‘Smart pebbles’ will help track coastal erosion in Ireland

The smart pebbles project, part of the €10m European-wide project Score, funded by the European Commission, will see students release them into the vicinity and track their movements. Picture: Denis Minihane

We are all familiar with smartphones, watches, and fridges — now smart pebbles are a thing, as students embark on an experiment to examine the impacts of coastal erosion in Ireland.

Some 300 pebbles have been equipped with tags and readers as a number of schoolchildren assist scientists in tracking coastal erosion at Killiney Beach in Dublin and Raghly Beach in Sligo over the coming months.