Alyssa Shiel was crouching on a little patch of grass between the sidewalk and the curb of a neighborhood in inner Southeast Portland on a gloomy day in late October when she inserted a tiny probe that resembled a syringe into the ground.
The ground surrounding ancient telecommunications wires hanging between utility poles was the focus of samples gathered from this strip and others nearby by Shiel, a professor at Oregon State University, and graduate student Ashley Sutton.
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