I read the following Soil health assessment using buried cotton underpants… with amused but limited interest. To me, it was a lot less interesting than the headlines made it sound. For one, they could have literally used *any piece of cloth* and gotten similar result. Writing the word “underpants” in the headlines probably made both the experiment as well as the reporting of it more sensational than it was. There is nothing unique about one’s underwear that makes it more suited for this experiment.
And, the underwear in question was not even “one’s underwear”. They were bought in bulk by those conducting the experiment and mailed to “citizens” who then did the act of burying them, excavating them, logging the results and sending the results back. In that sense, the citizens were more of data-collectors rather than scientists. At the risk of sounding like a hair-splitting pedant, this mislabeling continues to remain my pet peeve about “citizen science” (note the double-quotes").
Soil, of course, is one of the most vital resources for our life as we know it, so anything that makes use not treat it like dirt is positive.
Note to self: consider acquiring organic cotton underwear for once
