Microbiology (or biology) may not be your favorite subject. Or maybe you dreaded taking “life science” courses while at the university. Even if life science is not your preferred area of interest, we hope you read the articles in this issue. Earth science is inherently interdisciplinary because on planet Earth, the lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere interact. We can’t comprehensively study one “sphere” without knowing something about the other “spheres.”