Travel Blog • 9th August 2024

Joshua Tree

Two very distinct deserts meet in Joshua Tree. At elevations below 3000 feet, and temperatures up to 120 degrees, the Colorado Desert –– the hottest subsection of the much larger Sonoran Desert –– covers the eastern part of the park. The higher and cooler western side is in the Mojave. As you approach the park from this side, examples of its namesake dot the hills that border both sides of Park Blvd.

Joshua Tree Driving Tour • 11th February 2024

Arch Rock Inselbergs

The inselbergs here are made of White Tank Granite, an igneous rock formed when hot magma from the earth’s mantle forces its way above ground into existing rock then cools and hardens into a new layer (the line where they meet is called the “contact zone”). Geologists call this process intrusion, and those who study how it worked in Joshua Tree say it took place here about 150 million years ago.

Joshua Tree Driving Tour • 11th February 2024

Split Rock & Desert Mistletoe

Eons ago, before Split Rock was completely split or even an above-ground rock, groundwater flooded its cracks and reacted with the feldspar that filled them, turning the mineral into a soft clay that was especially susceptible to weathering, and over time, widening the gap that became its signature split. What began as a jagged silhouette jutting through the earth’s crust softened into two round-edged masses.

Joshua Tree Driving Tour • 11th February 2024

Skull Rock

Ubiquitous across the park’s southern climes, creosote bushes are flowering plants equipped with two root systems –– a fan of roots just beneath the surface and a deep taproot. Most plants have a single root system, but the creosote’s dual network makes it especially drought-resistant.

Joshua Tree Driving Tour • 11th February 2024

Pinto Gneiss & Monzogranite: We Have Contact

Like many of the massive rocks that cover the park’s 1200-plus square miles, the boulders in front of you may look as if they’ve been carefully arranged by intelligent life, but geologists say there is no evidence to support theories that the stony towers and piles are the work of Venusian visitors or gigantic relatives of the Yucca Man.

Joshua Tree Driving Tour • 11th February 2024

1999 Juniper Complex Wildfire

Until recent decades, wildfires had been a normal part of the Joshua Tree ecosystem, but 1999’s Juniper Complex Fire was the biggest in park history and an alarming departure from historic fire patterns. The blaze burned up the Joshua trees and blackbrush that once grew on nearly 14,000 acres surrounding this exhibit.

Women's Health Blog • 2nd May 2023

Gut-Hormone Axis: Why Menopause Can Upset Everything in Orbit & How to Reset Your Spin

Whether your menopause journey is hot and flashy, bloated and belly-bulging, brittling your bones, harming your heart, shredding your sleep, or fogging your brain, chances are an imbalanced microbiome is to blame.

The gut microbiome is the collection of bacteria, fungi, and viruses that live inside our GI systems. Our reproductive tracts have their own microbiome too. The population and diversity of a microbiome’s flora not only support the health of the organs they live in but also affect immu

Medium • 28th March 2023

Supplements for Menopause: A Data-driven Look at a Witch’s Brew of Potions, Lotions & Teas

Menopause can be a rocky transition for many women. As estrogen levels decline, these hormonal shifts can result in several troubling symptoms, including hot flashes, night sweats, insomnia, osteoporosis, vaginal dryness, loss of sex drive, weight gain, belly fat, and unhealthy lipid profiles.

Hormone therapy with synthetic estrogen is one approach to treating symptoms like these, but one that can increa