Sublime

glucose. Adams discovered that some of his E. coli were becoming more efficient at feeding on acetate than their ancestors were. The acetate feeders grow slowly, but they aren’t driven to extinction because they are taking advantage of a food that the faster-growing bacteria aren’t eating.

a plant must attract specific microbes that are genetically hard-wired to solubilize that particular mineral.

label: the use of synthetic pesticides and herbicides on produce can dramatically handicap the plants’ creation of their own defense mechanisms—the very polyphenols we want.

The seasons are identified through signals from biodiversity, such as specific ‘calendar plants’ that indicate when it is the correct time to undertake fire management practices that reduce fuel load and lessen the risk of destructive wildfires. Calendar plants also inform First Nations peoples when it is the appropriate time to harvest certain foo

But increasing agriculture output further was no trivial feat. The key limitation that farmers had faced throughout history was nitrogen in the soil. Plants require nitrogen for growth, the element is a significant component of chlorophyll and amino acids. Soil nitrogen, however, is produced at the whim of nitrogen-fixing microbes that live in the