Extremely arid desert region in northern Chile, among the driest places on Earth, noted for mineral deposits, unique ecosystems, and clear astronomical skies.
Researchers found a 9-million-year-old molar from a water-dependent capybara relative in Chile's Atacama Desert. It adds to evidence that the desert had wet intervals long after its hyperarid core began forming in the Eocene.
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University of Osaka researchers used a gold nanogap and AI to tell L- from D-amino acids one molecule at a time, at over 80% accuracy. On meteorite and desert extracts it matched standard methods, so a compact life-detection instrument is still a hope.
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Chile's forestry body says parts of the Atacama took the heaviest seasonal rain in its records. The desert's dormant seed bank has responded with a bloom that is drawing tourists north of Santiago.
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Priscilla Martinez's team pulled the tooth from a marine deposit at El Morro in northern Chile. Freshwater fish, gavials and palm phytoliths from the same beds carry more of the argument than the tooth does.
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A first count of the pigment behind the world's oldest artificial mummies turns a burial rite into a procurement problem, and dents the idea that states come before technique.
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