China’s Microbes Make Deserts Bloom Fast.

Chinese researchers have developed an "ecological skin" using cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) that can transform desert sand into fertile soil in just one year—a process that normally takes up to a decade. By deploying these microbes across the Tengger Desert, they create a biomass crust that stabilizes dunes, retains moisture, and builds up nutrients, effectively turning arid landscapes into arable land as part of China's "Great Green Wall" project.

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