Sand is everywhere. Beaches. Rivers. Deserts full of powdery dunes. How could we possibly run out?
Journalist Vince Beiser has dug deep into the past century — and more — of human construction and found one tiny grain at its foundation: sand. In apartments and eyeglasses, in computer chips and cleaning equipment. The hunt for sand has reshaped coastlines, spawned black markets, and launched beach “heists.” And, some of them, possibly, could have been avoided, if the Romans had bothered to write down their own lost recipe for concrete.
Guest:
Vince Beiser, journalist and author of The World in a Grain: The Story of Sand and How It Transformed Civilization
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Also mentioned this episode:
Are We Going the Way of the Roman Empire?
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