00:04Despite their dry appearance, new research has revealed that these giant mounds of sand particles
00:09actually like to hydrate. Experts have developed a hypersensitive water-detecting probe,
00:14able to check the hydration levels of a single grain of sand. And when they sent it down deep
00:18into a sand dune in Qatar, they found something rather remarkable. Sand dunes breathe. And when
00:23they do so, they take in water and hydrate. Mechanical engineer at Cornell University,
00:28Michael Luge, had this to say about the findings. The wind flows over the dune and as a result
00:33creates imbalances in the local pressure, which literally forces air to go into the sand and out
00:38of the sand. So the sand is breathing, like an organism breathes. Scientists say this could
00:42answer why sand dunes are able to house microbial life deep within them, especially considering
00:47they also found that the evaporation of the water inside the dune was much slower than anticipated
00:51as well. And experts say the better understanding these processes will no doubt be invaluable if
00:56humans cannot change their course, and our entire planet ends up a desert.
