2,000 Pairs of Buried Underwear Helped Measure Soil Health in This Unusual Experiment

Swiss researchers used 2,000 pairs of buried cotton underwear as a citizen science experiment to gauge soil health across the country. Participants buried the underwear at 1,000 locations and later retrieved, photographed and sent them to a lab for analysis. The decomposition rate of the underwear, which is primarily made of cellulose, signaled the biological activity of the soil.

Private gardens had the fastest decomposition, while lawns had the slowest. The study highlights the importance of healthy soil for ecosystem services and food production, and shows how citizen science can map an often overlooked world.