Soils, biofilms, skin, lungs, and the human gut all have a microbiome—the complex of microorganisms that supports life, confers immunity, and sometimes gives pathogens an edge. To learn more, click on the location to watch a 360-degree video. Within the tour, click and hold an arrow located in the upper-left corner to pan the surroundings.
Microbes are exquisite chemists that catalyze thousands of reactions happening in nature. Learning to harness these processes is vital to building a sustainable economy, environmental security, and energy independence.
As environments change, so do populations of millions of microbes that live in the soil. Researchers extract DNA from samples to understand this change—like a census for soil.
Soil breathes. Or more precisely, the millions of microbes living in the soil do. In this process, they exhale carbon dioxide and nourish the ground. Researchers sift samples of soil to prepare them for analysis.
