Explanation: This stairway in Chile brings you only a little bit closer to heaven. But ooh, the sky above it makes you wonder. For example, you may wonder about the dark lane of our own Milky Way galaxy rising behind the expansive Atacama Desert in Chile, the band of zodiacal light on the upper left,
Burning Man is transforming Nevada’s Black Rock Desert into a temporary metropolis once again. Thousands of participants began entering the gates at midnight on August 30, hauling the food, water, shelter, and supplies needed to survive a week in the remote playa about 80 miles north of Reno. Roughly 70,000 people are expected to attend
On the outskirts of Phoenix, a small town with a huge reliance on the Colorado River has capped growth, revived old wells and struck water deals. But Cave Creek Mayor Robert Morris can’t shake the real possibility that it’s not enough to keep the desert community of about 5,000 people afloat well into the future.
In August 2026, back-to-back winter storms left parts of the Atacama Desert in northern Chile covered in a rare blanket of snow. The typically arid region has seen snowfall before, notably in 2025 and before that in 2011. But one of the 2026 events was unusually widespread, stretching from the Andes to near the Pacific
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