Sensational title.
On straw checkerboards laid across northwest China, a dark film spread over treated sand and stayed after seasonal dust storms. [...] In trials near the Taklamakan Desert in Xinjiang in northwest China, CAS teams saw crusts stabilize sand within 10 to 16 months.
So they treated the sand with a microbial sludge and it did not blow away.
Later in the article ...
Even in the best cases, that still meant waiting two to three years for a mature crust that resists disturbance.
It's great that people are researching techniques to increase arable land, but this article is pretty trashy.
