Friday Links: November 8, 2024
By Amina Sharma
The desert beckons visitors in the cooler months with quiet hikes, brilliant sunrises and sunsets, and a panoply of stars. This week’s Links is full of desert stories, as well as a new celebration of Native American Heritage Month, thoughts of the coming wildflower season, and more.
- Cacti, like the saguaro, have a few tricks up their spines to survive in harsh climates. (National Geographic)
- Rising temperatures, leading to greater evaporation, are increasing droughts in the West. (Washington Post)
- Cryptobiotic soil isn’t a new form of currency, it’s an essential part of Earth’s dryland areas. (Smithsonian Magazine)
- The Mojave National Preserve is taking new measures to try to protect threatened desert tortoises. (SFGate)
- This year, Sacramento will be having its first parade in honor of Native American Heritage Month. (Sacramento Bee)
- Reflections on meeting a wildflower. (Bay Nature)
- There could be thousands of plant species not yet known to science. (Kew Royal Botanic Gardens)
- David Attenborough visited the same creosote 40 years apart. How much did it grow? (PBS)
- Funny of the day (The New Yorker)
