AI counts 1.8 billion trees in Sahara Desert

There are more trees in the West African Sahara Desert that you might think, according to a study that used artificial intelligence and satellite imagery.

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Tags: artificial-intelligence trees earth-and-environment deserts sahara satellite-imagery

A massive Saharan dust plume is moving into the southeast US, bringing technicolor sunsets and suppressing tropical storms

From June through October, it's not unusual for huge Saharan dust plumes to blow across the Atlantic. They can darken skies but also bring calmer weather and electric sunsets. Here's how they form.

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Tags: climate hurricanes storms atmospheric-science weather air-quality atlantic-ocean dust sahara tropical-rainforest

Meteorites from Mars contain clues about the red planet's geology

Martian meteorites allow scientists here on Earth to decode that planet's geology, more than a decade before the first missions are scheduled to bring rocks back home from Mars.

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Tags: space nasa mars gravity volcanoes antarctica earth meteorites outer-space asteroids national-science-foundation mars-rover sahara rock life-on-mars morocco martian-volcanoes

Ancient ‘seaway’ used to cover the Sahara desert

The Sahara desert was once underwater and home to ancient relatives to animals like sharks and crocodiles, fossils show.

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Tags: climate-change water fossils featured science-and-technology deserts sahara