Wildflowers are blooming in the Atacama Desert, an inhospitable stretch of land west of the Andes Mountains that normally gets just 2 millimeters of rain every year. But this July and August, a rare alignment of conditions led to a beautiful, fleeting burst of color that has drawn tourists and scientists alike. William Brangham reports.
Scientists study rare bloom in the Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on Earth

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