soil

Australia planted eucalyptus trees to fight rising soil salinity; decades later scientists found the plantations were changing groundwater but not the soil nature

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Australia planted eucalyptus trees to fight rising soil salinity; decades later scientists found the plantations were changing groundwater but not the soil nature

Eucalyptus cladocalyx ‘nana’. Image Credit: ERA Nurseries Australia planted eucalyptus trees to fight rising soil salinity, hoping that thirsty, deep-rooted vegetation could help control the groundwater processes behind the problem. A long-running experiment in south-western Australia later showed that the effects of such plantations were more complicated than simply planting trees and waiting for the … Read more

Meet Varshini Gandreddy, Dhiti Koyya and Raaga Bukkaraju, Texas students turning toxic Martian soil into fertile ground for astronauts

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Meet Varshini Gandreddy, Dhiti Koyya and Raaga Bukkaraju, Texas students turning toxic Martian soil into fertile ground for astronauts

Representative Image of astronauts converting Martian regolith into a growing medium for crops inside a Mars habitat (AI-generated image) Three Texas students have designed a system they believe could help future astronauts grow food on Mars using material already sitting on the planet’s surface. Varshini Gandreddy, Dhiti Koyya and Raaga Bukkaraju developed the project, called … Read more

A teaspoon of healthy soil contains more living organisms than there are humans on Earth, yet scientists say most species remain unknown

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A teaspoon of healthy soil contains more living organisms than there are humans on Earth, yet scientists say most species remain unknown

Beneath every footstep lies a world most of us will never see. A single teaspoon of soil, scooped from a healthy forest floor, holds more living organisms than there are humans on the planet, bacteria, fungi, protists and nematodes packed together in numbers that barely make sense on a human scale. Stranger still, the vast … Read more

In 1934, a gun club opened on 9.5 acres beside San Francisco’s Lake Merced; 81 years later it closed, contaminated soil was cleaned up and the lakeside land is now being opened for public recreation

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In 1934, a gun club opened on 9.5 acres beside San Francisco’s Lake Merced; 81 years later it closed, contaminated soil was cleaned up and the lakeside land is now being opened for public recreation

Aerial view of Lake Merced and surrounding coastal landscape San Francisco city officials have opened a search for private partners to redevelop a 9.5-acre lakeside property that was used as a private shooting range for more than 80 years. The move marks the final stage of a major environmental transformation along the western shore of … Read more

Taste the soil: London’s Edible Earth Museum invites visitors to taste soil from around the world

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Taste the soil: London's Edible Earth Museum invites visitors to taste soil from around the world

At first glance, it sounds like a gimmick, but in the heart of London, visitors are invited to do something surprisingly rooted in human history: taste the soil. The Edible Soil Museum, currently on display at Somerset House, brings together edible soil samples from around the world and transforms them into a sensory educational experience. … Read more

How India realized coffee could fight climate change

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How India realized coffee could fight climate change

In the traditional coffee-growing districts of Kodagu, Chikkamagaluru and Hassan in Karnataka, growers say the farming calendar no longer follows memory. Jacob Mammen, managing director of Badra Estates, said climate change was already affecting the cultivation of traditional coffee varieties such as Arabica and Robusta. The biggest challenge, he explained, comes from increasingly unpredictable weather … Read more