Our planet Earth has a mesmerizing history that spans across 4.6 billion years. For a majority of this immense timeframe, single-celled life reigned supreme. But, about 500 million years ago, everything changed immensely. A dramatic occurrence took place known as the Cambrian “explosion.”

Neighbors in the East Las Vegas Valley say a proposal to build hundreds of homes on the edge of the desert is in direct conflict with the push to protect the area and stop any future development. For years now, there’s been an effort to bring a national monument to the area.

Through the decades it is fair to say mining has earned itself a chequered reputation. The industry, driven by the world’s insatiable appetite for minerals, has routinely been linked or found responsible for corruption, human rights abuses and environmental degradation, mostly in the Global South.

The monsoon season and the rain it usually produces has been abnormally dry this summer in Las Vegas. The season, which runs from June through mid-September, has dropped just 0.08 inches of rain here, according to the National Weather Service.

While digging for garden soil, a Las Vegas farmer was shocked to find mammoth teeth, but now the rest of his discoveries are expected to cause a controversy as it may change 12,000 years of history. During a Protectors of Tule Springs meeting Tuesday night, Dr. Steve Rowland, a UNLV geoscience professor and paleontologist, helped present newly analyzed findings from a 30-year-old archeological dig field report from the Gilcrease Nature Sanctuary.

Lightly frosted with snow, the peaks of Red Butte look particularly beautiful today, remarks Dianna Sue White Dove Uqualla, an elder of the Havasupai Tribe. This land near the south rim of the Grand Canyon is sacred to her people as the place where their creation story says life began. It was once a hub of ceremony and prayer, but tribal members rarely visit now—not since the Pinyon Plain Mine started to extract uranium just 10 kilometers away.