 to listen to the noise worms make. The scientists say the sounds generated in soil can be recorded, measured and used to evaluate soil condition. The work is a collaboration between the University of Warwick Crop Centre and Baker Consultants Ltd, which has been awarded a £250,000 grant from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to undertake the two-year research project investigating the feasibility of using the technology for monitoring soil health. 'The more noise that is in the soil, the more healthy it is likely to be,' Dr Jacqueline Stroud, a soil scientist at the University of Warwick, told the Sunday Telegraph. 'Different types of worms make different types of noise. This can be heard as they move through the soil which we can use to detect them and work out which type of worm they are. 'Whenever I visit farmers to help them assess the healthiness of their soil I ask them to dig a spade sample – 20cm by 20cm by 20cm – and check they have the three different types of worm in there: the surface dwellers, the horizontal burrowers and the deep burrowers. That is a good indication that that soil is healthy.' Earthworms are vital to the health of soil and farmers are keen to know just how many are in their fields. But finding out the number is a laborious process, with farmers forced to dig sample pits on their land before extracting the worms and sending the sample to be analysed in a specialist lab. 'On average, we would expect to see around six earthworms – containing those three different types, although in some samples we have found up to 16 earthworms,' said Dr Stroud. 'If the soil has all three types then it can be considered healthy. This new process allows us to asses quickly and accurately just how many worms are in a sample size and which types we can hear.'){kind=link}
The more noise that is in the soil, the more healthy it is likely to be, discover scientists at the University of Warwick
Noisy earthworms may be the answer to healthy soil, say researchers.
In the first study of its kind, scientists at the University of Warwick are using artificial intelligence (AI) to listen to the noise worms make.
The scientists say the sounds generated in soil can be recorded, measured and used to evaluate soil condition.
The work is a collaboration between the University of Warwick Crop Centre and Baker Consultants Ltd, which has been awarded a £250,000 grant from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to undertake the two-year research project investigating the feasibility of using the technology for monitoring soil health.