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ScienceBiologyPaleontologists Study 9,000-Year-Old Aurochs Bones and Wonder if the Beasts Were Tamed
For some 9,000 years, the bones of three aurochs—huge, extinct ancestors of modern cattle—languished at the bottom of a cave in northwestern Spain. A team of paleontologists have now genetically sampled the Mesolithic remains, which were found in the 1990s near a human skeleton, and they believe that the DNA could help decipher the mystery of … Continued
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Tech NewsGadgetsCows Might Be Getting Smart Masks for Their Problematic Methane Burps
Humans aren’t the only ones experimenting with wearable smart masks. A Bloomberg report says agricultural giant Cargill will start selling masks for cows that can cut methane emissions from their burps. The mask was developed by Zelp Ltd, a UK startup that claims its device can cut methane emissions by up to 53% in trials. … Continued
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EartherConservationHundreds of Thousands of Animals Got Stuck in the Suez Canal
The Ever Given is no longer stuck in the Suez Canal, but we’re still dealing with the fallout of the near-weeklong blockage. One of the saddest effects is that thousands of animals will die untimely deaths. When the 312-foot-long (400-meter-long) Ever Given first got lodged in the canal last week, it prevented some 100 other … Continued
By Dharna Noor -
EartherAnimal Agriculture Could Cause the Next Public Health Crisis
Covid-19 is a zoonotic virus, meaning it spread to humans from animals. Scientists aren’t sure which animal spread it to us, though they think snakes or bats might have via pangolins. But it’s not just exotic, wild animals that spread diseases. New research shows the next global public health crisis could come to us through … Continued
By Dharna Noor -
ScienceBiologyAncient DNA Helps Trace the Origin of Domestic Cattle
Scientists have found evidence of Bronze Age human civilization written into ancient cattle DNA, according to a new study. The research team collected and sequenced DNA samples from ancient domesticated and wild cattle, or aurochs, to tell the story of cattle domestication in the Fertile Crescent, a region today defined as the Middle East and … Continued
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EartherClimate ChangeWell Dang, Lab-Grown Meat Might Bad For the Planet Too
The Western world has a huge meat eating issue that lab-grown meat is, according to its proponents, supposed to help solve. High-tech meat supporters like to talk about how, in helping wean people off eating cows, their lab-grown substitutes will reduce carbon dioxide and methane emissions associated with raising cattle. There’s just one slight problem. … Continued
By Brian Kahn -
Tech News
Mysterious ‘Hybrid’ Animal Discovered in 18,000-Year-Old Cave Art
By combining archaeological, paleontological, and genetic evidence, an international team of researchers has identified a previously unknown hybrid species that contains both bison and cattle DNA. The discovery solves a longstanding mystery about the origins of modern European bison. A new paper published in Nature Communications serves as an excellent case study in how several … Continued
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Scientists Bioengineer TB-Resistant Cattle By Injecting A Mouse Gene
Bovine tuberculosis is a serious problem in many parts of the world, resulting in the culling of thousands of cattle each year and at tremendous cost. Now, Chinese scientists have produced a herd of transgenic cows that exhibit an improved ability to ward off the disease. Cattle that were genetically modified to carry a mouse … Continued
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How much does it cost to eat a steak? Over at Science Friday, they’re taking on that question not in terms of dollars but in terms of land and water use. Beef stacks up highest by far among animal proteins in resource consumption, using up 28 times the amount of land than poultry does.
By Ria Misra
