![Media Library](images/04_00_00_a.jpg)
Explore the Dig It! Videos
What is Soil?
Chip Off the Old Block
Soil Forming Factors
![Touchable soil model from Dig It! Smithsonian Institution](images/hiddenhorizonsth.jpg)
Touchable soil model from Dig It!. By “reading” soil layers, along with observing moisture content and temperatures, scientists can classify or describe soils.Smithsonian Institution
Matters of Life and Death
![Earthworm, Megascolides australis](images/media/library_014_sm.jpg)
One earthworm, Megascolides australis, can grow to lengths of 8 feet.Ryan McVay/Photodisc/
Getty Images
![Costa Rica Rainforest](images/media/library_015_sm.jpg)
Costa Rica Rainforest. Soils store the carbon that plants remove from the atmosphere as a gas and make into solid carbohydrates (food).istockphoto.com
![Toy truck powered by soil-microbe batteries](images/media/library_016_sm.jpg)
Toy truck powered by soil-microbe batteries.© Derek Lovley, Kelly Nevin & Ben Barnhart, University of Massachusetts
![Pollution-breathing microbes, Dehalobium chlorocoercia](images/media/library_019_sm.jpg)
Pollution-breathing microbes, Dehalobium chlorocoercia.Kevin Sowers, Ph.D., University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute
![Antibiotic mold, Penicillium notatum](images/media/library_020_sm.jpg)
Antibiotic mold, Penicillium notatum. What new wonder drugs lie hidden in the world of soil microbes?© Dennis Kunkel
Microscopy, Inc.
![Biofuel microbe, Clostridium phytofermentans](images/media/library_021_sm.jpg)
Biofuel microbe, Clostridium phytofermentans. A microorganism that converts leaves and other plant detritus directly into ethanol.Susan Leschine/University of Massachusetts
Underneath It All
![Teton Dam Failure, June 1976](images/media/library_029_sm.jpg)
The Teton Dam burst, setting off more than 200 landslides in the canyon below, taking 11 lives, and causing millions of dollars of property damage. Photo courtesy U.S. Bureau of Reclamation