Tasty Seaweed Reduces Cows’ Methane Emissions by 99% • Hacker News Board

Re: Tasty Seaweed Reduces Cows’ Methane Emissions by 99%

#281

Post by ianai » Fri, Aug 16, 2019, 1:25 PM UTC

DoreenMichele wrote: post #163

tapland wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it actually or is it just not liking farts and rationalizing reducing them?

I have a serious medical condition that significantly impacts the gut. Worse gas corresponds to more gut issues. Everything I've read (or heard from other people) suggests it is not just me, that this principle generalizes.

It’s not a simple, linear relationship. People generally do better with whole foods which have higher fiber content. That tends to make more gas. Gas is the result of gut bacteria digesting fiber. Certainly too much gas can be a symptom of poor health, but so can too little.

Re: Tasty Seaweed Reduces Cows’ Methane Emissions by 99%

#282

Post by ianai » Fri, Aug 16, 2019, 1:29 PM UTC

hannob wrote: post #172

Skeptical science remark: This whole "if cows eat seaweed that'll vastly reduce their carbon footprint" is based on a single study with 12 cows. If you take into consideration that especially small, never replicated studies often don't hold up to scrunity the next thing to do is not to ask how to produce the seaweed. The next reasonable step would be to try to replicate this study in a larger sample (and probably als…

Anecdotally, taking in a little chlorophyll per day dramatically reduces how much gas I produce. So in my experience, it’s at least possible the effect may be large. Worthy of more research.

Re: Tasty Seaweed Reduces Cows’ Methane Emissions by 99%

#283

Post by whenanother » Fri, Aug 16, 2019, 1:29 PM UTC

dillonmckay wrote: post #255

Do grass-fed cows produce less methane than corn-fed cows?

how about all that antibiotics they are being fed as well? this could be a man made problem.

Re: Tasty Seaweed Reduces Cows’ Methane Emissions by 99%

#284

Post by 0-_-0 » Fri, Aug 16, 2019, 1:30 PM UTC

DoreenMichele wrote: post #199

0-_-0 wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is your medical condition causing the gas or the other way around?

Bad gas corresponds to times when I'm more symptomatic. My condition causes serious gut dysfunction. Bad gassiness is one of many side effects when my gut is a mess. I've spent over eighteen years pursuing dietary and lifestyle changes to mitigate my incurable condition. I have a lot less gas than I used to.

My point is, if your medical condition is causing the gas then reducing gas wouldn't help.

Re: Tasty Seaweed Reduces Cows’ Methane Emissions by 99%

#285

Post by majinuub » Fri, Aug 16, 2019, 1:30 PM UTC

moultano wrote: post #23

lazyguy wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

regulation can't change reality. It's about as realistic as having congress declare the world flat.

We can measure methane emissions per farm from space. If there were fines for emissions, it would get fixed quickly. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/meet-the-satellit...

I'm more of the opinion that rewarding the reduction of emissions would work better than punishing the production of emissions.

Re: Tasty Seaweed Reduces Cows’ Methane Emissions by 99%

#286

Post by icxa » Fri, Aug 16, 2019, 1:32 PM UTC

jfindley wrote: post #277

solveit wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but effect sizes are relatively harder to hack/screw up (knowingly or otherwise) than p-values. My totally anecdotal impression is that findings showing large effect sizes seem to replicate better than findings showing highly significant effects.

Excessively large effect sizes are a warning sign in and of themselves. A good article on this is here: [0] -- simply if the effect is too huge, it becomes incumbent on the researcher to explain why no-one has noticed this before. Methane is a gas with a distinct and noticeable smell. Seaweed is plentiful in many places cows are kept. If the effect was really as dramatic as claimed you'd expect that it'd be well know…

> "it becomes incumbent on the researcher to explain why no-one has noticed this before"

Farmer: huh, we'll I'll be damned. Who in the hell woulda thought to feed them seaweed."

Re: Tasty Seaweed Reduces Cows’ Methane Emissions by 99%

#287

Post by random_savv » Fri, Aug 16, 2019, 1:35 PM UTC

jfindley wrote: post #277

solveit wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but effect sizes are relatively harder to hack/screw up (knowingly or otherwise) than p-values. My totally anecdotal impression is that findings showing large effect sizes seem to replicate better than findings showing highly significant effects.

Excessively large effect sizes are a warning sign in and of themselves. A good article on this is here: [0] -- simply if the effect is too huge, it becomes incumbent on the researcher to explain why no-one has noticed this before. Methane is a gas with a distinct and noticeable smell. Seaweed is plentiful in many places cows are kept. If the effect was really as dramatic as claimed you'd expect that it'd be well know…

> Methane is a gas with a distinct and noticeable smell

Methane is odorless https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane

Re: Tasty Seaweed Reduces Cows’ Methane Emissions by 99%

#288

Post by majinuub » Fri, Aug 16, 2019, 1:41 PM UTC

While this is pretty cool, I have a couple reservations. How do you scale this up so that it can make a measurable impact?

What incentive is there for ranchers to get the seaweed for their cattle? I imagine that getting the feed or the seaweed itself would result in more overhead costs. Is there a subsidy for lowering emissions that would make getting this worthwhile?

Also I can't help but wonder how the seaweed affects the microbiome of the cows in the long term. It does kill the microbes that make methane. IIRC, microbes are pretty much essential for cow digestion. Are the microbes that this seaweed kills essential for digestion or some other purpose?

Re: Tasty Seaweed Reduces Cows’ Methane Emissions by 99%

#289

Post by xmichael999 » Fri, Aug 16, 2019, 1:44 PM UTC

Ok so strange question, does this have an effect on humans as well? Do regular sushi eaters fart less? (;

Re: Tasty Seaweed Reduces Cows’ Methane Emissions by 99%

#290

Post by strainer » Fri, Aug 16, 2019, 1:45 PM UTC

hannob wrote: post #172

Skeptical science remark: This whole "if cows eat seaweed that'll vastly reduce their carbon footprint" is based on a single study with 12 cows. If you take into consideration that especially small, never replicated studies often don't hold up to scrunity the next thing to do is not to ask how to produce the seaweed. The next reasonable step would be to try to replicate this study in a larger sample (and probably als…

"is based on a single study with 12 cows."

Its not - most often "skeptical science remarks" although popular, are poorly informed and misleading.

A quick scholar search shows numerous studies broadly agreeing with the one featured here, including the seaweeds effects on sheep digestion and microbial and metabolic details:

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=asparagopsis+methane