Turns out, getting your hands dirty might be doing more than helping your plants 🌱⁠ It may be helping you, too.⁠ ⁠ Researchers at the University of Helsinki, Natural Resources Institute Finland, and Tampere University found that soil can directly influence the microbiome of human skin.⁠ ⁠ In the study, volunteers grew edible plants for a month. Some worked with microbially rich soil, others with soil low in microbial diversity. Everyone tended, harvested, and ate what they grew. Same routines. Same time frame. Different dirt.⁠ ⁠ The difference showed up on their skin. Participants who gardened with microbially diverse soil developed significantly more diverse skin microbiota than those working with microbially poor soil.⁠ ⁠ As doctoral researcher Mika Saarenpää explains, urban living often reduces our exposure to microbes, which can affect immune health. This study shows that everyday, hands-on activities like gardening can help restore some of that lost microbial diversity—naturally....