TL;DR
Burying cotton underwear in the soil and measuring its decomposition rate reveals soil health effectively and engagingly.
Soil is alive, full of bacteria, fungi, and earthworms. They break down waste and produce nutrients, working behind the scenes to help plants grow. But how do you know if a patch of soil is in good shape?
Swiss ecologists came up with a quirky idea: have thousands of volunteers bury clean underwear in the ground.
Underwear as a litmus test
Researchers at the University of Zurich mailed over 1,000 people kits containing two pairs of clean underwear, 12 tea bags, and a small bag for soil samples. Participants dug holes in different locations, buried the underwear and tea bags, and waited 30 or 60 days before digging them up and mailing them back.
The researchers gauged soil activity by how much of the underwear had decomposed. After two months, underwear in private gardens averaged 58% decomposition, thanks to richer organic matter, while underwear in lawns averaged only 40%.
Land use shapes soil life
Land use stood out as the biggest factor in decomposition rates, with nutrient levels playing a secondary role. The researchers call this the 'underwear index', a simple and intuitive way to assess soil health and a great outreach tool.
And after their scientific duty was done, the moldy underwear was turned into a dress, proving science can be fashionable.
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