desert

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They Ran Out of Water. He Shielded Her With His Body

Rescuers find couple huddled in Joshua Tree amid triple-digit temps last weekend

(Newser) - A couple hiking in the desert south of Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California was rescued after running out of water, authorities said. On Sunday, the man called 911 and reported that his girlfriend was dehydrated and weak, according to a statement from the Riverside County Sheriff's Office...

Scientist Unravel Secrets of Enormous 'Star Dunes'
Surprise: Enormous
'Star Dunes' Move
new study
Mar 4, 2024 4:03 PM CST

Surprise: Enormous 'Star Dunes' Move

Giant one in Morocco is traveling west more than a foot per year

(Newser) - The most detailed study to date of enormous sand formations known as "star dunes" may explain why they are largely absent from Earth's ancient geological record—they are apparently younger than we've long thought. Coverage:
  • What are they? Star dunes are huge deposits of sand formed by
...

Google Maps: We're Going to Scrap That Desert Detour

GPS sent cars onto unpaved roads in California desert, and they had to turn back

(Newser) - Google Maps is officially apologizing for sending a caravan of cars on an unpaved detour in the California desert from which they all had to turn around. Everyone got out safely, though at least one car suffered expensive damage, reports the Washington Post . The GPS ordeal happened on Nov. 19,...

Hiker Might've Died in Texas Desert if Not for '3 Miracles'
'3 Miracles' Saved
This Texas Hiker
Nov 15, 2023 9:45 AM CST

'3 Miracles' Saved This Texas Hiker

Jeff Hahn tells 'Texas Highways' of survival amid intense, often deadly heat

(Newser) - A Texas man who spent 27 hours lost in the desert says he survived thanks to rescuers and "three miracles" that occurred before he met them. As Jeff Hahn tells Texas Highways via the Guardian , he was hiking with his adult daughter at Big Bend Ranch State Park in...

Burning Man Is the Opposite of Burning This Year

About an inch of rain makes a muddy mess out of site in Nevada desert

(Newser) - One might be tempted to rebrand Burning Man attendees from "burners" into "mudders" this year. As CNN reports, unusual storms dumped enough rain—a little less than an inch—on the annual bacchanal in the Nevada desert to turn Black Rock City into a soggy mess that has...

Mountain Biker Who Helped Rescue Hikers Dies

Cyclists had guided Cal Fire rescue helicopter in desert

(Newser) - A group of four mountain bikers came across four hikers in the San Diego County desert on Saturday who had no food or water in the 103-degree heat. The bikers spent hours helping the four, who appeared to be suffering from heat exhaustion, and facilitating their rescue, the San Diego ...

'It's 9K Years Old and Everything Was Almost Intact'

Shrine discovered in Jordan desert

(Newser) - A team of Jordanian and French archaeologists said Tuesday that it had found a roughly 9,000-year-old shrine at a remote Neolithic site in Jordan's eastern desert. The ritual complex was found in a Neolithic campsite near large structures known as "desert kites," or mass traps that...

Family Stuck in Outback Rescued After 5 Days

Kids ages 2 and 3 were helicoptered to safety along with parents

(Newser) - A family of four, including two children under the age of 4, have been rescued from Australia's remote desert just as temperatures were expected to top 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Perth couple Ori and Lindsey Zavros and their children, aged 2 and 3, set out a year ago to travel...

Missing Geologist Crashed in Ravine. That Wasn't the End

Collision report suggests Daniel Robinson may have tried to restart rolled vehicle

(Newser) - Update: The wrecked vehicle of geologist Daniel Robinson, who's been missing in Arizona since June, sped up immediately before it crashed into a desert ravine, the Buckeye Police Department said Wednesday. The acceleration may "indicate an attempt to drive up the other side of the ravine," police...

Monolith in Utah Desert Disappears
Monolith in
Utah Desert
Disappears
Nov 29, 2020 9:21 AM CST

Monolith in Utah Desert Disappears

Object of international curiosity and speculation was removed

(Newser) - The shiny, metal monolith that appeared in the Utah desert was already mysterious; land officials don't know how it got there. But the mystery now has deepened: The monolith is gone. Officials in the state's Bureau of Land Management say they don't know how that happened, either,...

