Countless words have been written – appropriately – over the last couple of weeks, in the blogosphere and the international press, about Curiosity. I have little to add, except for a personal note of awe and gratitude. The landing was...
I do, on occasion – and to the great distress of anyone within earshot – quite literally blow my own trumpet. Or, to be precise, these days, a flugelhorn. It began in the early Pleistocene when I was in high...
Before you head off to the beach, you might want to jot down the equation in the image above. Because this is good news for sandcastle builders. Had you been depressed by the fact that science can easily demonstrate that...
There's a reason I've been absent for a week or so - our daughter's wedding was on Saturday. You will probably appreciate that this has involved a certain amount of preparational activity that has somewhat distracted me from my blog...
Some years ago, while researching the Sand book and indulging in one of my favourite ways to while away substantial amounts of time, I was rambling around Google Earth, investigating the dunes of Australia’s vast interior, when I came across...
Georgia Bore is the place along the Canning Stock Route where we spent more time than planned - thanks to the mechanical failure of our primary four-wheel-drive vehicle. But there are far worse places to be stranded, not only in...
The critters who make their lives in the sands of the Australian outback are not by nature publicity-seekers. Shy, discreet, and often nocturnal, they are, with the exception of the occasional cunningly-camouflaged lizard, rarely seen, but their journeys are recorded,...
Playas, creekbeds, dunes, hills. The interior of Australia was popularly referred to in the nineteenth century as "the ghastly blank." It remains in reality a harsh land, but one of extraordinary beauty and breath-taking diversity.
I'm back from the outback - and what a trip! The photo above is entirely undoctored: it really is "The Red Centre." Unfortunately, a key vehicle suffered a catastrophic transmission failure, but fortunately well into the trip and in a...
From this Friday, I will be essentially – and, I must admit, largely blissfully – out of touch with the world. I am off on an epic four-wheel-drive tour of a large chunk of the Australian outback, starting and ending...
Thanks to Walter for bringing to my attention this particularly resonant and compelling image from the recent coverage of the investigation of a dramatic shipwreck in the Gulf of Mexico. Here’s part of the original report from NOAA: NOAA, BOEM:...
Pelabuhan Ratu, a sweeping beach on the south coast of Java pounded continuously by the breakers of the Indian Ocean. A popular destination, but one that I have not visited – today’s feature comes courtesy of, and with thanks to,...
A story that appeared all over the news recently caught my eye for a number of reasons - here’s an example of the headlines: “Frozen in the sands of time: Eerie Second World War RAF fighter plane discovered in the...
Sand, Mars, and a challenge to conventional wisdom. What better ingredients for a post could I wish for? The two images above show sedimentary fan deposits, the great - yes, fan-shaped – aprons of detritus that accumulate at the foot...
We don’t much think about sand as an environment, a home for critters that can be more or less welcoming, its inhabitants more or less thriving. But of course sand is home to a mind-boggling menagerie of critters on a...
Aral Sea shrinks, central Asia The Aral Sea, located in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in central Asia. Left: June 4, 1977. Center left: September 17, 1989. Center right: May 27, 2006. Right: June 3, 2009. Once one of the largest inland...
BEFORE: A Pinnate batfish swimming among other fish in Tatawa Besar in the waters of Komodo islands, Indonesia. AFTER: damaged coral reefs in the water of Tatawa Besar, Komodo islands, Indonesia. [Robert Delfs/Michael W. Ishak] I admire corals – not...
Kurt Meyer writes: SHOOTING SAND For the last 15 years, on and off, I have been collecting sand. The “off” times resulted from not having an answer to the question, ‘what do I do with all of this sand?’ I...
Anyone who reads this blog (and/or the book) will know that I have developed a deep fascination with the bizarre behaviours of granular materials: sand, a seemingly simple material, does stuff that hundreds of leading physicists around the world just...
Sand from perhaps the smallest “beach” that I have visited and sampled. One of the items on the varied agenda of a recent long weekend in Central Java (varied in the way that part of the world uniquely and fascinatingly...
