As the breakers pull seawards and regain their crests, tiny vortices in the thinning water betray small holes in the packed sand, where mollusc and worm burrows tap the life-giving ood. Unseen microscopic cells are swirling around my ankles, providing sustenance for the reclusive excavators residing under my ephemeral footprints. e scattered evidence for a matrix of living protoplasm buried in...