There’s a barren lake bed in the Death Valley National Park in California defined by its many long serpentine tracks, etched into the landscape by massive stones that move somewhat miraculously across the mud. It’s called Racetrack Playa — and for decades geologists have been chasing the “sailing stones” at play there. One of the first scientific studies, published in 1948, suggested the rock motion was driven by dust devils. Most recently, a couple of U.S. scientists hypothesized it was hurricane-force winds that were doing the deed. But it wasn’t until now that science has revealed a plausible explanation for how these stones leave their “racetrack” imprints through the playa: It takes a kind of perfect storm.

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