When snow blankets the landscape, it may seem like life slows down. But beneath the surface, an entire world of activity is ...

Red earthworm with roots in garden soil. Science is only beginning to understand soil-dwelling microbes — and their symbiotic relationship in plants. An entire world exists underground, inhabited by ...

In a multi-generation experiment, researchers found microbes helped plants cope with drought, but not in response to plants' cries for help. Instead, the environment itself selected for ...

SOIL SUPERHEROES: Beans, peas and other plants in the same family grow nodules on their roots that allow them to partner with soil-borne bacteria to turn atmospheric nitrogen into plant-available ...

Harnessing the power of artificial intelligence to study plant microbiomes—communities of microbes living in and around ...

"Like any good animal, we sense the change of seasons through a hundred subtle clues. Leaves change and shed, becoming crispy ...

Salt, microplastics, and rising temperatures are silently degrading urban soil health, and weakening the resilience of cities ...

Future missions to the Moon could see astronauts growing the first plants on the lunar surface. But, getting lunar soil to grow plants has been a tricky process. Scientists may have finally had a ...

URBANA, Ill. — There’s a complex world beneath our feet, teeming with diverse and interdependent life. Plants call out with chemical signals in times of stress, summoning microbes that can unlock ...

New research from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign challenges conventional wisdom to show free-living soil microbes are just looking out for themselves. In a multi-generation experiment, ...