Arkansas was once one of the country's largest quartz producers. Remnants of that legacy can be found in the hills of the ...

Living under a translucent rock can be quite comfortable -- if you're a moss in the Mojave Desert. A graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, found that some mosses in the ...

Syntrichia caninervis, one of the most common Mojave Desert mosses, growing on the soil under a white milky quartz rock. Credit: Kirsten Fisher Desert mosses live a much different life than their ...

Microscopic Mojave Desert plants growing on the underside of translucent quartz pebbles can endure both chilly and near-boiling temperatures, scavenge nitrogen from the air, and utilize the equivalent ...

Scientists are intrigued by how gold nuggets form, often tucked in quartz veins. The process seems to involve earthquakes and electricity.

Desert conditions are harsh, and mosses often spend much of the year in a dormant condition, desiccated and brown, until rain comes. Researchers discovered two species of moss that found a hiding ...