About a thousand volunteers buried 2,000 pairs of cotton underwear and 12,000 tea bags in the ground. No, this is not a mass campaign by laundries or a modern performance. This is how scientists at the University of Zurich and the Agroscope research center decided to test how active life is in the soil.
The logic is simple: the more active soil microorganisms are, the faster cotton breaks down. After two months, the fabric had lost about 58% of its original area in private gardens and 40% on lawns. The reason may be maintenance: regular mowing, low plant diversity, and herbicide use can affect soil life.
This simple test makes it possible to compare many sites without expensive laboratory studies. Of course, underwear cannot replace a full soil analysis, but it can help reveal interesting differences. Cotton briefs have unexpectedly taken on a second profession — inspector of underground life.