Online Sleuth Finds Mystery Monolith

And theories are popping up that might explain it

(Newser) - Artists? Aliens? Prop masters? A monolith discovered in the middle of the Utah desert has spawned all kinds of theories—including the notion that a film crew left it behind, the Smithsonian reports. So let's start with that one:

By 2080, These US Cities Will Be Arid Wastelands

If climate change patterns continue as expected, per GOBankingRates.com

(Newser) - Climate-linked headaches are taking place worldwide , but closer to home, a bunch of US sites are at risk of turning into actual deserts. GOBankingRates.com examined data from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science and found 15 cities that will have significantly different climates by 2080, if global...

CBP: Girl From India Dies in Desert on Way to US

Death took place in 'dangerous and austere location' in Arizona

(Newser) - The body of a 7-year-old girl believed to be from India was found this week in a remote part of the Arizona desert just over the border with Mexico, a death that a Border Patrol official is calling "senseless," reports the Daily Beast . Per a Customs and Border...

Walk or Die: Algeria Shoved 13K Migrants Into Sahara

Mass expulsions pick up in last 14 months; 'there were people who couldn't take it,' says survivor

(Newser) - Algeria has abandoned more than 13,000 people in the Sahara Desert over the past 14 months, including pregnant women and children, expelling them without food or water and forcing them to walk, at times at gunpoint, under blistering temperatures of up to 118 degrees. In Niger, where the majority...

She Went for a Desert Hike. Then, a Moment of 'Utter Terror'

Claire Nelson survived more than 3 days in Joshua Tree National Park after falling from boulder

(Newser) - For Claire Nelson, her moment of "complete and utter terror" came in the middle of a hike in California's Joshua Tree National Park. Per the BBC , the New Zealand native, who was visiting the US and cat-sitting for friends, headed over to the park on May 22 for...

Boy Trips Over Million-Year-Old Piece of History
Boy Tripped
While Hiking,
Made Big Find
in the Process
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Jul 23, 2017 6:30 AM CDT

Boy Tripped While Hiking, Made Big Find in the Process

Jude Sparks accidentally uncovered a stegomastodon skull

(Newser) - Luck came not once, but twice for Jude Sparks. The then-9-year-old was lucky enough to trip not on a rock, or a tree root, but on a 1.2-million-year-old fossil when trying to dash away from his brothers on a November desert hike with his family. And as New Mexico...

Wet Winter Brings Spring Treat to California Deserts

Wildflowers are back, along with tourists

(Newser) - Rain-fed wildflowers have been sprouting from California's desert sands after lying dormant for years—producing a spectacular display that has drawn record crowds and traffic jams to tiny towns like Borrego Springs. An estimated 150,000 people in the past month have converged on the town of about 3,...

The Plausible Implausibility of California's Lost Treasure Ship
Legend of Lost Treasure Ship
Thrives in California Desert
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Feb 12, 2017 4:30 PM CST

Legend of Lost Treasure Ship Thrives in California Desert

Believers say it's out there, buried amid the rocks and sand

(Newser) - Alexander Nazaryan calls it "fake news for the romantic soul." Tales of a treasure-laden ship lost in the sands of California's Colorado desert that—though the details change—have persisted for at least 140 years. The Newsweek reporter takes a journey into the desert with a former...

Tesla Owner Stranded in Desert, and Not for Lack of Charge
Tesla Owner Stranded in Desert,
and Not for Lack of Charge
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Jan 22, 2017 11:33 AM CST

Tesla Owner Stranded in Desert, and Not for Lack of Charge

Ryan Negri relied on phone to start car, but they were out of range

(Newser) - One Tesla Model S driver learned the hard way that technology has its limits. In a story he tells on Instagram , Ryan Negri describes venturing out into the Nevada desert with his wife and two dogs: "The thought was to go for a quick drive to take some photos...

Theory May Finally Explain Fabled 'Fairy Circles'

It's a combo of plants and termites

(Newser) - Scientists are always crashing the party when they bring the likeliest but often mundane reasons for mysterious phenomena. Such is the case in Namibia, where so-called "fairy circles" that pockmark the desert are now being explained in the journal Nature as not the footprints of gods or poisoned patches...

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