John McPhee had a great New Yorker article (which I think was also in the collection Irons in the Fire), where he wrote about how U.S. geologists used sand found in the Japanese "Fu-Go" bombs that made it to the NW US to figure out their launch sites from specific beaches near Tokyo.
Just our luck that desert sand doesn’t work for this because we have essentially endless amounts of it. Instead people are destroying pristine river banks.
I think the rotating photos create a poor UX. The purpose of this layout it seems is to let users view the images carefully and study the details, but the slideshow effect makes that difficult.
From a casual browsing perspective, I liked it. However, it'd be nice to have it pause when you hover over one - or something like that. To get the best of both worlds.
I mean if your intent is to view the images carefully and study the details why not click through to the details page and see larger, more detailed photos?
I've heard that desert sand is fundamentally smoother than beach or river sand. Would love to see some examples of non-beach sand side-by-side with these glorious samples.
Well, here's a video which ends with a hand holding a sample.[1] It's a sand-making plant. Big rocks go in, and repeated crushing makes them into sand-sized rocks.
That's a tad pedantic. Everyone takes sand from the beach. That's simply the nature of going to a beach. The spirit of those laws is to prevent people from taking large quantities of sand for some personal or commercial purpose.
You may think it is pedantic, but it's not dissimilar to those that think "no cop, no stop" is valid. Just because you didn't get caught doesn't mean it's not violating the regulations.
The spirit of the law is not "large quantities", it's to get people used to the idea of letting nature be and not taking something just because you want to. If you come across a rock that you think is interesting and keep it for yourself, you're denying the next person to discover it on their trip. If you take a rock or two or maybe three, then so does the next person, and the next, well, you get how math works. So since people can't be trusted to not take, there exists an official policy that says you can't.
I think you partially misunderstood the previous comment. The "that's simply the nature of going to a beach" line refers to how, when you get home, you'll find your sandals, swimsuit, etc. covered in little grains of sand. But any police officer who tried to charge someone with taking sand from the beach because they sat down on the beach and some grains of sand clung to their clothing... would be completely overstepping the intent of the law (and would get severely reprimanded by any sane judge who got handed the case, just prior to said judge dismissing the case with prejudice).
Now, scooping up a handful of sand and sticking it in a vial would be against the law in many places, though I imagine a researcher asking for permission would probably be granted permission in most of those places.
I doubt a researcher would ask for permission for single vial and I rather doubt anyone has ever been prosecuted for that. At least in any sane jurisdiction. The problem is people who think "since I'm stopping by that river tomorrow anyway why don't I pack a tarp and shovel and save purchasing sand from the hardware store for my new patio".
I'm not sure what the situation is for rocks but given a relatively unpopulated beach if I see a neat agate or other mineral I'm definitely taking it with me. If everyone did the same the environment wouldn't be any worse off.
Not that I am aware of. I wouldn't suggest doing that in North Korea though (or possessing any type of scientific or other measuring instrument there).
The website shows pictures of the sand collection and the microscope. It does not appear to be at a beach.
I love this site - it has been listed before, quite a while back, I seem to remember.
Seeing it again, with how powerful phones are and what good macro cameras they often have now, identifying sand seems like it would be a fun ML + mobile app project.
I’ve had a sand collection for many years. I keep small vials on my shelf. From the Namib desert, to the slope of Mt Fuji, to Alaskan tundra. It’s a fun way to catalog places I’ve been.
I mean it makes sense that the sand is made of the same stuff as your local rocks, that's where it came from. Sure it washes around a bit in the surf but it's not like it's floating around the world on the ocean currents, at least not in massive quantities. I'm sure there are bits stuck in driftwood or whatnot but the vast majority should sink to the bottom.
It starts on the 9th page here
https://gwern.net/doc/technology/1996-mcphee.pdf
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