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 ...

Scientists know iron oxide minerals store large amounts of carbon in soils, but lack a detailed, quantitative understanding of the specific chemical mechanisms that allow them to bind such a wide ...

In certain trees, soils can form along branches and can support varied plant and animal life. However, what conditions these ‘canopy soils’ form in, and what kind of biodiversity they support, has ...

Our soils are in trouble. Over the past century, we’ve abused them with plowing, tilling and too much fertilizer. What many think of as “just dirt” is actually an incredibly complex mixture of ...