A new study offers tantalizing evidence that filamentous fungi extending from roots, along with treated astronaut waste, could provide sufficient scaffolding to help plants grow in planetary regolith.
soils
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Lab Setup Mimics Arctic Erosion
The new methodology gave researchers valuable insights into why Arctic shorelines are crumbling.
Posted inNews
In Arctic Soils, Methane-Eating Microbes Just Might Win Out over Methane Makers
Methanotrophs, including those that capture methane from the air, seem to outcompete methanogens in dry environments, a new study shows.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Rising Temperature and Decreasing Snow Cover Increase Soil Breakdown
With climate change and rising temperatures, soil freeze-thaw – which is in turn causing soil breakdown – may counterintuitively increase in the hillslopes where snow cover is decreasing.
Posted inNews
Microplastics Have Widely Varying Effects on Soil
A new study finds that a microplastic concentration of just 0.4% alters the drainage of soil, which could affect the growth of crops and other plants.
Posted inNews
A medida que el Ártico se calienta, los suelos pierden nutrientes clave
El cambio climático calienta tanto el aire y el océano, como el suelo, donde los procesos clave que determinan la fertilidad y la captura de carbono operan en un delicado equilibrio.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
How Plant-Fungi Friendships Are Changing
A new framework shows how much carbon plants allocate to their endosymbionts and how that amount might change in the face of warming soil and rising carbon dioxide levels.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Chicago Soil Maps Childhood Lead Exposure Risk
Researchers combined soil measurements and public health data to identify areas where children may be exposed to unsafe levels of lead in the dirt.
Posted inScience Updates
Tracing Iron’s Invisible Transformations Just Beneath Our Feet
A new method that adds synthetic iron minerals to soils sheds light on hard-to-observe soil and sediment processes and may have a host of other applications in the Earth sciences and beyond.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
In the Arctic, Consequences of Heat Waves Linger
The aftermath of a historic 2020 heat wave could still be felt in Siberia a year later.