Along the African coast lies the world’s only coastal desert: the Namib Sand Sea. The ecological marvel, which spans 7,605,162 acres, encompasses shifting, mountainous dunes bathed in low-hanging fog.

On a cool, starry night six years ago, a young scientist crept barefoot across dunes in the Namib Desert in southern Africa. With his pants slung over one arm and his flashlight sweeping the sand, the ...