Aug. 17, 2015-In celebration of the International Year of Soil 2015 (IYS), the Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) is coordinating a series of activities throughout the year to educate the public about the importance of soil. August’s theme is “Soils Support Health”. In SSSA’s August 15 Soils Matter blog post, experts explain the role of soil microbes in creating modern medicines.

According to Nick Comerford, “We’re not taking soil pills as medicine, but it is true that some of our modern medicines have their roots in soils”. Comerford is a soil scientist with University of Florida.

• Antimicrobials -- During the course of their normal lives, soil microbes create substances that kill off some of their neighbors, reducing competion for scarce food and water resources.
• Antidepressants – Mycobacterium vaccae may stimulate the production of serotonin in mice.
• Anticancer agents – Scientists are currently studying Clostridia sporogenes as an anticancer agent.

To read the entire blog post, visit http://soilsmatter.wordpress.com.

As part of their celebration of IYS, SSSA is developing a series of twelve 2-minute educational videos. August’s Soils Support Health video can be viewed at www.soils.org/iys/monthly-videos. Educational materials can be viewed at www.soils.org/iys.

Follow SSSA on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/SSSA.soils, Twitter at SSSA_Soils. SSSA has soils information on www.soils.org/discover-soils, for teachers at www.soils4teachers.org, and for students through 12^th grade, www.soils4kids.org.