The Dirt That Refused to Die

[They “tried to kill it harder with more radiation, pressure, and heat”.]
I was surprised to find myself hooked into reading this article about dirt, but it happened.

For 15 years, Sébastien Fontaine has been trying to kill dirt. The biochemist, who runs a lab at the French National Institute for Agriculture, Food, and Environment, wanted to know how much carbon is released by soil — just dirt alone, completely devoid of life. His team sealed dirt into jars and blasted them with sterilizing gamma radiation. Then they waited for the carbon dioxide released by the soil — a sign of ongoing microbial respiration — to drop.
They waited, and waited, and waited some more: weeks, then months. Under a microscope, the irradiated soil showed no signs of life, but it continued to emit carbon dioxide. The soil wouldn’t stop breathing.

It appears the chemistry of life is not actually exclusive to life. Neat!

Link: https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-dirt-that-refused-to-die-20260601/