  We briefly review the basics ideas and results of a recently proposed
statistical mechanical approach to granular materials. Using lattice models
from standard Statistical Mechanics and results from a mean field replica
approach and Monte Carlo simulations we find a jamming transition in granular
media closely related to the glass transition in super-cooled liquids. These
models reproduce the logarithmic relaxation in granular compaction and
reversible-irreversible lines, in agreement with experimental data. The models
also exhibit aging effects and breakdown of the usual fluctuation dissipation
relation. It is shown that the glass transition may be responsible for the
logarithmic relaxation and may be related to the cooperative effects underlying
many phenomena of granular materials such as the Reynolds transition.
