You may have a vague understanding that cowries were once used as currency in ancient times. You might even associate cowrie shells with the Western culture in Nigeria, particularly among the Yorubas.

On many coastlines around the world, piles of discarded oyster and mussel shells are a common sight — the leftovers of a global seafood industry that produces millions of tonnes of waste each year. At ...

You can see it in the logarithmic whorl of a nautilus. The milky iridescence of an abalone. The spiked turret of a queen conch. Precision, elegance, strength. The seashell is a consonance of form and ...