Writer Sara Maitland conjures with a rock of ages, Lewisian gneiss. Two-thirds the age of the earth, it began its journey where Antarctica is today and makes up parts of Scotland. Show more
Writer Esther Woolfson contrasts the solidity of Aberdeen, the 'Granite City', with the decline of the North Sea oil industry, on which its economy has so relied since the 1970s. Show more
Artist and archaeologist Rose Ferraby gets to grips with gypsum. The key constituent of plaster, gypsum covers the walls around us. Highly soluble, it causes sinkholes in Ripon. Show more
Poet Fiona Hamilton considers the different states of clay, before and after it's baked hard, reflecting how clay deposits were left behind by the last Ice Age. Show more
