{
  "id": 19546486,
  "title": "When rain finally does come to drylands, only some microbes in the soil 'awaken'",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/11/when-rain-finally-does-come-to-drylands-only-some-microbes-in-the",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-11-11T20:20:01.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Phys.org",
    "slug": "phys-org",
    "url": "https://phys.org/news/2026-11-drylands-microbes-soil-awaken.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "In arid regions, the microbes that power threatened dryland soil ecosystems called biological soil crusts stay dormant over long periods, only \"awakening\" when they sense moisture from infrequent rainfall. Now, a team led by researchers at Penn State—driven by projections that those biocrusts will decline by as much as 40% in the next 45 years—found that when a dryland soil does get wet, most of…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}