A microscopic look at why the world is running out of sand

Humans are using more sand than the Earth is naturally producing, and that’s a problem for the global construction industry. But it turns out that the usefulness of sand depends on the science of each tiny little grain. We went on a sand scavenger hunt to collect some samples, look at them under a microscope, and try to figure out why sand scarcity is such a problem. Video: William Poor, Alex Parkin, Cory Zapatka Additional Camera: Cynthia Gil, Tom Connors Audio: Andrew Marino Director of Audience Development: Ruben Salvadori Social Media Manager: Dilpreet Kainth Subscribe: Like Verge Science on Facebook: Follow on Twitter: Follow on Instagram: Read More: Community guidelines: Subscribe to Verge on YouTube for explainers, product reviews, technology news, and more: