Deserts

You might think you know everything there is to know about deserts: big, sandy, hot, etc. But between the alien mummies and the ice blades, we're guessing there's a lot you don't know. All that and you get to see Hank just totally embarrass himself while trying to talk about Pokemon. 

Follow us on Twitter @SciShowTangents, where we’ll tweet out topics for upcoming episodes and you can ask the science couch questions! 

If you want to learn more about any of our main topics, check out these links:

[Truth or Fail]

Atacama Desert:

Ata:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/22/science/ata-mummy-alien-chile.html

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/tiny-alien-skeleton-found-chile-was-likely-result-genetic-mutations-180968576/

Ice Blades: 

https://www.sciencealert.com/eerie-ice-spires-harbour-life-in-one-of-the-harshest-environments-on-earth

Microbes:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-35051-w

https://earthsky.org/earth/mars-like-atacanda-desert-rain-brings-death

[Fact Off]

Thorny devil lizard:

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsos.170591

Libyan Desert glass:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5196362.stm

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0022309384901777

https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geology/article-abstract/47/7/609/570318/overestimation-of-threat-from-100-mt-class?redirectedFrom=fulltext

https://theconversation.com/how-we-solved-the-mystery-of-libyan-desert-glass-117253

[Ask the Science Couch]

Sand depth:

https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-1-4614-9213-9_325-1

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-65661-8_10

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/92232/grand-erg-oriental-algeria

https://www.nps.gov/zion/learn/nature/sand-dunes-sandstone.htm

[Butt One More Thing]

Dung beetles:

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-10/uotw-bud101912.php

https://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822%2812%2901061-5