Corn sweat and soil sounds

100°F

These indexes combine two measurements—the temperature and the humidity—to indicate how warm the air actually feels.

temperature (°F) humidity (%)

And in states including Illinois and Iowa, there’s something making the extreme heat feel more intense…

CORN SWEAT

It’s corn sweat.

When corn sweat is released into the air, it increases the humidity. And as the USA is the largest producer of corn in the world, things can get pretty sweaty! But what makes corn sweat?

It’s all down to water!

Like all plants, corn needs sun and water to grow, and to keep cool in the heat. Corn plants use their roots to absorb water in the soil and transport it to different parts of the plant.

evapotranspiration

Any excess water is released into the atmosphere as water vapour through a process called evapotranspiration. It’s this water vapour, also known as corn sweat, that increases humidity, leaving the air feeling heavy and sticky. This might be making the heat index high, but farmers and scientists say that corn sweat is a sign of a healthy crop. So there will be plenty of corn to harvest later in the fall!

Soil not only stores water, but it is also home to an enormous ecosystem. Many of the organisms that live in this ecosystem keep the soil healthy.

Often, soil health is examined through digging, which can be harmful to the organisms living in it. But researchers in Australia have been studying a different method to examine the soil. They have revealed that listening to soil can help determine how full of life and healthy it is.

The team placed microphones into the soil in different areas, including one where the land had been cleared, and another that was full of plants and small animals. Then, they listened, and recorded what they heard.

Soil in the cleared area produced a pretty bland white noise, indicating little life down below. But soil in the planted area produced an abundance of underground sounds—indicating to the team that soil in this area was full of living organisms, all keeping the soil healthy.

Importantly for the researchers, it also proved that their recording method was an effective way to measure soil health. They now hope the method can be used more in the future as a less invasive way to monitor the expansive underground ecosystem. Where species like earthworms, field voles, and many others can be found.

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