Why did 1,000 Swiss citizens bury their underpants?

Ars Technica reports that a thousand Swiss citizens buried cotton underpants in the ground for two months as part of a citizen science project to map soil health across Switzerland. The findings, published in the journal Plants People Planet, show that how soil is managed significantly affects both soil life and quality. Researchers say healthy, biologically active soil is crucial for fertility and nutrient cycling, and that soil health has been declining worldwide. The study is one of the few large-scale national decomposition efforts to examine different land use types.

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