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The Art of Soil - Orion Magazine
Soil scientist Karen Vaughan turns dirt into watercolor paint, then makes nature-inspired art that helps people notice soil and think about environmental change and hope.
Society of Soil Judgers (@soiljudgers) • Instagram photos and videos
oday we call areas like this “Badlands.” “Badlands are a type of dry terrain where softer sedimentary rocks and clay-rich soils have been extensively eroded by wind and water. They are characterized by steep slopes, minimal vegetation, lack of a substantial regolith, and high drainage density. The term ‘badlands’ is derived from the Lakota phrase ‘mako sica’ or ‘land bad.’”
Soil (@soil4thesoul) • Instagram photo
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Ti racconto che… la terra è vita
(CURIOSOIL) | ARPAE reports a lively online “World Soil Day” meet-up: 9 schools and 180 students shared stories gathered from grandparents, linking soil to everyday life, traditions and farming—ending with a promise to care for it.
Nature Is Speaking – Edward Norton is The Soil | Conservation International (CI)
Edward Norton voices “the Soil,” reminding us we depend on it for life, food and clean water. Treating it like dirt—eroding, poisoning, paving—hurts us first, not nature.
The Science of Soil Health: Going Deeper
Don’t stop at the top 20 cm—there’s water and nutrients deeper down, but a dense plow-pan/compaction layer can block roots; manage soil to open it up.
What is Soil Health? | What is Soil Quality? | We Explain the Similarities and Differences
Quick explainer: soil quality is how well soil does a job (like growing crops); soil health is the bigger picture—living, resilient soil that keeps working over time.
Editorial - Cheterrapesti #100
Cheterrapesti – The Earth Beneath Your Feet has reached issue #100. Born in June 2012, the newsletter has changed its look more than once and, admittedly, it has not always kept a perfect schedule. Yet its original spirit has remained intact: to speak about the world of soils and sustainability,
CURIOSOIL - Updates & Events
CURIOSOIL’s “Updates & Events” page lists upcoming meetings and conferences plus recent project news and newsletters—so you can quickly see what’s next, what just happened, and how to stay involved.
Soil Matters: CURIOSOIL’s newsletter #8
CURIOSOIL’s newsletter launches the 2026 “Women Root for Soil” campaign, marks the end of its 2025 “Decolonising Soil” series, invites to the CoP winter meeting, and calls educators to co-create a Soil Curiosity Kit.
Vision for Agriculture and Food | Future-proofing EU Agri-Food through research and innovation
The EU’s “Vision for Agriculture and Food” is a roadmap to keep farming attractive and competitive while cutting red tape, supporting fair farmer incomes, boosting innovation/digital tools, and protecting soils, water and biodiversity.
Harnessing the superpowers of the most resilient life form on Earth
Tardigrades can “pause” life to survive heat, cold, radiation and drying. Researchers want to copy their tricks to protect vaccines, organs and crops—and maybe help long space missions.
SCIENCE-DIALOG MANAGER at University of Tübingen in Tübingen, GERMANY
University of Tübingen seeks a half-time Science-Dialog Manager for the TERRA excellence cluster: build networks, run Earth-system events, contribute to IPCC/IPBES-style syntheses, and support public engagement.
SENIOR SCIENTIST SPATIAL SUSTAINABILITY AND DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION HUB at University of Vienna in Vienna, AUSTRIA
University of Vienna is hiring a Senior Scientist to run a new “Spatial Sustainability and Digital Transformations Hub”: coordinate cross-group research, lead big grant proposals, support teaching integration, and drive outreach/science communication.
Researcher in modelling of Soil-Plant-Atmosphere (SPAC) Water for the Efficient Use of Water in Agriculture Program - IRTA
IRTA (Lleida, Spain) is hiring a researcher to build crop “water-and-carbon” models for orchards and vineyards, linking field experiments with modelling to improve irrigation decisions, tools and sustainable yields.
