A broad diversity of biological organisms and systems interact with soil in ways that facilitate
their growth and survival. These interactions are made possible by strategies that enable …

Polychaetes are common in most marine habitats and dominate many infaunal communities.
Functional guild classification based on taxonomic identity and morphology has linked …

Hydrogels have been developed since the 1960s for applications in personal care,
medicine, and engineering. Evidence has accumulated that hydrogels under prolonged …

Robotic locomotion in subterranean environments is still unsolved, and it requires innovative
designs and strategies to overcome the challenges of burrowing and moving in unstructured …

Root elongation in drying soil is generally limited by a combination of mechanical
impedance and water stress. Relationships between root elongation rate, water stress …

Benthic O2 availability regulates many important biogeochemical processes and has crucial
implications for the biology and ecology of benthic communities. Further, the benthic O2 …

Bioturbation refers to the biological reworking of soils and sediments, and its importance for
soil processes and geomorphology was first realised by Charles Darwin, who devoted his …

Analysis of Neandertal DNA holds great potential for investigating the population history of
this group of hominins, but progress has been limited due to the rarity of samples and …

The desert-dwelling sandfish (Scincus scincus) moves within dry sand, a material that
displays solid and fluidlike behavior. High-speed x-ray imaging shows that below the …

The present paper is the result of a workshop sponsored by the DFG Research
Center/Cluster of Excellence MARUM" The Ocean in the Earth System", the International …