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23rd World Congress of Soil Science 2026: Connecting Science to Policy in Nanjing
Earlier this month, the global soil science community converged on the Nanjing International Expo Centre for the 23rd World Congress of Soil Science (WCSS). Hailed as the “Olympics of Soil Science”, this marks the first time in the event’s nearly 100-year history that...
Rethink Soil Benchmarking
Soil does not have a universal benchmark Soil is often treated as if it can be compared using a single benchmark. In practice, this does not work well. Soil form under very different combinations of climate, landscape, biology and geology. What looks like a healthy or...
How Spectroscopy Secures Soils Assessing Soil Capacity (Quality) and Condition (Health)
Photo of Ho Jun Hang from The University of Sydney Soil is far more than just "dirt." It is a living ecosystem critical for food security, water security, and climate regulation. However, traditional laboratory soil analysis is often slow, expensive, and...
Woven from the Ground: What Natural Fibres Owe to Soil
In the cotton landscapes of Narrabri, the connection between fibre and soil comes sharply into view. Photo by Daniel Park. Natural fibres are often celebrated for their beauty, versatility and environmental promise. Cotton, linen, hemp and wool are regularly presented...
The Ghost in the Machine: How an Ancient Ocean Rewrote Australian Law
On January 23, 1830, Charles Sturt reached the junction of the Murray and Darling rivers in south-western New South Wales. For the British Empire, it was a cartographic success. For Sturt, it carried a familiar bitter taste. A year earlier, further north, he had found...
The Day the River Turned Blue: How a Coastal Disaster Forced Soil into Planning Law
In 1987, part of the Tweed River turned an eerie, crystalline blue. It was the wrong kind of beauty. Fish died. The water cleared not because the river was cleaner, but because chemistry had shifted so drastically that dissolved aluminium acted as a coagulant,...
