The neat, green lawn many homeowners work hard to keep turned out to be one of the least lively places to bury a pair of underwear. In a Swiss citizen science project, cotton briefs buried under lawns broke down less than those buried in fields, meadows or private gardens, offering a simple, slightly absurd window into what is happening underground.
The study, published Aug. 26, 2026, in the journal Plants, People, Planet, drew on roughly 1,000 volunteers who buried more than 2,000 pairs of cotton underwear and 12,000 tea bags at about 1,000 sites across Switzerland. Eight days later, on Sept. 3, members of the team behind the broader underpants project accepted the 2026 Ig Nobel Prize in Soil Science at a ceremony in Zurich, the first held outside the United States in 35 years, according to the University of Zurich.
