TOTTORI -- Scientists are now busy working in a gigantic new glass dome at the famous Tottori Sand Dunes, which silently covers a 16-km stretch of the Sea of Japan coast.
The glass dome, 15 meters high and 36 meters in diameter, and supported by metal framing, is an imposing sight. Inside is a 1,000-sq.-meter experimental space for scientists, where desert plants -- the first such foliage in the dome -- were added at the end of last month.
Why was the dome erected? Researchers at the facility say it was built to study ways to fight the spread of desertification, which could threaten the future of the growing global population.