An analysis of Sustainable Development Goals in Italian cities: Performance measurements and policy implications
Study ranks 103 Italian cities on 45 SDG indicators, showing big north–south gaps. It suggests targeted local policies and monitoring to improve weaker areas’ sustainability.
Economic dynamics of the Italian agricultural land structure
Using 2010–2020 census data, it shows Italian farms are consolidating: agritourism and solar panels help farms grow, while gaps persist—especially for young and female managers.
GIS-based multicriteria land suitability assessment for nature-based solutions for the enhancement of carbon sequestration in Emilia-Romagna, Italy
The study builds a GIS scoring map for Emilia-Romagna to show where nature-based actions capture the most carbon—street trees in cities, new green spaces, and farm buffer strips—mainly near urban areas and the coast.
Healthy soils as a booster to EU competitiveness
EU soils are in bad shape—over 60% unhealthy—costing >€50bn a year. It argues soil-friendly businesses (cleanup, carbon farming, regen ag, agritech) could boost competitiveness if policy speeds up.
Impacts of soil de-sealing practices on urban land-uses, soil functions and ecosystem services in French cities
Survey of 57 French de-sealing projects: most remove asphalt to add green space, handle stormwater and cool cities, often importing new soil; reusing on-site materials cuts costs and waste.
Territorial mapping of soil type and land cover influence on ecosystem services
Study repurposes the Destisol tool for rural landscapes, grouping 85 soil profiles into eight soil types and mapping nine soil benefits, showing land cover and depth/texture strongly shape services.
Climate adaptation in urban space: the need for a transdisciplinary approach
The paper says cities can’t adapt to climate change with engineering alone. Combine architects, social innovators and ecologists, use nature-based solutions and co-design, and consider sounds, smells and wildlife needs.
A comprehensive review of the soil health status for enhancing agricultural sustainability
Review argues healthy soils are key for sustainable farming. It spotlights India’s Soil Health Card program: soil tests plus tailored advice that raised yields ~5–6% and cut fertiliser ~8–10%.
The soil microbiome as an indicator of ecosystem multifunctionality in European soils
Across 484 European soils, researchers found soil “all-round” performance is best in grasslands/woodlands and humid regions. Soil properties lead, but microbe communities add clues, especially in clay and drier soils.
China and Mongolia are battling to control massive dust storms
Northern China’s dust storms often originate in Mongolia, worsened by warming, drying and land degradation. China offers “Great Green Wall” techniques, but Mongolia’s nomadic rangelands resist fencing-style controls.
Representing soil landscapes from digital soil mapping products – helping the map to speak for itself
Soil maps are useful for many applications, e.g., hydrology, agriculture, ecology, and civil engineering. The dominant mapping method is Digital Soil Mapping (DSM), which uses training observations and machine-learning to predict per-pixel. Accuracy is assessed by statistical evaluation at known points, but soils occur in spatial patterns. We present methods for helping the map to "speak for itself" to reveal patterns of the soil landscape.
Spatial hotspots and bundles of soil functions across Europe
-Soil multifunctionality hotspots are rare and scattered across European croplands and grasslands. -Grasslands do not consistently outperform croplands in soil function supply across Europe. -Five distinct soil function bundles reflect regional trade-offs and synergies. -Pedological constraints seem to limit multifunctionality despite favourable land management. -Linking soil function supply to stakeholder demand will require negotiation on targeted bundles.
Urban natives: Plants evolve to live in cities
In Japan’s Osaka–Kyoto–Kobe megacity, an everyday weed has quickly adapted to city life. Plants in parks, roadsides and paddies grow and flower differently, shaped by heat, shade and soil.
Turning everyday cameras into crop analysis tools
Researchers show regular RGB photos (even from phones) can be “translated” with machine learning into richer spectral data, helping farmers cheaply estimate sweet potato quality and maize chlorophyll without expensive sensors.