Buried Underpants and Tea Bags Help Scientists Evaluate Soil
Swiss citizens are burying cotton underpants and tea bags in their gardens and fields to help
scientists assess the quality of soil in the Alpine nation.
1. Bury underpants and tea bags in your garden? Why not, thought scientist Marcel van der
Heijden of the University of Zurich. It may sound odd, but Swiss citizens are burying cotton
underwear and tea bags in their gardens, yards and fields to help researchers evaluate the quality
of soil in the Alpine nation. A joint venture of the University of Zurich and the Swiss federal
research institute Agroscope, “Proof By Underpants” is enlisting private gardeners, farmers and
other interested citizens, who bury cotton underpants throughout Switzerland, dig them up after
two months and photograph what is left. “The more degraded the underpants, the more active the
soil life and the healthier the soil,” according an online description of the project. “This
experiment will show whether the decomposition of cotton fabric by soil organisms is a suitable
indicator for soil life activity.”

2. Launched last year, the experiment comes against the backdrop of deteriorating soil quality in
many parts of the world due to erosion, construction, pesticides and drought. In mountainous
Switzerland, erosion is a particularly acute problem. “There are many issues linked to soil which
are very important for society,” van der Heijden said in an interview in his small office,
surrounded by folders, sheets and plants. “For instance, in Switzerland it is very hilly and
consequently there is a lot of erosion. It is important to have good soil structure to grow crops
and filter the water. Ninety-nine percent of our food production depends on soil.”

3. By enlisting citizens, researchers can cover the whole of Switzerland. The citizen science
project offers the advantage of informing participants of the state of their soil while providing the
scientists with data capturing variations across the country. Van der Heijden said the cheeky
approach of using underpants — What could be more common in households? — attracts
participants who might otherwise find the subject matter, well, just black and dirty, whereas soil
is CRITICAL for our survival.

4. Using high-tech equipment, scientists can examine soil to see if it is rich in nutrients and
bacteria. But it is time-consuming and expensive for them to collect samples across an entire
country. By enlisting citizens, the researchers extend their reach. “Everyone has a different way
of digging in their underpants, which leads to variation of the data, but without this huge

collaboration, the largest of its kind in Switzerland so far, we would never have been able to
measure the ground of the whole of Switzerland in a useful time,” van der Heijden said.

5. Cotton in underpants is biodegradable and made up of cellulose, which is devoured by
bacteria, fungi, insects, worms and other creatures in the soil. The more micro-organisms, the
quicker the slip disappears. Once the recommended type of tea — Lipton green tea or Rooibos, a
South African herbal tea — is buried 8 centimeters in the ground, it starts to decompose. The
more active the soil, the more the tea in the unused plastic tea bags DECAYS. Scientists are
using data from the Swiss experiment and elsewhere in the world to compile a Teabag Index and
draw a global soil map that can be used to improve global climate models.

Questions 1-4
Complete the summary below by choosing the correct letter, A–F.

To 1 ________ researchers in assessing the soil quality in the Alpine nation, private gardeners, 2
________ , and other interested Swiss individuals are burying cotton underpants and tea bags in
their gardens, yards, and fields. After 3 ________ , they remove the underwear from the ground
and take a photo of the leftover, which helps to demonstrate how active and 4 ________ the soil
is.
A. two months
B. healthy
C. farmers
D. citizens
E. a year
F. assist

Questions 5-10
Read the passage carefully and choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

5. What is the main idea of the first paragraph?
A. the usefulness of Swiss citizens’ assistance in the project
B. scientists’ interest in studying soil
C. the cooperation of scientists and the government
D. the use of tea bags and underpants to assess soil quality

6. "Proof By Underpants," is a collaborative project by________
A. the University of Zurich and the Swiss federal research institute Agroscope.
B. the University of Zurich, the Swiss federal research institute Agroscope, and Swiss citizens.
C. the University of Zurich and Swiss citizens.
D. all citizens in the Alpine nation.

7. According to the passage, all of the following issues are the reasons for declining soil quality
in many parts of the world EXCEPT________.
A. drought
B. erosion
C. pesticides
D. fertilizers

8. What does the word “CRITICAL” mean?
A. trivial
B. crucial
C. incidental
D. functional

The summary below can be completed by choosing the correct letter, A–F as follows:

1. F. assist

2.C. farmers

3. A. two months

4. B. healthy

The answers for the blanks in questions 5 to 10 will be:

5. D. The use of tea bags and underpants to assess soil quality.

6. A. the University of Zurich and the Swiss federal research institute Agroscope.

7. D. fertilizers

8. B. Crucial

To complete the blanks, you need to understand the context of the passage. The passage tells of a project that is embarked upon by the University of Zurich and the Swiss Federal Institute.

Citizens, scientists, and farmers are part of this project and their goal is to take a picture after two months of burying the underpants. After reading the text, you can fill in the blank.

Learn more about filling in the blanks here:

https://brainly.com/question/28802885

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