The urge to draw images in sand, or create sand sculptures, seems to be irresistible, as a walk on many a modern beach or dune surface will show. Sand is a vast canvas – and may have been used as one ...

The Japanese practice of drawing patterns in sand, known as “karesansui” or “dry landscape” gardening, is often associated with Zen Buddhism. These gardens are designed to embody a sense of ...

[Mark]’s sand table wisely has a glass top. Most of us have probably seen a video of a sand drawing table at work, in which a steel ball — magnetically-coupled to a gantry under a layer of sand — ...

Example of a sona design in which both horizontal and vertical mirrors are required to trace out the corresponding single-loop light path. The storyteller would clean and smooth the ground, then use ...

Meditation is hard, but watching this one-minute video of a steel ball making patterns on sand is easy (and nearly as relaxing). A modern take on the ancient art of the Zen garden, Bruce Shapiro’s ...

[Mark]’s sand table wisely has a glass top. Most of us have probably seen a video of a sand drawing table at work, in which a steel ball — magnetically-coupled to a gantry under a layer of sand — ...

Chladni figures are patterns that appear on surfaces when they are made to vibrate at certain resonances. It sounds dry, but throw in some sand and just the right frequencies and it becomes an amazing ...

If you’ve been frequenting the sandy beaches along the rugged, Welsh Pembrokeshire Coast in Britain, you might have noticed some mysterious shapes appearing in the sand. These intricate murals are ...

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their ...