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Source study found

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Scientists Find a Way to Turn Desert Sand Into 'Living Sand' That Holds Water Six Times Longer : ScienceAlert (opens in a new tab)

sciencealert.com · 2026-10-15

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Short answer

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Study found.

We found the study, but the claim check did not finish.

Checked against the study summary. The full text wasn't available, so some details couldn't be settled either way.

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1

The story

Scientists Find a Way to Turn Desert Sand Into 'Living Sand' That Holds Water Six Times Longer : ScienceAlert

sciencealert.com · 2026-10-15

The story’s checkable claims.

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2

NewsLink checks it

We found the study behind this story.

We found the study, but couldn't compare the story to it: the study's evidence could not be profiled.

Open claim evidence
3
Then inspect each claim

Evidence layer

Claim by claim

The source study was found, but the study's evidence could not be profiled, so these claims couldn't be checked.

Claim 1 of 6Not checkedScientists have tested whether fibers produced by bacteria and fungi can bind sand grains together.View evidenceHide evidence

Not checked

The source study was found, but this claim couldn't be checked against it.

Claim 2 of 6Not checkedGrowing microbes directly in sand created a material called 'living sand' that could cut water loss by six times.View evidenceHide evidence

As statedsix times

Not checked

The source study was found, but this claim couldn't be checked against it.

Claim 3 of 6Not checkedA separate approach using thin sheets of bacterial cellulose between sand layers reduced water permeability about 28-fold in laboratory tests.View evidenceHide evidence

As statedabout 28-fold

Not checked

The source study was found, but this claim couldn't be checked against it.

Claim 4 of 6Not checkedThe bacterial treatment produced stronger samples than the fungi, and a sand column about 6 centimeters tall could be removed from its mold and cut into pieces that stayed intact in water.View evidenceHide evidence

As statedabout 6 centimeters

Not checked

The source study was found, but this claim couldn't be checked against it.

Claim 5 of 6Not checkedFor sand containing fibers grown directly among the grains, water-holding rose from about 20.2 percent to 25.5 percent, which the scientists described as a slight increase.View evidenceHide evidence

As statedfrom about 20.2 percent to 25.5 percent

Not checked

The source study was found, but this claim couldn't be checked against it.

Claim 6 of 6Not checkedThe article says the work is a laboratory study and that it did not test crop growth or how long the material would survive desert conditions.View evidenceHide evidence

Not checked

The source study was found, but this claim couldn't be checked against it.

Finally, the search trail

Method layer

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NewsLink checks the story. Tessa is where you inspect the paper, authors, evidence, and research context.

Papers considered

The selected paper, plus nearby candidates.

Crossref, PubMed, Europe PMC · 16 candidate papers

Candidate

The Permeability and Settlement of Laboratory Specimens of Sand and Sand-Gravel Mixtures

Symposium on Permeability of Soils · 1955 · Crossref

Source (opens in a new tab)

And 10 more candidates considered.