Anti-farting vaccine

 haha this is hilarious AND important!  surprised by this fact...those farts and belches do some serious damage...

"livestock flatulence and manure is responsible for a full 1/3rd of global emissions of methane due to human activities.  A single adult cow can produce 175-240 pounds (80-110 kgs) of methane annually, according to this handy US EPA FAQ on Cow Farts. That’s more than my body weight in farts! "

the article said they were able to create the vaccine by "Mapping the genome" that is responsible for the flatulence...i wonder how identifying that gene allows them to curb that "enteric fermentation" (which i'm going to call it from now on, haha)

Haha, my cousin asked me the other day about harnassing human-produced methane for electricity generation.  I'm not sure if he was referring to tapping into landfills...or....perhaps something else....

I did just stumble upon this article though.  "Biosolids"....sort of a vague term.  But in an interview with LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, he does say "human waste" will be made into electricity.  I've been quickly googling the project but haven't found much about it since their announcement in 2007.

I also read a story today that down near Coalinga they're also making a solar thermal/biomass hybrid power plant.

"The solar thermal portion of the plants rely on the sun’s heat to run steam turbines to generate electricity during peak hours of the day, while the biomass portion (fed local agricultural waste and livestock manure) will augment the solar side when the sun begins dropping in the evening and run on its own at night.  A spokesman for Martifer stated that the power generated from the solar thermal-biofuel hybrid set-up would be cost competitive with fossil fuel-powered plants"

They definitely have enough cows in that area (Harris Ranch, off the I-5 in California) to make this work!  ha.