Large quartz dust particles found in the middle of the North Atlantic

The mere existence of these particles at this location cannot be explained by conventional climate change models

Sahara Desert, the hottest in the world, received 16 inches snow last weekend

What explains the weather anomaly in the world's largest hot desert, which is also one of the driest places on earth?

Humans may have transformed the Sahara from lush paradise to barren desert

The world's biggest desert used to be green, lush and full of hippos. A new theory suggests humans could have tipped the environment over the edge

Need to restore 10 million hectares a year to prevent desertification in Africa

The Food and Agriculture Organization presented a map of restoration potential along Africa's Great Green Wall

News 360 ° - Briefs

Fossilised fish bones from Africa are fertilising the Amazon forest

Study shows that dust containing phosphorous from fish fossils helps photosynthesis in the Amazon region

Solar energy from North Africa could light up UK homes by 2018

Electricity to be transported from Sahara desert to Europe via undersea cable

Hydrogen from microbes

Hydrogen could soon be produced using light-sensitive bacteria

Ants forage at 'safe' temperatures

SAHARA

Changing perceptions

Experts say changes in the Earth's orbit may have led to the formation of the Sahara desert

Video: How winds transport over 27 million tonnes of dust from Sahara to Amazon

NASA study says 22,000 tonnes of this dust is phosphorus which acts like a fertiliser for the rainforests

Green sands

Ancient Sahara was wetter and wilder before. Changes in vegetation have played a role in transforming its climate

African countries must double investment in agricultural R&D, finds study

The report analyses trends in investments and human resource capacity in African agriculture system

Killing dust

African dust clouds cause red tides that kill millions of fish in the Gulf of Mexico

Niger issues new permits for uranium mining in Sahara

A chocolate truck to Timbuktu

Fatally fixated

Bad business all round

Neither the market regulator nor the Supreme Court has been able to bring crooked businessmen to book

The precarious geopolitics of phosphorous

Both nitrogen and phosphorous are essential to life. Lynchpins both to global food production, circulating through synthesis or export and then …