Desert Sand to Fertile Soil in Months: Lab-Grown Microbes Build a Stable Crust

Scientists in China used lab-grown cyanobacteria to bind loose desert sand into a thin, stable crust within about 10–16 months, creating a surface that holds moisture and nutrients and supports seedling growth. This speeds desert restoration from decades to years and could reduce wind-driven erosion, but scaling the method beyond test plots faces challenges such as site selection, local microbe suitability, and protection from traffic; long-term monitoring is needed and crusts cannot solve problems like overgrazing or water mismanagement.