Desert News

Life-saving water holding nanorods invented By Tim Sandle Researchers have accidentally created nanorods with incredible water holding potential. These rods could be used to help those who need to work in hot climates or travellers through desert regions.

Ant cooling mechanism avoids desert sun By Tim Sandle Ants found in the Sahara have a novel way of keeping cool from the intensity of the sun’s rays. The small, silver-colored hairs on the ant’s body are able to reflect heat back, stopping the insect from becoming too hot.

Geckos found to have self-drying skin By Tim Sandle Tiny water-repellent spines on a gecko’s skin help keep the lizard dry in humid conditions. This property, similar to the way rain drops react on a waxed car, was recently found by scientists.

Tickets for this year's Burning Man festival go on sale Wednesday By Nathan Salant Gerlach - Individual tickets for this year’s Burning Man event, an annual counterculture art festival that attracts tens of thousands to a temporary city in the Nevada desert, are scheduled to go on sale beginning Wednesday.

Google 'hires' camel for Street View images of Liwa Desert By Greta McClain Abu Dhabi - Although Google typically captures its Street View images by mounting its Trekker on top of a car, Google soon realized they needed to "hire" a camel if they wanted to capture photos of a remote desert area.

Tunisian 'mystery lake' baffles, concerns officials By Greta McClain Gafsa - A lake which has mysteriously appeared in the middle of a Tunisian desert has authorities concerned and searching for an explanation.

Pakistan accelerates jeep rally to boost desert tourism By AFP - In a cloud of dust and diesel fumes, a souped-up 4x4 roars through the silence of Pakistan's Cholistan desert, cheered on by tens of thousands of spectators.

China to flatten 700 mountains for new metropolis in the desert By Owen Weldon Lanzhou - The project is being called the largest "mountain-moving project" in Chinese history. One of the country's largest construction firms plans to flatten 700 mountains.

The beauty of Egypt's Western Desert: A Photo Essay Special By Darren Weir Once you leave Cairo and head into the desert it becomes a barren wasteland, nothing to see but the parched earth covered in sand ranging in colour from a golden beige to a dark brown and black with no vegetation visible as far as the eye can see.

Video: Watch desert windstorm lift up parked Boeing 747 By JohnThomas Didymus Mojave - The hulk of a parked Boeing 747 performed a seeming death dance ritual on Wednesday in an aircraft boneyard in Mojave, California, as desert windstorm blowing at over 70 miles per hour, forced it into a last demonstration of the fluid dynamics of flight.

Op-Ed: The solar energy Lark By Alexander Baron Newark - A company has built a solar energy farm near Newark in record time, but the true potential of this wonderful resource is being sadly neglected.

A 1,000-mile trek across Asia's biggest desert — the Gobi Special By Lynn Morris A bold team is about trek 1,000 miles across the largest desert in Asia. The expedition called Gobi2011 will see the team walking across the Gobi Desert in Mongolia visiting indigenous people along the route.

Explorer to cross hottest place in the world - Danakil Desert Special By Lynn Morris Explorer Jeremy Curl will this summer attempt to cross the Danakil Desert in Ethiopia by foot. If he succeeds he would be the first man alive to do so.

Fish rain down on desert village, UK starlings die in unison By Stephanie Dearing Two locations, a world away from each other, experienced strange animal-related events recently. In Somerset, England about 75 starlings just fell to the ground while a village in northern Australia had fish plummet from the sky.

Saharan solar panels could power Europe By Moushumi Chakrabarty Europe’s electricity needs could be met by solar panels in the Sahara desert, according to a scientist at a major climate change conference in Copenhagen. Thus North Africa could become the main exporter of electricity to Europe.

You Tube Video Artist Review: Sting Desert Rose By Samantha A. Torrence One of my favorite pastimes is to surf You Tube and watch videos people make to great songs. Tonight my journey wound its way around the videos made to the song Desert Rose by Sting.

Greening The Desert By Bob Ewing How to turn desert into garden.

700-Tonne Nevada Desert Explosion Halted by Pentagon By digitalsoul Pentagon holds off on plans to detonate a 700-tonne explosive charge in the Nevada desert due to environmental protests and lawsuits.

3 endure 4,000-mile run across Sahara By RobotGod Three ultra-endurance athletes have just done something most would consider insane: They ran the equivalent of two marathons a day for 111 days to become the first modern runners to cross the Sahara Desert's grueling 4,000 miles.

Armed group forces Guard to flee post near Sasabe By Carolyn E. Price National Guard forced to flee after armed group approaches check point

One of the largest river restoration efforts in the West By photoguy Los Angeles agreed in December to expand efforts to control toxic dust storms that erupt from what is left of Owens Lake, a 110-square-mile body that emptied when the river was diverted to Los Angeles through an aqueduct opened in 1913.

Buddhist Art Revives Sleepy Silk Road Oasis By Digital Journal Staff DUNHUANG, CHINA (dpa) - Flying asparas, the Buddhist equivalent of angels, are back in vogue in China. They decorate everything from T- shirts to ice-cream wrappers and have even inspired fashion designers and theatre producers. The popularity of th...

Highlights Along The Highway: The Expanse Of Western Australia By Digital Journal Staff PERTH - After the service, the priest sprinkles the boats with holy water - a ritual aimed at ensuring a good catch and a safe return. Only then does the festival begin in Two Rocks, 70 kilometres (43 miles) north of Perth, Western Australia. The ba...

Flying-M-Ranch is where a hotel chain boss cultivates his love for airplanes. By Digital Journal Staff YERINGTON, NEVADA - Barron Hilton, president of the Hilton Hotel Corporation and one of the most successful and wealthiest Americans, has a spectacular hobby. The man who rules over an empire of 2,000 luxury hotels around the world has also, since ...

Remembering Carthage, Under The Stars Of The Tunisian Desert By Digital Journal Staff Tunis (dpa) - The former power enjoyed by its rulers seems to come to life for a few hours when the lights in Tunis illuminate the legendary city of Carthage. The Tunisian capital is the cradle of a 3,000-year-old civilisation which was not only ...

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