyphis genus possess abilities that distinguish them from many other creatures: The an.....»»
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden review: solid action RPG dishes out some hard choices
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is an exciting open-world action RPG that doesn't compromise on its storytelling with its compelling choice system......»»
Texas firm allegedly behind fake Biden robocall that told people not to vote
Tech and telecom firms helped New Hampshire AG trace call to "Life Corporation." Enlarge / US President Joe Biden speaks on the phone in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 1, 2023. (credit: Getty Images.....»»
Chile"s biggest botanical garden like "smoker"s lung" after wildfire
Once a lush oasis bursting with native and exotic plants, Chile's biggest botanical garden has been left grayed and charred after a wildfire blazed through last week, also killing a nursery manager and members of her family......»»
ALMA gets a new hydrogen maser
The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) has just received a "heart transplant," high in the Atacama Desert in Northern Chile. ALMA, the most complex astronomical observatory ever built on Earth, installed a new hydrogen maser. This up.....»»
How leafcutter ants cultivate a fungal garden to degrade plants could provide insights into future biofuels
Scientists have spent decades finding ways to efficiently and affordably degrade plant materials so that they can be converted into useful bioproducts that benefit everyday life......»»
Astronomers in Chile to scour universe with car-sized mega camera
Surrounded by the desert mountains and clear blue sky of northern Chile, astronomers from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory hope to revolutionize the study of the universe by affixing the world's largest-ever digital camera to a telescope......»»