What Makes These Dunes Sing? (ft.

Come on an epic journey as our host Joe Hanson explores the mysterious physics of sand. Along the way, we meet Dr. Melany Hunt and Dr. Nathalie Vriend who solved the long-standing mystery of how dunes sing. If you want to take your journey further, head over to It’s Okay to be Smart ( • Sand Dunes Shouldn’t E... ) - where Joe Hanson takes an even deeper dive into sand... and lives to tell the tale!
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Hosted by Joe Hanson from It's Okay to be Smart, Overview uses incredible 4k drone footage to reveal the natural phenomena shaping our planet from a 10,000-foot view-literally.
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[@pbsterra]

Want more sandy science? Head on over to It's Okay to be Smart to learn the self-organizing secrets of dunes: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gmexoKpjnK2nrpI

[@tomkitchen9457]

Please don't play the marimba while asking us to listen to the dunes.

[@slightlyevolved]

How do you know it wasn't the dunes, eh? Maybe they needed some melody to sing to.

[@JusNoBS420]

Why add background music to something you specifically want us to listen to. Poor editing guys

[@NehaWalihang]

I was looking for this comment 😂

[@SureTadpoleYT]

They stopped the music when playing the sound

[@JusNoBS420]

@@SureTadpoleYT yes but pretty far into the video

[@SureTadpoleYT]

@@JusNoBS420 I’ll agree

[@ZedaZ80]

Plot twist: the music was actually just the dunes

[@driverjayne]

It's kind of annoying that's you're playing music while trying to show what the dunes sound like. Not really necessary.

[@znavot0]

I wish there was a moment of silence so we could hear the singing dunes

[@AustinSteingrube]

Like the one at the very start of the video?

[@GregPerham]

@@AustinSteingrube That marimba sound comes from the dunes? Cool! And 3 seconds doesn’t count

[@mr.mrs.d.7015]

Yes!

[@lj7780]

background music can be very irritating

[@treering8228]

That must have been a pain in the ass to scoot down that dune in shorts! Your voice pulls me out of my mind wanderings, thanks Joe

[@jacextreme6432]

Literally!

[@mybackhurts7020]

Where do the Dumont dunes come from? I camp out there every year for Thanksgiving with my family it’s only 6 mi.² I can ride around the entire thing in less than an hour but I can’t really figure out why those dunes are where they are

[@beekerbod4072]

Wow, do the dunes play the marimba! Cool!!

[@SparrowHawk183]

It's course, rough, irritating, and it gets everywhere. But music from the dunes makes up for it!

[@m.pearce3273]

Fascinating Science investigating the Singing Sands . We have a desert in Quebec where I've heard singing sands a few times

[@TheZinmo]

Are you sure that is a desert? A desert is defined by dryness. I believe there are dunes, even singing ones, but dunes can build itself outside of deserts too.

[@brianisme6498]

The only true desert in Canada (excluding the Canadian Arctic) is Okanagan Desert in British Columbia. You’re most likely thinking of a badlands or shrubland. Sand dunes are possible but sand + space ≠ desert. Rather it is defined by how much precipitation an environment gets less then 250mm of rain each year. Hence why Antarctica is a desert as well.

[@CustomElephant]

@@brianisme6498 BC would be my last guess for a desert but I love learning stuff lol. Thx for the info

[@GetOutsideYourself]

I've been hiking Eureka and Kelso Dunes for decades and have noticed this phenomenon. There was an article in Scientific American maybe 25-30 years ago, and I remember writing the author offering to collect sand samples on my next trip. He said yes, please send a cubic yard. Uh, I don't think either of us thought about how much that weighed or how hard it would be to send that, but I did my best.

[@fatherofhope]

The recent flash flood we had in the desert not far from Death Valley deposited a sand dune right next to my master bedroom wall, I hope it starts singing LOL😆. It did teach me, that not only wind moves sand Dunes, desert flash flooding moves them very quickly! And although it is beautiful, I'd love to keep it, I'll need to use an excavator to move it. Having it so close to the house means that it likes to migrate its way into the house. 😕

[@_thomas1031]

JUST in time for Dune to release soon😄🙌🙌🙌

[@0HARE]

Fascinating episode. To me, the sand dunes have a grace and beauty that is undeniable. Increased areas of desertification, however, are of real concern. Perhaps Arrakis is our future.

