ZURICH, Aug. 31 -- When 1,000 Swiss volunteers buried more than 2,000 pairs of cotton underwear across the country, they were not simply giving their old briefs a second life - they were helping scientists investigate a problem threatening food supplies and biodiversity worldwide.

More than half of the world's soils are in poor condition, according to a United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation report released on August 27, with erosion, nutrient mismanagement and declining biodiversity among the major threats.

The Swiss experiment offered a decidedly more hands-on way of examining what is happening beneath our feet, according to the findings reported last week by UZH News, the official news and media platform of the University o...