The city boasts an impressive array of ancient monuments and priceless artefacts, including its striking earthen mosques -- made from mud and wood -- and a vast trove of scholarly manuscripts held in public and private collections.

CNN: New fears for Timbuktu in Mali conflict

Alan, the great piano tuner, in his infinite but indirect wisdom, kept money market rates so low that the banks could arbitrage money and dig themselves out of their management-made mud slides.

FORBES: Why Korea rang my bell

The buildings, with a circular shape and a flat roof, were made of mud, sun-dried mudbricks and stone.

UNESCO: Choirokoitia

There is much more at stake than a handful of structures made of mud and wood -- as valuable as they are.

UNESCO: EDUCATION

But at a nearby school, we are shown what Calacharo says is the norm, a small cluster of putrid open-pit latrines made of mud bricks worn to mere shells by rain and lack of repair.

NPR: The Missed Education of African Girls

On Friday morning, the colonel returned to the staging area, where his staff had set up a forward command post -- a tent and a series of antennas in the compound yard of an abandoned three-room house with barrel-vault ceilings made of mud brick.

WSJ: Ahead of Marjah Offensive, Afghan Officials Sought to Negotiate With Taliban

In Eber, a village of about 1, 000 people, 15 people were crushed to death in houses made of sun-dried mud bricks and wood.

CNN: Turkish quake victims brave cold

And while these works may seem ephemeral - often made from sand and mud rather than canvas and paint, their creators clearly expect them to survive beyond the next exhibition, leaving detailed instructions of how to recreate the work, and often rebuilding it themselves (as Turner nominee Karla Black did last week with her powder and make-up creation on the floor of Tramway).

BBC: British Art Show 7 opens in Glasgow

It made its reputation as a rugged, mud-slinging, off-highway rally racer.

FORBES: New York Auto Show: Subaru Unveils The New Subaru WRX