[@wilfredotoledo6755]

excelent , i have learned something i've wanted to learn for sometime, i'am 70 years, and still learning. thank you

[@nmoran2046]

This is the first time that I have recognized the mouth of a rabbit hole that I’m about to jump down I hope I remember to eat bon voyage

[@imperialchalice]

Beautiful narration. I’m happy to see the passion and determination these scientists have for all things on Earth.

[@TheyCallMeNewb]

That was a really quite remarkable turn when upon sliding down the dune face, a sound started it's boom. Whoa!

[@elijahclaude3413]

This is so amazing!! I'd love to hear this in person and slide down one of those dunes... even though it looks really dangerous and aren't they gonna get a bunch of sand in all their cracks and crevices scooting around like that?!?!

[@mimischiffman626]

It’s pretty forgiving if you fall. And the sand did get everywhere but shook out pretty easily :)

[@elijahclaude3413]

@@mimischiffman626 Oh awesome! Were you one of the folks in the video? If so, would love to know how long it took to climb those dunes and what the temperature was like!

[@mimischiffman626]

@@elijahclaude3413 I was! I filmed some of the tight (non drone) shots in the US parts and produced and edited this video! It was hard climbing the dunes! You lose a lot of traction as you climb! Super good workout honestly. The temperature was manageable when we were climbing. We shot early to avoid the heat.

[@elijahclaude3413]

@@mimischiffman626 That's so incredible!! Thanks for this awesome and for taking the time to reply in the comments. Super lucky that you get to do things like this!

[@kitemanmusic]

I remember a village in Spain called San Deanus.

[@edgar-sama642]

Maybe this can make Anakin Skywalker like sand again

[@AidanRatnage]

It sounds more like a steel drum rather than a cello to me.

[@JamesOKeefe-US]

Anyone else come over from It's Okay to be Smart? Another wonderful channel, subbed! 👍

[@rebmakash8539]

"Come on an epic journey." I see what you did there. Thank you so much for this. I love science videos, though I never expected one to make my favorite video game, Journey, with its cello-heavy score, to feel even more brilliant.

[@imogens7281]

Well now fellow Journey fan, ever play Abzu?

[@imogens7281]

Can we get this again without background music smothering the sound of the dunes maybe please and thank you?

[@marilynschiffman7794]

It's fascinating to see physics explained in natural terms that I can understand.

[@Gelatinocyte2]

_"That's not the sound of the drone you're hearing,"_ It's the ornithopter!

[@jamesfcarlton6890]

*That’s WILD‼️ Love This, Thanks.*

[@S-MKim]

It's undoubtedly a resonace pheonomenon generated by some tuibulance due to a wind excitation and must be a self-excited sound forming a resonace due to the geometric shape of the sand dune. The point to study is how the sand and air motions act as a positive feedback force to the natural sound instrument.

[@jameswest4819]

There are singing sands on a number of beaches. When you walk on these beaches, the sound reverberates and makes a sound. The beaches are really not so dry...they are beaches, after all.

[@JR-playlists]

You can hear squeaky sand on a beach and crunchy snow as well.

[@scrabbleking1965]

I have been to the Eureka Sand Dunes in the northern part of Death Valley National Park in the mid 1990s and heard the singing sand noises VERY clearly and loud. I returned more than 25 later in late April 2021 could just barely create the sounds, he few times I did it only lasted for a second or two. Pretty sure the sand just wasn't dry enough.

[@user-bp8yg3ko1r]

This was very interesting.

[@gg31hh]

what a beautiful desert~!

[@ebsanu]

Wow, 8:40 is just beautiful!

[@garrethdsouza3655]

so much potential for band names. Dune Boom, Marching Dunes, The Singing Sands..

