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  • Seaweed Diet for Cows Lowers How Much Methane They Produce: Study

    Researchers at University of California, Davis found that cows that were fed a small amount of seaweed in their diet drastically reduced the amount of methane they emitted, which could be a low-cost climate solution for farmers. They saw an 82 percent reduction in methane in beef cows and there was also no detectable difference in the taste of the beef. More research is needed to be done to see how these results apply in other settings.

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  • Helping animals cross the road and other obstacles

    As human infrastructure continues to threaten animal habitats, researchers are coming up with ways to use artificial structures as bridges for these creatures to get where they need to go. In Indonesia, irrigation pipes help farmers water their crops, but they’re also used by slow lorises to cross over the farmlands. In Brazil, a bridge crossing a major highway will be used by golden lion tamarins to avoid the busy traffic.

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  • Planting trees can create plastic waste. One teenager is changing that.

    A teenager in India came up with a solution to combat the plastic waste crisis that usually comes with planting trees. Srija created a biodegradable pot made out of groundnut shells that decomposes in the soil after 20 days. She’s working with an organization to scale her product, which costs just 27 cents to make.

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  • Can California's Organic Vegetable Farmers Unlock the Secrets of No-Till Farming?

    A trial experiment with three farmers and several California universities is looking to better understand how to farm with little or no chemicals. No-till farming can boost soil health and better store carbon, but it’s not a perfect system. These farmers are testing how to reduce soil disturbance, use cover crops, and diversify their species of crops, yet so far, they haven’t found much success. “Figuring this all out has been ‘a school of hard knocks,’” says one of the farmers.

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  • Gambia's United Effort to Tackle COVID-19

    In an effort to contain the spread of coronavirus variants throughout the country, Gambia has launched a genome sequence initiative that to monitor active strains. For a country that has received very few doses of the vaccine, this effort is important for identifying potential outbreaks before they become unmanageable.

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  • The resistance: can viruses save us from drug-defying superbugs?

    Bacteriophages, or phages, are viruses that kill bacteria by latching on to and entering target cells and then multiplying and killing the host cell. Phages only attack bacteria, they can’t enter human cells, but the phage must be specific to the bacteria's DNA, which presents an obstacle because most health systems lack the capacity for such testing. To overcome this, researchers are developing phage cocktails that could be applied more widely, similar to antibiotics. A few locations around the world currently use phage treatment, particularly to treat the six most virulent antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

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  • ‘Our biggest challenge? Lack of imagination': the scientists turning the desert green

    A Dutch group of engineers known as the Weather Makers has an ambitious plan to regreen the Sinai Peninsula — the stretch of desert connecting Egypt to the rest of Asia. Their efforts would restore forests, wetlands, and even adjust the weather for the region. This form of ecosystems regeneration could help with food security and mitigate the effects of climate change. Their process of changing an entire ecosystem can be controversial, but initial tests have shown how this could work on a large scale.

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  • How Do You Kill an Invasive Species? Bring in a Bigger, Meaner Species to Eat It

    An insect that makes its home on eastern hemlocks in Nova Scotia has the power to wipe out the tree species if left unchecked. Scientists are looking to a strategy called biological control — a historically controversial approach — that would introduce a new predatory species to kill the insect. After rigorous lab testing showed a small black beetle only attacked their targets and didn’t disrupt other ecosystems, they released them in 2003 at an orchard on Vancouver Island. Results show they have been somewhat effective, but it’s unclear if it will completely solve the problem.

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  • This seaweed can fight climate change

    Symbrosia, a clean-tech startup in Hawaii, is taking seaweed from the ocean and turning it into a powder that can be used to feed livestock to reduce the amount of methane they produce — a key contribution to greenhouse gas emissions. The company worked with an organic farm in Upstate New York to test the product and found that sheep given a high dosage of the supplement had up to 70 percent reduction in methane emission. Creating the powder takes weeks and a lot of steps, but the startup is hopeful the product can become a mass-produced commodity.

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  • A Booster Shot For Detecting COVID-19 Mutations

    When the SARS-CoV-2 variant emerged in the United Kingdom, scientists in Britain were able to quickly identify it and warn other countries thanks to the use of genome sequencing. Now other countries, such as Denmark, are investing in genome sequencing to get ahead of the next potential outbreak.

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