Objective: In the United States, there are numerous ongoing efforts to remedy the Word Gap: massive differences in heard vocabulary for poor versus advantaged children during the first 5 years of life. One potentially important resource for vocabulary exposure is children's book reading sessions, which are more lexically diverse than standard caregiver-child conversations and have demonstrated significant correlational and causal influences on children's vocabulary development. Yet, nationally representative data suggest that around 25% of caregivers never read with their children. Method: This study uses data from 60 commonly read children's books to estimate the number of words that children are exposed to during book reading sessions. We estimated the total cumulative word exposure for children who are read to at varying frequencies corresponding to nationally representative benchmarks across the first 5 years of life. Results: Parents who read 1 picture book with their children every day provide their children with exposure to an estimated 78,000 words each a year. Cumulatively, over the 5 years before kindergarten entry, we estimate that children from literacy-rich homes hear a cumulative 1.4 million more words during storybook reading than children who are never read to. Conclusion: Home-based shared book reading represents an important resource for closing the Word Gap.

Nitrogenous fertilizers have nearly doubled global grain yields, but have also increased losses of reactive N to the environment. Current public investments to improve soil health seek to balance productivity and environmental considerations. However, data integrating soil biological health and crop N response to date is insufficient to reliably drive conservation policy and inform management. Here we used multilevel structural equation modeling and N fertilizer rate trials to show that biologically healthier soils produce greater corn yields per unit of fertilizer. We found the effect of soil biological health on corn yield was 18% the magnitude of N fertilization, Moreover, we found this effect was consistent for edaphic and climatic conditions representative of 52% of the rainfed acreage in the Corn Belt (as determined using technological extrapolation domains). While N fertilization also plays a role in building or maintaining soil biological health, soil biological health metrics offer limited a priori information on a site's responsiveness to N fertilizer applications. Thus, increases in soil biological health can increase corn yields for a given unit of N fertilizer, but cannot completely replace mineral N fertilization in these systems. Our results illustrate the potential for gains in productivity through investment in soil biological health, independent of increases in mineral N fertilizer use. Since the Green Revolution, nitrogenous mineral fertilizers have helped to nearly double global grain crop yields 1. While this represents monumental gains in crop productivity, an estimated 41 to 50% of the N fertilizer applied to corn (Zea mays L.) globally since of the Green Revolution has been lost to the environment 2 , resulting in multifarious negative environmental effects 3-5. Many strategies to address N losses from cropping systems are centered on the management of N fertilizer (e.g., "4Rs" of fertilizer management 6), but neglect the role of soil 4,5 biology in supplying plant N which often supplies over 50% plant N uptake in a growing season 7-9. The framework of soil health seeks to highlight the critically important 10 , albeit inherently complex and uncertain 11,12 , role of soil biology in agroecosystems. Ultimately, soil health seeks to integrate soil biology with the historically emphasized chemical and physical soil components 13,14. Soil health has been widely embraced by farmers, researchers, and private industry alike 15-18. Additionally, soil health has also accrued broad legislative support in the form of nearly a dozen states incentivizing improved soil health as well as a Soil Health division within USDA 19. Buy-in from these stakeholders represents a nexus of several key sources of information growers use in making nutrient management decisions 20-22 , as well as a demonstrated financial commitment. While soil health has broad conceptual support, there is a dearth of empirical evidence connecting soil biological health measurements to vital soil functions or desired outcomes 23. Althou...

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