Jul 15 2008Scientists Collect Cow Toots To Better Understand Their Effects On Global Warming
Argentinian scientists are collecting cow gas in an effort to understand how the methane produced by our bovine brethren is affecting the global solar cooker we call earth and its atmosphere.
As one of the world's biggest beef producers, Argentina has more than 55 million cows grazing in its famed Pampas grasslands.Guillermo Berra, a researcher at the National Institute of Agricultural Technology, said every cow produces between 800 to 1,000 liters of emissions every day.
Methane, which is also released from landfills, coal mines and leaking gas pipes, is 23 times more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide.
Every cow produces 1,000 liters of emissions? Holy hellfire. I can't believe we can even breathe anymore. The scientists hope that by understanding the process by which cattle produce methane, they'll be able to alter their diets to produce less of the gas. Well call me old fashioned, but I think there's a much more logical, less scientific method for getting a cow to produce less tootage -- make them huff their own gas bags. Now I don't like awards ceremonies, so just go ahead and send the Nobel Prize to my parent's house.
Cow farts collected in plastic tank for global warming study [telegraph]
Thanks Jim and Julian, is it true that huffing cow ass gets you high?
Reader Comments
1. Julian - July 15, 2008 10:48 AM
That burger looks delicious.
2. Sell Porn Make Money - July 15, 2008 10:52 AM
Ha! The cow has a look on it like - Get this thing out of my ass!! Funny stuff!
3. Andyman - July 15, 2008 10:54 AM
Hell, hook the cow directly into the fuel tank of a car. Why waste waste?
4. flyingskeleton - July 15, 2008 11:02 AM
#3, i agree. that guy could make a butt load on that stuff. why are we paying for oil again? i can imagine it now, a gasier more moo tastic verison of the matrix for cows.
5. http://webescape.wordpress.com/ - July 15, 2008 11:04 AM
Best thing is the cow even looks embarrassed to be wearing that.
6. Sophie - July 15, 2008 11:22 AM
Can we attach one of these to Shitney Spears? Go green!
7. Spencer - July 15, 2008 11:41 AM
OMG
I so want to shoot a flaming arrow at that bag and see what happens!
8. A gay - July 15, 2008 11:58 AM
I just got a Hyperman flashback.
9. sugacookie - July 15, 2008 12:11 PM
Do I really have to be the one to say it?
PEW PEW.
10. LittleBoPeepingTom - July 15, 2008 12:18 PM
Hook that sucker up to the gas grill. Nothing like using cow-gas to cook up some burgers. Not only is it eco-friendly, it's got that genuine smoked cowpie flavor.
11. Zyclonis - July 15, 2008 12:38 PM
Yeah, blame the cows for global warming. It must be their fault. There's no possible way the pollution we've added to the atmosphere since the industrial revolution had anything to do with it. Damn gassy cows, ruining our planet.
12. woodhorse - July 15, 2008 12:49 PM
Well you could give the cow some beano or just strap an open flame to his ass..
13. woodhorse - July 15, 2008 12:51 PM
#3 My idea is practical, yours isn't. Cows could be confined to the indoors of assisted living facilities or nursing homes to cut down on heating bills for the elderly./
14. silverdollar - July 15, 2008 1:22 PM
uhhhm, call me a loser......but didn't they already do this on mythbusters?
15. Jay Seldon - July 15, 2008 1:30 PM
This has got to be bogus. Or the researcher is scamming his government!
Cattle emit a large volume of methane, though 95% of it through eructation or burping, not flatulence As the carbon in the methane comes from the digestion of vegetation produced by photosynthesis, its release into the air by this process would normally be considered harmless, because there is no net increase in carbon in the atmosphere — it's removed as carbon dioxide from the air by photosynthesis and returned to it as methane.
So there we go - minimal effect of global warming.
I wonder how much our Argentine scientist he is being paid to dress his cow in a giant pink femidom?
16. asdfgh - July 15, 2008 1:39 PM
The idea that man causes global warming is a hoax. This cow fart study is a waste of Argentinian tax payers' money.
17. MoTT - July 15, 2008 3:27 PM
my god what a useless thing to do if the government actually put funding towards making cars more effient and run on hydrogen alot less pollutipn would be made but of course they won't becuase alot of the gonvernment is endorsed by feul companys
18. Cmax - July 15, 2008 3:55 PM
Wow, I know cow's don't have the complexity of human intelligence, but I can't help but feel like this cow is humiliated beyond words, haha.
19. Momboelitist - July 15, 2008 4:00 PM
@14, you are a loser. By the way, what is a "loser"?
20. woodhorse - July 15, 2008 4:50 PM
#15 How come ye to be a man of science?
21. andywattbulb - July 16, 2008 8:21 AM
I guess that cow drew the shortest straw...bummer for him.
22. Bobeyo - July 16, 2008 9:41 AM
What number 16 said. This is just getting sad.
23. Jay Seldon - July 17, 2008 9:28 AM
#20 - I do science, me!
24. Jeff - July 17, 2008 11:53 PM
they are a much more logical? or, there is a much more logical? i know which one i would use. just saying is all.
25. Jeff - July 17, 2008 11:54 PM
call me old-fashioned