The last day of the year was also the last day for FarmVille, one of the original addictive Facebook games. From a report: FarmVille, which allowed players to cultivate colorful cartoonish farms by tending crops and caring for livestock, had 30 million daily players at its peak. But game developer Zynga announced in September it would shut down the game on…
Tag: livestock
Australian ‘Super Seaweed’ Supplement To Reduce Cattle Gas Emissions Wins $1 Million International Prize
SpamSlapper shares a report from The Australian Broadcasting Corporation: A company commercializing a CSIRO-developed, seaweed feed product, which slashes the amount of greenhouse gases cattle burp and fart into the atmosphere, has won a $1 million international prize for its work reshaping the food system. CSIRO-affiliated company Future Feed said it would use its Food Planet Prize winnings to create an…
Bacterial Outbreak Infects Thousands After Factory Leak In China
schwit1 shares a report from CNN: Several thousand people in northwest China have tested positive for a bacterial disease, authorities said on Tuesday, in an outbreak caused by a leak at a biopharmaceutical company last year. The Health Commission of Lanzhou, the capital city of Gansu province, confirmed that 3,245 people had contracted the disease brucellosis, which is often caused by…
Gene Editing To Produce ‘Super Dad’ Livestock
Scientists have produced gene-edited animals they say could serve as “super dads” or “surrogate sires.” The BBC reports: The pigs, goats, cattle and mice make sperm carrying the genetic material of donor animals. The researchers used a hi-tech gene editing tool to knock out a male fertility gene in animal embryos. The animals were born sterile, but began producing sperm after…
It’s Not Just Cars That Make Pollution. It’s the Roads They Drive On, Too
An anonymous reader shares a report: The smell of summer in Los Angeles, or any major city, is often tinged with asphalt. A freshly paved road or a new tar roof doesn’t just wrinkle your nose, however: A new study suggests fresh asphalt is a significant, yet overlooked, source of air pollution. In fact, the material’s contribution to one kind of…
You Can Now Track Carbon In an Ear of Corn From Farm to Table
Companies will be soon able to track the carbon emissions from an ear of corn to a pork chop, allowing them to market products to environmentally conscious eaters. Bloomberg reports: Farmer’s Business Network Inc. — which has been likened to an “Amazon” for farmers — has launched Gro Network, which will track and score the carbon intensity of grain. That will…
Lions Are Less Likely To Attack Cattle With Eyes Painted on Their Backsides
An anonymous reader shares a report: The predation of livestock by carnivores, and the retaliatory killing of carnivores as a result, is a major global conservation challenge. Such human-wildlife conflicts are a key driver of large carnivore declines and the costs of coexistence are often disproportionately borne by rural communities in the global south. While current approaches tend to focus on…
Farmers are painting eyes on cows’ backsides
Farmers in Africa have found a novel new way of protecting their livestock from opportunistic predators. In Botswana’s Okavango delta, keeping cattle … Source: https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/338709/farmers-are-painting-eyes-on-cows-backsides…
Study: Saving Pandas Led To the Downfall of Other Animals
UPI reports:
Efforts to save the giant panda from extinction have come at the expense of other large mammals, a new study released Monday by the science journal Nature Ecology and Evolution said… Since the giant panda reserves were set up in China during the 1960s, leopards have disappeared from 81% of reserves, snow leopards from 38%, wolves from 77% and Asian…
Meat and dairy production emit more nitrogen than Earth can cope with
Scientists have urged people to eat less meat and dairy after finding livestock farming singlehandedly exceeds “planetary boundaries” for nitrogen pollution Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2248000-meat-and-dairy-production-emit-more-nitrogen-than-earth-can-cope-with/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…