Given the massive amounts of antibiotics coursing through the bodies of our livestock—not to mention its use and misuse by humans—one would think soil would be teeming with the drugs. But this isn’t the case, and now scientists may know why: They’re being devoured by bacteria.

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When Montana State University plant pathologist David Sands first proposed that some bacteria that infect plants could spread over great distances through falling precipitation, some thought his idea was crazy. But new research says Sands’ idea actually holds water.

Bacteria, including one species known to infect tomato and bean plants, are found in greater abundance in freshly fallen snow than previously thought, says Brent Christner at Louisiana State University, who led the new research. Christner examined snow from sites with lots of vegetation nearby (France) and places with no vegetation (like Antarctica). He found bacteria in snow no matter where he looked. In some samples, 85 percent of the particles found in the snow were bacterial.

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