Soil
Soil science: Healing our planet’s ills from the ground up
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Under our feet and ubiquitous, lowly soil can be easily overlooked when it comes to addressing climate change and population growth. But in the January-February issue of the Soil Science Society of America Journal, a team …
Hitchhiking Bacteria could compromise the detection of life on Mars
Is there life on Mars? It’s possible, but it may not Martian, say scientists. New research, published in the open access journal BMC Microbiology, suggests that conditions on Mars are capable of supporting dormant bacteria, known as endospores. This raises concern about future attempts to detect Martian life forms because endospores originating on Earth could potentially hitch a ride to Mars and survive on its surface.