A traveler steps onto a gleaming plain and freezes. The ground reflects the sky like polished metal. For a moment it feels as if a spaceship has dropped them on another world. That instant—tiny and disorienting—frames the story: Earth still surprises.These scenes range widely. Jagged rock spires rise like ruined towers. Vast salt pans spread like broken mirrors. Dunes fold in crimson waves. Strang...More