Swiss Review 6/2020

Swiss Review / November 2020 / No.6 22 Science MARC LETTAU Our adventure began with a simple hypothesis: home is the ground on which you stand. But what if we put our ears to the ground and find out what “home” actually sounds like? Our first stop was a vegetable allot- ment on the outskirts of Berne. We were armed with a good pair of head- phones, a hypersensitivemicrophone, a soil sensor to record the sounds, and a great deal of curiosity. Eardrums almost burst What is there tohear? Absolutely noth- ing at first. But then a crash and a bang almost loud enough to perforate both eardrums. The reason? Ablade of grass swaying in the light breeze brushes themicrophone. The device amplifies this faint contact into a fortissimo. Hypersensitive indeed. The second at- tempt is less painful. Delicate move- ments in the damp earth underneath the shady pumpkin leaves. A slight rumble and crackle. Not enough verbs Evidently, something is happening in the soil. With each backyard experi- ment, it becomes increasingly appar- ent how astonishingly rich the acous- tics beneath our feet are – and how difficult they are to describe. Dogs bark, horses neigh, crickets chirp and cows moo. But what are the tiny crea- tures doing in this compost-rich earth? There are simply not enough verbs. Creak, crackle, nibble, cheep, rumble, jolt, bang, rattle. Or even chew and gargle? Röstigraben Now for a more auspicious patch of land: the “Röstigraben” (or rösti divide). That imagined and much­ discussed cultural border between German- and French-speaking Swit- zerland. Offwe trot to a potatofieldon the cantonal border between Berne and Fribourg. It has to be a potato field. We carefully insert the micro- phone. What dowe hear? Zilch. Not a hint of squabbling. A lifeless frontier? Patriotic soil What about the soil at Rütli, Switzer- land’s most important meadow? Heavy, persistent rain puts paid to our experiment at the cradle of the Con- federation. How about that other pa- triotic landmark, the Federal Palace? Verdant greenery dominates in front of its southern facade. Again, we pick up those familiar movements from the moist soil below. They sound much more refined than some of the bickering in parliament opposite. “What are you doing?” The passer-by who approaches us has a friendly, forbearing tone of voice. People are used to strange sights in this day and age. “What are you do- ing?” she asks. We say that we are eavesdropping on the Federal Palace worms. Only when the lady puts on the headphones does her scepticism give way. “Well, isn’t that incredible? Everyone needs to listen to this. It is teeming with life!” The sound of home soil Switzerland, our home turf. Literally, the ground beneath our feet. What does it sound like? Listen closely and you will hear an underworld cacophony. No deathly silence at all. But if the soil does fall silent, we should start to worry. Scientists are now trying to gain a better understanding of our subterranean soundscapes. The “Swiss Review” expedition in familiar surroundings. Listen to the soil and you soon run out of verbs to de- scribe all the sounds. Photo: Danielle Liniger