There’s all this talk about our Soil Your Undies Challenge being a citizen science project, but how on earth can soiling undies be contributing valuable data to research?

Did you know that there are billions of tiny organisms in just one handful of soil? Some of these critters are called ‘decomposers’ because they eat dead plant and animal material for energy, breaking it down and returning nutrients to the soil for plants to use. We call this process decomposition. Decomposition is a sign of healthy soil because it indicates that nutrients and carbon are cycling through the soil.

Cotton is made of a sugar called cellulose and the tiny decomposers love to eat this, working together to break down the cellulose into smaller sugars they can use for energy. So, by using 100% cotton undies, we can explore how healthy our soils are by looking at how much of the undies are left after two months! If there’s not much left of the undies there is good biological activity, which indicates healthy soil.

By soiling your undies where you live or work, scientists are able to explore soil health around different parts of Australia, and use the data collected for other research projects surrounding soil health. So, become a citizen scientist and soil your undies with us! Registration closes this time next week (Friday the 25th) so get in quick!