Next time you're at the beach, take a look around: You may spy a mermaid with long, tangled hair or a dragon with pointy ears and flared nostrils.

You want an actual sand castle. Bring along the right materials: a 5-gallon bucket, trowel, shovel, spray bottle and a few different-sized cups (from 8 to 32 ounces).

We've all been there, on the beach, looking at our sad, wet, dilapidated sand castle and wondering what went wrong. Science has the answer, of course. New research suggests that the less water you ...