Blog - Through the sandglass

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June 2015

Musings and news on the extraordinary stories sand has to tell of our planet and daily lives

June 1, 2015 4 min read

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A terrible beauty

Images of art and science can be visually stunning at first glance, and then emotionally stunning when the viewer becomes aware of what is depicted. Think micro...

July 1, 2015 4 min read

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July 2015

Musings and news on the extraordinary stories sand has to tell of our planet and daily lives

July 1, 2015 3 min read

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Behold, Cataglyphis bombycina is an hairy ant

In writing The Desert book, I became acutely aware that, as a humble geologist, my knowledge has profound limitations. I am not a biologist, botanist, ecologist...

August 1, 2015 8 min read

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The Missing Sink: Carbon storage in the world’s deserts

Deep-rooted and completely erroneous preconceptions of our planet’s arid lands as sterile bit-players in the great game of the earth’s dynamic systems have long...

August 1, 2015 4 min read

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August 2015

Musings and news on the extraordinary stories sand has to tell of our planet and daily lives

August 1, 2015 8 min read

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Sunagoyomi

Sunagoyomi, the sand calendar. Not an hourglass, but a yearglass, the centre piece of the Nima Sand Museum in Japan. Turn it, and one year later the last of its...

September 1, 2015 3 min read

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September 2015

Musings and news on the extraordinary stories sand has to tell of our planet and daily lives

September 1, 2015 3 min read

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Unearthly dunes

Once in a while I enjoy losing myself in the wonders of Martian landscapes. Words just don’t seem necessary for this selection from the latest HiRISE images. [A...

September 1, 2015 1 min read

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“at the avant-garde of solar”

On my 2013 Moroccan trip, we drove through the town of Ouazazate, “the door of the desert” and an old trading outpost that grew under French colonial rule as a...

October 1, 2015 4 min read

art climate_change environment geomorphology history photography rivers_water sand science travel

October 2015

Musings and news on the extraordinary stories sand has to tell of our planet and daily lives

October 1, 2015 4 min read

art books climate_change coastal education geomorphology history photography rivers_water sand science travel

Exporting the desert – you may not want to read this

Among the possible reasons for not reading this might be It seems to be too absurd to be true It’s true, but it’s not a problem You are careful about your blood...

November 1, 2015 12 min read