The Not-So-Natural Beach – Ryan Anderson

Groin in Oceanside California, built in 1961. © 2019 Ryan Anderson.

Growing up, I always imagined the beach to be a natural place. I think it’s safe to say that this sentiment may be pretty common among many beachgoers. It’s easy to think of the beach as being somewhat “natural,” or at least close to that thing some people call “nature.” This is a short piece, so I won’t go down the what is nature!? rabbit hole for now. By natural I mean something along the lines of “not caused or created by human intervention.” So here’s the thing: many beaches are actually far less “natural” than many people assume or know…

Why does nature create patterns? – the Conversation

Giants Causeway, Northern Ireland (by llee_wu CC BY-ND 2.0 DEED via Flickr).

The reason patterns often appear in nature is simple: The same basic physical or chemical processes occur in many patterned substances and organisms as they form. Whether in plants and animals or rocks, foams and ice crystals, the intricate patterns that happen in nature come down to what’s happening at the level of atoms and molecules…

How deep is the ocean? – the Conversation

Mother humpback and calf (courtesy of NOAA Photo Library CC BY 2.0 via Flickr).

If you wanted to measure the depth of a pool or lake, you could tie a weight to a string, lower it to the bottom, then pull it up and measure the wet part of the string. In the ocean you would need a rope thousands of feet long. In 1872 the HMS Challenger, a British Navy ship, set sail to learn about the ocean, including its depth. It carried 181 miles (291 kilometers) of rope…