Sensational title.

On straw checkerboards laid across northwest China, a dark film spread over treated sand and stayed after seasonal dust storms. [...] In trials near the Taklamakan Desert in Xinjiang in northwest China, CAS teams saw crusts stabilize sand within 10 to 16 months.

So they treated the sand with a microbial sludge and it did not blow away.

Later in the article ...

Even in the best cases, that still meant waiting two to three years for a mature crust that resists disturbance.

It's great that people are researching techniques to increase arable land, but this article is pretty trashy.

The secret is Uyghurs labor

Cool tech, but it still doesnt solve the much more pressing issue of procuring clean water and somehow transporting it to the freakin desert.