[Lex Computer & Tech Group/LCTG] FW: Researchers potty-train cows to reduce ammonia emissions

Mon Sep 20 20:31:08 PDT 2021

Probably on the list.

David Lees
Galaxy Tab S5e

On Mon, Sep 20, 2021, 10:58 PM L Wittig <9423lew at gmail.com> wrote:

> Sounds like a good candidate for the Ig Nobel awards.
>
> On Mon, Sep 20, 2021 at 4:53 PM john rudy <jjrudy1 at comcast.net> wrote:
>
>> This is important stuff
>>
>>
>>
>> John Rudy
>>
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>> John.rudy at alum.mit.edu
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>> *From:* Gizmorama <ezine at gophercentral.com>
>> *Sent:* Monday, September 20, 2021 11:01 AM
>> *To:* jjrudy1 at comcast.net
>> *Subject:* Researchers potty-train cows to reduce ammonia emissions
>>
>>
>>
>> Researchers potty-train cows to reduce ammonia emissions
>>
>>
>> <https://sli.gophercentral.com/click?s=758824&li=25&e=jjrudy1@comcast.net&p=7053244&stpe=default>
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>> Gizmorama
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>> September 20, 2021
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>> <https://ptv.gophercentral.com/?a=474&oc=186&c=20815&p=r>Have You Tried
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>> *-- Mars rover's first rock samples reveal lengthy water exposure --*
>>
>> The first two rock samples examined by NASA's Mars rover Perseverance
>> give scientists a firm belief that water inundated Jezero Crater for a
>> sustained period of time, the agency announced Friday.
>>
>> "We determined salt granules in the rock indicate it was exposed to
>> water," Julia Goreva, a NASA scientist for the rover program, said in a
>> news conference from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
>>
>> The rocks, drilled Monday and Wednesday, came from an igneous or volcanic
>> rock. The agency previously knew that water once filled the crater, but not
>> for how long.
>>
>> The salt deposits mean NASA can now rule out a sudden "flash in the pan"
>> water event, the agency said in a news release.
>>
>> "It looks like our first rocks reveal a potentially habitable sustained
>> environment," said Ken Farley, project scientist for the mission, said in
>> the release. "It's a big deal that the water was there a long time."
>>
>> The rover sampled a rock NASA dubbed Rochette on a ridge named Artuby.
>> The two samples are named Montdenier and Montagnac after a French mountain
>> and region, respectively.
>>
>> Scientists chose the Rochette drilling site after a previous attempt to
>> drill a sample failed because the brittle rock target crumbled.
>>
>> The samples now are stored and sealed inside the rover as part of a
>> multinational effort to bring Mars rocks back to Earth by 2031, said Kate
>> Stack Morgan, Perseverance deputy project scientist.
>>
>> The samples may be dropped on the Martian surface for a future rover to
>> retrieve and launch into space, where another spacecraft would catch them
>> and return them to Earth. Ultimately, the goal is to use advanced equipment
>> on Earth to analyze the rocks for signs of ancient life on Mars.
>>
>> "We plan to continue exploring Jezero Crater ... for about two Earth
>> years," Stack Morgan said in the news conference. "We will make decisions
>> then on which samples we'd like to put down in that first cache."
>>
>> The samples, about the thickness of a pencil, were 2.4 inches long and
>> 2.6 inches long, which are nearly ideal, said Jessica Samuels, the
>> Perseverance surface mission manager, at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
>>
>> "Reflecting on this moment, it has been the culmination of so many years
>> of so many people's hard work and time and effort," Samuels said.
>>
>> "While it definitely was a very long time waiting, I think all of us can
>> say that it feels fantastic to ... be up here and share this with you."
>> *-- Researchers potty-train cows to reduce ammonia emissions --*
>>
>> <https://ptv.gophercentral.com/?a=474&oc=440&c=22742&p=r>[image: Wow21]
>> <https://ptv.gophercentral.com/?a=474&oc=440&c=22742&p=r>
>> <https://ptv.gophercentral.com/?a=474&oc=440&c=22742&p=r>Researchers are
>> potty-training cows to go to the bathroom where their feces and urine can
>> be collected and treated, reducing ammonia emissions.
>>
>> When cattle are allowed to relieve themselves as they graze, their waste
>> can collect in fields and contaminate local waterways. If confined to a
>> barn, urine and feces can mix together and yield ammonia, an indirect
>> greenhouse gas.
>>
>> Both scenarios are problematic for human and environmental health.
>>
>> To keep barns more sanitary, waterways clean and greenhouse gas emissions
>> low, researchers have started training cow to urinate and defecate in
>> designated areas.
>>
>> Scientists described their efforts -- a system they named MooLoo training
>> -- in a new paper, published Monday in the journal Current Biology.
>>
>> "It's usually assumed that cattle are not capable of controlling
>> defecation or urination," study co-author Jan Langbein said in a press
>> release.
>>
>> "Cattle, like many other animals or farm animals are quite clever and
>> they can learn a lot. Why shouldn't they be able to learn how to use a
>> toilet?" said Langbein, an animal psychologist at the Research Institute
>> for Farm Animal Biology in Germany.
>>
>> To potty-train the young cows participating in the study, researchers in
>> Germany and New Zealand offered food rewards to calves that urinated in the
>> latrine. Afterwards, researchers allowed the cows to enter the latrine from
>> the fields when they needed to go.
>>
>> To discourage urination outside the latrines, researchers tried fitting
>> the calves with headphones and playing unpleasant sounds whenever they peed
>> in the barn. It didn't take.
>>
>> "We thought this would punish the animals -- not too aversively -- but
>> they didn't care," Langbein said. "Ultimately, a splash of water worked
>> well as a gentle deterrent."
>>
>> In just a few weeks, researchers trained 11 of 16 cows to regularly use
>> the latrine to relieve themselves. According to the study's authors, the
>> cows' potty-training performance was comparable to children and superior to
>> very young children.
>>
>> The ammonia produced when feces and urine mix doesn't directly contribute
>> to global warming, but when it is leached into the ground, it gets broken
>> down by microbes that release nitrous oxide, the third-most significant
>> greenhouse gas after methane and carbon dioxide.
>>
>> Agriculture is the number one source of ammonia emissions, and livestock
>> account for more than half of the industry's output.
>>
>> Now that cows can be cooperative partners in the quest to reduce ammonia
>> emissions, researchers hope to adapt their MooLoo training for outdoor
>> farms.
>>
>> "In a few years, all cows will go to a toilet," Langbein said.
>>
>>
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