Exploration of dunes
Generally speaking, dunes create a feeling of ecstasy, and incite feelings of travel. Their evocative power is such that they are present everywhere as images. We think we know them but for a conscientious observer their mere existence raises many questions.
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In the laboratories of the École Normale Supérieure — one of the French Schools of Higher Learning —, physics researchers study the creation of natural shapes. Among other thing, they try to understand the morphogenesis of leaves, and the behaviour of granular materials. Their recent work concerns the shape of sand dunes, and more precisely the existence of limit angles which trigger avalanches of granular materials.
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