Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Deserts

A Symphony of Disappearing Sounds for the Great Salt Lake, Olafur Eliasson, 2026

A Glowing Sphere Towering Over Utah Sent an Urgent Artistic Message: The Great Salt Lake Is Drying Up

Olafur Eliasson’s latest installation married visuals with a soundscape to draw the public’s attention to the plight of the important ecosystem

When photographer Elliot McGucken heard about a possible superbloom in Death Valley this spring, he drove around 1,000 miles from Montana to California.

Vibrant Wildflowers Are Blanketing Death Valley National Park, Resulting in the Most Breathtaking Bloom in a Decade

Parts of the park are awash in wildflowers, from the cheery yellow blooms of desert gold to the bright purple clusters of sand verbena, along with many other species

The Ennedi Natural and Cultural Reserve, in eastern Chad, encompasses 19,300 square miles of a vast sandstone plateau.

The Sahara Desert Hasn’t Always Been a Dry, Desolate Landscape. Some Scientists See Signs It May Be Greening Again

Petroglyphs on sandstone at a national park in Chad bear witness to wildlife that once roamed the area before the continent’s water largely receded 6,000 years ago. Could it return?

The sewn hide, pictured from the front and the back, alongside another hide artifact from Cougar Mountain Cave

New Research

These 12,000-Year-Old Scraps of Elk Hide May Be the World’s Oldest Known Examples of Sewing

Indigenous groups in present-day Oregon stitched the fragments together using cord made from plant fiber and animal hair. Experts think they may have been part of a garment, bag, container or portable shelter

Desert sunflowers blooming in Death Valley National Park in 2016

Will a Dazzling Display of Wildflowers Spread Across California This Spring?

Superblooms are rare events that occur when conditions perfectly align. Officials hope that visitors will be able to see brightly colored landscapes in the weeks ahead

The introduced population of ostriches consists of five individuals, which conservationists hope will reproduce and flourish at the reserve.

Rare Red-Necked Ostriches Introduced in Saudi Arabia to Replace Birds That Went Extinct More Than 80 Years Ago

The released birds are the closest living relatives of the extinct Arabian ostrich. The flightless animals’ return is part of a broader “rewilding” effort at a huge nature reserve

T. oblongifolia thrives in Death Valley's high temperatures.

This Shrub Thrives in Death Valley’s Scorching Temperatures. Where Do Its Heat-Tolerant Superpowers Come From?

Tidestromia oblongifolia thrives in high heat—and scientists think it may hold the key to making food crops more resilient amid global warming

The meteorites could open up a new avenue to understand Mercury, pictured, which is notoriously hard to study due to its proximity to the sun.

Scientists Have Never Confirmed a Meteorite From Mercury. Could These Space Rocks From the Desert Be the First?

Two meteorites found in the Sahara show tantalizing similarities to the innermost planet, and while researchers say they are likely not direct samples, “one cannot rule out” the idea

Snow fell at an elevation of 9,500 feet in the Atacama Desert of Chile, the world's driest nonpolar desert.

Rare Blanket of Snow Falls in Chile’s Atacama, the World’s Driest Desert

The extraordinary event temporarily shut down equipment at the ALMA Observatory, and the snow reached the telescope’s main operations facility for the first time in 12 years

The Beni River snakes across the landscape in Bolivia, a country that has faced significant deforestation and is among the nations that have experienced the most forest loss globally.

These Colorful Satellite Views Reveal Our Forests in Unprecedented Detail and Showcase the Potential of the New Biomass Mission

The European Space Agency’s satellite will measure trunks, branches and stems in forests to shed light on how much carbon is stored in trees across various continents

A snapshot of the eastern United States as of June 3, from NOAA's GOES-19 satellite.

A Giant Cloud of Saharan Dust Is Heading to the Southeastern U.S. Here’s What That Means

The plume of dust has already blown over the Caribbean and is expected to reach Florida later this week

The healthy adult female was covered in curvy circles, similar to leopard spots.

This Eye-Catching Rattlesnake Found in Arizona Has Unusual ‘Leopard Spots,’ Likely From a Genetic Mutation

Snake wranglers safely relocated the healthy, female western diamondback from a backyard in Scottsdale, but they say the find is a first in their experience

Archaeologists found 15 skeletons in a rock shelter in southwest Libya, including two naturally mummified women who died roughly 7,000 years ago.

7,000-Year-Old Skeletons From the ‘Green Sahara’ Reveal a Mysterious Human Lineage

Researchers recently sequenced the genomes of two naturally mummified women found in Libya

The Israel Antiquities Authority and volunteers are excavating the site north of the Zohar Valley.

Cool Finds

This Ancient Pyramid Found in the Judean Desert May Have Been a Ptolemaic Tax Collector’s Station

The official structure, stuffed with significant coins and Greek papyri, was likely later transformed into someone’s grave

The "wooly devil" has fuzzy foliage and maroon flowers made up of conspicuous ray petals.

Meet the ‘Wooly Devil,’ the First New Plant Genus Discovered in a National Park Since 1976

A volunteer spotted the tiny, fuzzy plant with maroon florets while exploring the remote northern corner of Big Bend National Park in Texas

A Surinam golden-eyed tree frog calls for a mate, puffing out its cheeks.

See 25 Incredible Images From the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Contest

Cast your vote for your favorite of the photographs, which are all contenders for the People’s Choice award, through January 29

None

These Stunning Photographs Highlight Five of Arizona’s Most Unique Species

See a sampling of the spectacular fish, wildlife and vegetation that bring the American Southwest to life.

A man spotted the scar while looking at Google Earth satellite imagery earlier this year.

A Man Noticed a Strange Shape on the Ground on Google Earth. It Turned Out to Be the Mark of an Undetected Tornado

Geoscientists in Australia suggest a strong tornado swept across the Nullarbor Plain in November 2022 and made the 6.8-mile-long scar on the landscape—without anyone noticing

Biocrust in Utah

Our Sustainable Future

Inside the Effort to Save Earth’s Biocrusts

Think twice before stepping on that crunchy top layer of soil. It may be a vital ecosystem that you can help protect

Phoenix, Arizona, has experienced a record 100 days in a row over 100 degrees Fahrenheit as of Tuesday. Forecasters say no relief is in sight.

Phoenix Shatters Heat Record With 100 Consecutive Days Above 100 Degrees

Forecasts show no relief from the extreme heat over the next few weeks, which promises to extend the streak far beyond the previous high of 76 days set in 1993

Page 1 of 7