When you think of insanely hot deserts, the last thing you probably envision is a sandy place with lakes all over, but that's exactly what appears to reside in the Badain Jaran Desert in China.
There are literally hundreds of them spread out across the surface; first observed by satellite imagery, scientists went there on foot to explore the region up close and in person.
After climbing to the top of the dunes, they saw the glittering water and took water samples, only to find that some of the water spots were fresh and others were briny like the ocean.
Because the location doesn't really get rainfall, there's certainly a lot of confusion about where the water could be coming from. The only logical explanation according to the researchers could be that it's coming from underground.
Still, this is a mystery that hasn't quite been solved just yet.
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APR 10, 2017