SoilTalks

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• Soil Care Network has launched a new and unique series of soil panel discussions - SoilTalks! In collaboration with uksoils.org, we will be bringing you a new talk every month, inviting a diverse group of speakers to engage on a hot soil topic. To watch the recording of the first SoilTalk, and to register for future ones, go to soilcarenetwork.com/soiltalks

 

Soil Research

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• An interesting paper examining the impact that excluding anthropogenic soils from soil taxonomies has on soil science’s capacity to conceptualise human participation in soil processes

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Soil videos, podcasts & survey

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• Need some more audio entertainment? Check out this ‘Life in the Soil’ podcast

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• This inspiring 38 minute film, called from the ground up, shares the experience of five commercial farmers from the Cambridgeshire region on how they are adapting their farming practices to help cut carbon and double nature

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• Want to help out? Check out the #30minworms survey and discover the life beneath your feet: https://nota.zone/30MinWorms/ 

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• How to engage with soils? A new toolkit is out to ensure you remain grounded and offers ways on how to protect and restore soils.

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• Following the food - how to bring life to dying soils in this BBC story map with photos and videos on the rise of regenerative agriculture

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• Want something relaxing and interesting? Check this time-lapse video of the germination of pine seeds followed by a dive below the surface to see how ectomycorrhizae grow in the form of short branching white roots.

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• Check out this soil CARTOON about living in the soil and the adventures of all kinds of soil creatures.

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Soil heritage & identity

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• How the loss of soil is sacrificing America’s Natural Heritage. “A new study points to a stunning loss of topsoil in the Corn Belt — the result of farming practices that have depleted this once fertile ground. Beyond diminished agricultural productivity and more carbon in the atmosphere, it is a catastrophic loss of an irreplaceable resource.”

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• 8th of March was international Women’s day - for this occasion the Soil System Sciences (SSS) Division of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) wrote a blog on gender equity in soil science. 

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• Still radioactive soils, 10 years after the Fukushima disaster as illustrated in this National Geographic article, including long term effects on agronomy.

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• Love wine? Check out the ‘Monumental’ Role Soil Microbes Play in Wine

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Soil & Climate Change

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• The role of soil carbon in decreasing Australia’s emissions. A feasible response to the climate crisis?

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• Dig this: a tiny echidna moves 8 trailer-loads of soil a year, helping tackle climate change.

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• This article in the Guardian explains how “One of Earth’s giant carbon sinks - soils - may have been overestimated”

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Soil nutrients & chemicals

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• A common soil pesticide cut wild bee reproduction by 89% – here’s why scientists are worried

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• Nitrogen fixing legume trees support tropical forest growth by releasing nutrients from ancient soils through enhanced mineral weathering.

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• New function for an existing tool: Observing the Sun via Soil Moisture Measurements