In the multicellular soil bacterium Streptomyces coelicolor, some cells start producing lots of antibiotics after mutations delete big chunks of their genomes. Now a computer model has helped to ...

Soils lose moisture quickly during droughts because the molecular interactions that help retain water are not fully understood. Understanding this mechanism can help engineer soils to better preserve ...

Marriage of the mineral world and the organic world: Introduction: How soil forms from rocks and weather -- Plant roots and their bacterial partners -- Plant roots and their fungal partners -- Where ...

Manures, organic residuals (e.g., biosolids, food processing wastes), and many commercial fertilizers available to producers contain nitrogen (N). Nitrogen is an important plant nutrient that is often ...

We know that soil feeds plants, but do we know how it got there in the first place? Soil forms via the interaction of five factors: parent material, climate, living beings, a land’s topography, and a ...

You can learn a lot about your soil by simply running it through your fingers. Healthy soil is the key to growing a beautiful and thriving garden. Building and nourishing the soil begins with getting ...