[@Beryllahawk]

Having come here straight from It's Okay to Be Smart, this was doubly interesting :D

[@shkee23]

I live near a beach where the sand squeaks when you walk a certain way....funnily enough it's called Singing Beach. One of only a few beaches in the world with that characteristic. I believe it has to do with the dryness of the sand and what the particles are made of.

[@agoogolofgeese]

Reminds me of the 'drum sands' in dune

[@Deuphus]

Wow!! The dunes play a marimba too?!!!

[@justsah24]

Patiently waits for a producer to sample them.

[@ShinSennju]

Well, that's ruddy mysterious.

[@ahgflyguy]

Okay... so this seems like it really should have been said explicitly: If you're just standing there at the base of a set of dunes that can sing, and there's nobody ON the dunes moving things around, can they sing? Or do you need people to be on the dunes scooting, moving the sand, for the singing (booming) to happen? Or does either way work, but scooting is the only way for a person to CAUSE it to happen when it isn't naturally happening?

[@mimischiffman626]

Sand avalanches occur on their own when the conditions are right. The wind will cause them to occur periodically. If they aren't happening naturally and you want to hear the booming while you're at the dunes you can initiate the avalanche. That's what we did with Dr. Hunt and her students!

[@bohdaicitta]

a diagram/animation/chart or something visual aid regarding the dune structure and what's happening to generate the sound would have made this better. thanks.

[@katherinekinnaird4408]

That is awesome

[@naufalap]

I hope we can hear it in dune part 2

[@juddwestgate]

Great science

[@ziziroberts8041]

I watched a video of scientists sliding down dunes to activate the singing...

[@businesschicken8699]

These dunes, they sound like.... BEEEEEEEEEEEEES! BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESS!! ARAAAAAUGH! 😱

[@adbc8737]

Thanks! 🌀❤️🌀

[@dubfunk1886]

How cool would it sound to Sandboard down it?

[@joerig96]

Maybe just Sand Worm singing 😁

[@skybluskyblueify]

How wise it it to be out in 118F going up a giant hill? Was that just the hottest time of the day and the people climbed the hill when the temp was better?

[@Kedvespatikus]

It is not the heat that makes the desert dry. It is the low relative humidity in the air.

[@ginadisantis2684]

I saw on TV,awhile back,that there is a fish that lives in the sand. is that really true? can't remember where it was but it was deep in the sand.

[@kuukeli]

nice video again

[@dalicloud9]

Those five people slowly making their way down the dune also changed the shape of the dune. Sand is not a granite mountain. And, as stated, the sand at the top of the dune is the lightest and easiest sand to move. So find the “influential” dunes and manage them.

[@StudioHannah]

I was trying to listen to the singing dunes but there was MUSIC PLAYING OVER IT. Guys.

[@thetwopointslow]

If you look closely you can see rich spice beds at the base of these dunes

[@Lady8D]

Now I'm wondering if the same physics explanation would work for the ripples seen on a large lake on a super windy day...?

[@chasehicks7465]

Of course this is coming out with the new movie coming out

[@santoast24]

I dont know which Joe is my favorite Joe

[@ArchOfWinter]

Honey? Why do you have sands in your underwear? Eh... Science! Science? Sure...

[@kitemanmusic]

Does sand eventually become dust? If it was originally pebbles, they would need to be eroded by water.

[@mybackhurts7020]

I’ve heard the Kelso dunes but not Dumont

[@SureTadpoleYT]

The notes at 6:50 are F, A, G not Eb, F#, G.

[@erikklein7618]

Wouldn't this also explains shadow deserts? How deserts are always on the other side of large mountain chains.

[@srpenguinbr]

I think it's because the mountains block the clouds and prevent rain. Without rain, the sand and other debris from the mountain cannot be washed away

[@jameswest4819]

Dessert-ification can cause weight gain if a person cannot resist chocolate eclairs.

[@dominic2446]

can glaciers sing like sand dunes? after all, both have avalanches.

[@tlnn6598]

Why you’ll never go hungry in the desert….Because of all the ‘Sand-which-is-there’. 🥯 🥪

[@lozoft9]

Y'all really tried to ride the Dune: Part One SEO wave didn't ya?

