The fire is burning through and threatening groves of Joshua trees – the branching, spiky plants of the Mojave Desert that can live more than 150 years. Some of the trees have already fallen ...

Inside a Mojave aster flower, a tiny bee is fast asleep. At night, the pale lavender petals close, providing a safe resting place. In the morning, as birdsong rings out across the desert ...

Why he did it: Specializing in late Mesozoic hard-rock geology and having a particular interest in the desert, Van Buer wanted to further understand Mojave geology. He collected samples ...

The plant, known for its thin, twisting limbs and spiky leaves, lives only at specific elevations in the Mojave Desert, its range limited to a handful of southwestern states. The York Fire erupted ...