How a worldwide sand shortage could impact the design world

Later this month, Dutch Design Week will host a symposium entitled “The Abundance and Scarcity of Sand.” Notable speakers include geologist and author Michael Welland, as well as Denis Delestrac, whose 2013 documentary, Sand Wars, showcased the lengths that contractors and smugglers alike will go to hoard and sell a commodity second only to freshwater, in terms of consumption.

Scientists find new source of radioactivity from Fukushima disaster: in sand and groundwater

Scientists have found a previously unsuspected place where radioactive material from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster has accumulated—in sands and brackish groundwater beneath beaches up to 60 miles away. The sands took up and retained radioactive cesium originating from the disaster in 2011 and have been slowly releasing it back to the ocean.

Tourists return sand and rock to Iceland with apology note

A mother and her 11-year-old daughter felt so bad after they took home some sand and a pebble from Reynisfjara beach on the South Coast of Iceland – which is said to be the most impressive black sand beach in Iceland – they sent them back to the country through the postal service.

Mackenzie Meets Beaufort

The Mackenzie River is the leading source of freshwater flowing into the Arctic Ocean. It’s also a leading source of sediment flowing into that basin.