[@Shaden0040]

You are forgetting South Africa and Australia, as well as the desert southwest in the US.

[@ddowd75]

And then we force out grad students to fill their shorts with sand. For science!

[@jorgea.garzav4650]

So, it works like orbital resonance in Saturn's sandy rings

[@tammyl3726]

🥰🥰🥰🥰

[@jasonbieber6037]

The sandworms. Duh.

[@donfields1234]

Anytime i hear of harmonic resonations i think of tacoma narrows bridge collapse, big engineering oops. Doooough

[@WanderTheNomad]

Divert the path of dunes |specific and| protect the people downstream Divert the path of dunes |so that we can| protect the people downstream

[@WanderTheNomad]

|It's just| that we can protect livelihoods of people |Such| that we can protect livelihoods of people

[@DoctaOsiris]

I prefer dessertification 🍰 😋 🤤

[@LazloVimes]

Sounds like a didgeridoo to me.

[@alimirza2320]

Speed

[@SolaceEasy]

Science-y more than science. Misstatements: many.

[@idraote]

We are preparing such a mess of an Earth for future generations... but if we're not careful that mess will bite our *** too...

[@agm2726]

could you add non white references to the videos, like what the people in chile thought about the dunes.

[@thesilentone4024]

Yep sand and wind can make weird things. Question can we do a video on farms and how much water they wast and how much co2 it makes even without animals. Why farms use so many chemicals and fertilizers that co2 just gets dumped out into the atmosphere and the runoff is killing all wild life birds fish soil life and its killing water quality and reducing o2 in water.

[@markfaulk8936]

Holes

[@PatriX82]

Sand acts like a gas? Ô_o ... ryl?

[@PatriX82]

that script is just bad - "Dunes are a life but not quiet" Dafuq? Sand is definitely not alife. Why PBS?

[@majoroldladyakamom6948]

@@PatriX82 It's also not aliVe... Thanks for the grammatical giggle. 🤣

[@PatriX82]

@@majoroldladyakamom6948 lol... I'm not a native speaker.

[@windioktavia6394]

Hallo..I'm windi oktavia from shandhika widya cinema the keajaiban dunia program Net TV. Want to ask for this account video and permission to play the net TV kejaiaban dunia program, and then we'll include a source/credit title with this account name, thank you

[@nottsork]

tip when listening to BOOMING DUNES , you may want to MUTE YOU BACKGROUND MUSIC ... EDITOR , im sure that dunes , dont actually play pan pipes

[@alejandrasolorzano8849]

One like it's not enough

[@donfields1234]

Sounds like the australian aborigines instrument, don't recall name at moment... digeree do maybe sp?

[@imogens7281]

Didgeridoo

[@mjisabelle18]

Is it because of Shai Hulud?

[@101doreen]

Can anyone just play the sound without any other noise for a good 10 seconds? I'd love to hear it, but every video is clouded with noise.

[@binkietheclown]

Shia Halud! Praise to the Great Shatan!

[@cheeseburger5381]

So u play music over the sound

[@MathPhilosophyLab]

The complexity theory of consciousness could possibly explain it... in which any system that is sufficiently 'complex' (like lots of sand grains) becomes 'conscious' (even if it's rudimentary like basic harmonic tones.. the tones could be an expression of a primordial basic awareness once the conditions are right)... After all silica is the basis of information processing as we know it in computers. 👾❄️🥳 It would also jive well with the mineral and Crystal 'origin of life' camp... In which life itself came from rocks and crystals...

[@euclois]

what singing dunes? i only hear you talking over it

[@nyxaye]

if we divert dunes to avoid populations of humans.. wont they likely be diverted into animal habitats? we all connected

[@peterrose5373]

Seems like if you're doing a video about singing sand dunes, you could dispense with the stupid background music, for once.

[@lynnrolaf7422]

Before the experts explanation, I'm going to guess that it comes from the space between grains of sand. Wind and small spaces create sound.

[@lalac1577]

God is good. All the remarkable gifts he gives us.