As a geoscientist, climate researcher, and landscape photographer, I’ve spent over 30 years exploring the inner workings of our planet. My goal is to communicate how everything is interconnected—and how fragile those connections are—in ways that are both...
The SPIEGEL-Bestseller book Wunderwerk Erde is a love poem to our planet What makes Earth so unique? How did our planet come into being, how has it changed over the eons of time—and how does it function, both inside and out? Wunderwerk Erde (Wonderwork Earth),...
One of the most alien-looking places on Earth is Fly Geyser in the Black Rock Desert of northern Nevada. It is an incredible experience to admire the rising Milky Way above the boiling water spouting from the geyser at new moon. Standing in 50°C (122°F) hot water...
Badwater Basin in Death Valley, California, is an endorheic basin, a closed drainage basin that retains all its water without any outflow. It contains a dried-out salt lake covered with a network of mud cracks. Temperatures are oven-like, and the valley holds the...
The ancient bristlecone pine forests high in the White Mountains on the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada in California grow at altitudes between 3,000 and 3,400 m (9,800 and 11,000 ft) under arid, high-alpine conditions. They are home to the oldest living trees in...
