A Penn State soil scientist has received a $1.6 million, five-year grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) to fund her team’s study of how increasing temperature fluctuations impact the biocrust microbiome — the complex, thin-layer microbe community that stabilizes soil, fixes nitrogen and drives nutrient cycling in drylands.

In an environment of radiation, extreme temperatures and razor-sharp dust, researchers are designing how humans will build, and ultimately survive, on the moon.

A new raptor-like dinosaur from some 70 million years ago that ate fish and behaved like modern herons has been unearthed from southern Patagonia.

Greenhouse cherry tomatoes are valued for their flavor, nutrition, and high market demand, but producing more fruit sustainably remains a challenge. One major obstacle is phosphorus, an essential nutrient that plants need for root development, flowering, and fruit production. Although greenhouse soils often contain large amounts of phosphorus from repeated fertilizer use, much of it becomes locked in forms that plants cannot easily absorb.

As cities expand underground through new roads, housing, tunnels, and infrastructure, huge volumes of soil are dug up, moved, and often left exposed at construction or storage sites. A new study published in Biochar suggests that these excavated soils may carry a largely overlooked climate cost.

There’s a conundrum that has perplexed biologists since Charles Darwin himself. Why do some exotic species take off as invasive pests while others don’t?