Tropical forest seeds use three strategies to survive

The oldest living seeds found on Earth germinated after resting more than 30,000 years in Arctic soils. But in the humid tropics, seeds do not last. "A long-lived seed in the tropics is probably only a few decades old. This ...

A bacterial powder for quickly stabilizing gravel surfaces

EPFL's Laboratory of Soil Mechanics has developed an easily reproducible technique using bacteria and urea to reinforce sandy or gravelly terrain. A series of chemical reactions lead to the rapid formation of mineral crystals ...

Researchers create first global map of water in Moon's soil

In research that may prove useful to future lunar explorers, scientists from Brown University have created the first quantitative map of water and its chemical building blocks trapped in the uppermost portion of the Moon's ...

Can pollution help trees fight infection?

Trees that can tolerate soil pollution are also better at defending themselves against pests and pathogens. "It looks like the very act of tolerating chemical pollution may give trees an advantage from biological invasion", ...

Spicy plant cuts the mustard as nerve gas fighter

The white mustard plant, having added spice to our lives for centuries, may soon be put to a very different use—in the fight against chemical weapons, scientists said Wednesday.

Soil production breaks geologic speed record

Geologic time is shorthand for slow-paced. But new measurements from steep mountaintops in New Zealand show that rock can transform into soil more than twice as fast as previously believed possible.

Loss of biodiversity limits toxin degradation

You might not think of microbes when you consider biodiversity, but it turns out that even a moderate loss of less than 5% of soil microbes may compromise some key ecosystem functions and could lead to lower degradation of ...

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