Scientists Seek To Make Your Hamburger Less Bad For The Planet [1]
"Researchers in California are working to genetically engineer the cow microbiome -- and in the process, eliminate methane emissions."
"DAVIS, Calif. — Sushi, a four-week-old Holstein calf, was lying in a pen under the hum of a metal fan when a group of professors and graduate students arrived to sample his stomach. The male calf greeted the researchers with a friendly nibble of their clothing, then flopped back down lazily on a bed of rice hulls.
But even as the cow slumbered, deep in his four-chambered stomach, minuscule organisms were hard at work. Fungi, bacteria, and other tiny creatures were breaking down feed into energy and chemicals, setting in motion an ancient process that today heats the Earth more than every flight across the world combined.
Scientists here are hunting for a way to transform Sushi’s gut — so that he no longer releases planet-warming methane."