@scientificamerican

Notoriously, cows burps are rather potent — a single cow can burp out as much as 220 pounds of methane a year. And scientists just identified the special structure inside microbes in their gut that is responsible for all that methane. It’s called a hydrogenobody. Read more at the 🔗 in our bio. 📝🎤: Jackie Flynn Mogensen 🎥: Kelso Harper 🎞️: Marta Hill 📷: Getty Images, Chuanqi Jiang/Jinying He/Che Hu/Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences Fei Xie et al.,Rumen ciliates modulate methane emissions in ruminants.Science392,eadv4244(2026).DOI:10.1126/science.adv4244 #cows #methane #science #climate #greenhousegases

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agriculture: The growth of plants, animals or fungi for human needs, including food, fuel, chemicals and medicine.

archaea: (singular: archaeon) One of the three domains of life on Earth. This group consists of single-celled prokaryotes — organisms without a cell nucleus. Archaea are best known for living in extremely harsh environments, such as very salty water or highly acidic or hot places.

cattle: Also known as bovines (because they’re members of the subfamily known as Bovinae), these are breeds of livestock raised as a source of milk and meat. Although the adult females are known as cows and the males as bulls, many people refer to them all, generally, as cows.

cell: (in biology) The smallest structural and functional unit of an organism. Typically too small to see with the unaided eye, it consists of a watery fluid surrounded by a membrane or wall. Most organisms, such as yeasts, molds, bacteria and some algae, are composed of only one cell.

cilia: (singular cilium) Small hairlike features that occur on the surface of some cells and larger tissue structures. They can move and their wavelike motion can propel liquids to move in a particular direction. Cilia play an important role in many biological functions throughout the body.

dairy: Containing milk or having to do with milk. Or a building or company in which milk is prepared for distribution and sale.

DNA: (short for deoxyribonucleic acid) A long, double-stranded and spiral-shaped molecule inside most living cells that carries genetic instructions. It is built on a backbone of phosphorus, oxygen, and carbon atoms. In all living things, from plants and animals to microbes, these instructions tell cells which molecules to make.

family: A taxonomic group consisting of at least one genus of organisms.

greenhouse gas: A gas that contributes to the greenhouse effect by absorbing heat. Carbon dioxide is one example of a greenhouse gas.

gut: An informal term for the gastrointestinal tract, basically the stomach and intestines. These organs digest — break down — foods and absorb their nutrients for use by the body.

hydrogen: The lightest element in the universe. As a gas, it is colorless, odorless and highly flammable. It’s an integral part of many fuels, fats and chemicals that make up living tissues. It’s made of a single proton (which serves as its nucleus) orbited by a single electron.

methane: A hydrocarbon with the chemical formula CH₄ (meaning there are four hydrogen atoms bound to one carbon atom). It’s a natural constituent of what’s known as natural gas. It’s also emitted by decomposing plant material in wetlands and is belched out by cows and other ruminant livestock. From a climate perspective, methane is 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide is in trapping heat in Earth’s atmosphere, making it a very important greenhouse gas.

microbiologist: A scientist who studies microorganisms, the infections they might cause or ways that they can interact with their environment.

organ: (in biology) Various parts of an organism that perform one or more particular functions. For instance, an ovary is an organ that makes eggs, the brain is an organ that makes sense of nerve signals and a plant’s roots are organs that take in nutrients and moisture.

organelle: Specialized structures, such as mitochondria, found within a cell.

organism: Any living thing, from elephants and plants to bacteria and other types of single-celled life.

potent: An adjective for something (like a germ, poison, drug or acid) that is very strong or powerful.

protozoa: (sing: protozoan) Any of many types of single-celled organisms, most of them too small to be seen with the unaided eye. They include amoebas, paramecia and many others. Some can cause disease in humans and other animals.

rumen: The first and largest part of a cow or steer’s four-part stomach. It’s where microbes break down fiber into nutrients that the animal can use.

species: A group of similar organisms capable of producing offspring that can survive and reproduce.