As red earth gave way to gray and what looked like a shoreline, veins of a powdery white mineral appeared in the ground.

NEWYORKER: The Martian Chroniclers

On September 25, the woman had contact with a letter or package with a white powdery substance and began experiencing symptoms of cutaneous anthrax three days later.

CNN: Cutaneous anthrax most common, most survived

The original Oscar and its attendant bath products have received updated and far finer packaging, and last spring, just in time for Mother's Day, a fresher, less powdery spin-off called Esprit d'Oscar was introduced.

WSJ: Oscar de la Renta's Next Big Act

Milan-based interior designer Ilaria Miani styled their rooms in a palette of deep reds, powdery lavender and asparagus green, installing Italian-made furnishings, kitchens and wine cellars.

WSJ: The Rebirth of a Tiny Town in Tuscany: The Renaissance Returns

The powdery lignin, once separated from the cellulose, is a very useful substance in its own right.

FORBES: Ethanol

Utah is blessed with powdery snow that is slippery without being particularly wet, a resource that it shares with very few other places.

ECONOMIST: Lexington

Using that information, her imagination, and powdery material she described as similar to sand and glue, she constructs a face and brings it into being with a three-dimensional printer.

WSJ: Art Emerges from DNA Left Behind