Bezos puts millions into strange cow gas research that could help Earth
Scientists got huge money-boost from **Jeff Bezos** to stop cows making harmful gas. The research focuses on special vaccine that could change how cattle digest grass and help fix climate issues
About 4 years after starting his Earth Fund Jeff Bezos decided to put £7-million into a weird-sounding but important research: stopping cows from making too much gas. The project (which focuses on cow digestion) could help fix big climate problems.
Farm animals make around 14% of Earthʼs greenhouse gases‚ mainly because cows produce methane - a gas thats 80 times worse for warming than CO2. These gas molecules come from special gut-bacteria that help cows break-down grass; the process makes them burp and fart a lot
The UK-based Pirbright Institute got most of the cash to work on a ground-breaking vaccine. Prof John Hammond from Pirbright explains:
Weʼre focusing on understanding what makes a successful vaccine work‚ not just making one blindly
The Royal Vet College also got £1.2-million to study how these gas-making bacteria get into baby-cows stomachs. Dr Dirk Werling leads this part of the work: they look at calves first six weeks to understand how it all starts
Scientists are trying other ways to fix this too:
- Special cow-toilets
- Gas-checking harnesses
- Different food for cows
Dr Andy Jarvis from Bezos Earth Fund thinks its worth trying: “This could be as big as moon-landing for fighting climate change‚“ he says‚ even though its not a sure thing
