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b'Without sand, engineering would be stuck in the Middle Ages.\\xa0Wooden houses would line mud-packed streets, and Silicon Valley would be, well, just a valley.\\xa0Sand is the building material of modern cities, and we use more of this resource than any other except water and air.\\xa0Now we\\u2019re running out of it.\\xa0\\nHear why the Roman recipe for making concrete was lost until the 19th century, and about the super-secret mine in North Carolina that makes your smartphone possible.\\xa0\\nPlus, engineered sand turns stormwater into drinking water, and why you might think twice about running barefoot on some tropical beaches once you learn about their biological source.\\nAnd, a special report from the coast of Louisiana where livelihoods and ecosystems depend on the successful release of Mississippi sand from levees into sediment-starved wetlands.\\nGuests:\\n\\n\\nVince Beiser\\xa0\\u2013 Journalist and author of \\u201cThe World in a Grain: The Story of Sand and How it Transformed Civilization\\u201d\\n\\n\\nJoe Charbonnet\\xa0\\u2013 Science and policy associate at the Green Science Policy Institute in Berkeley, California\\n\\n\\nPupa Gilbert\\xa0\\u2013 Biophysicist and geobiologist, University of Wisconsin, Madison\\n\\n\\nRudy Simoneaux\\xa0\\u2013 Engineer manager, Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, Baton Rouge, Louisiana\\n\\n\\nElizabeth Chamberlain\\xa0\\u2013 Post-doctoral researcher in Earth and Environmental Sciences, Vanderbilt University\\n\\n\\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices'