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In New Zealand, farmers have to pay a “gas tax” based on the flatulence of their farm animals. Scientists say methane emitted by farm animals is responsible for more than half of New Zealand?s greenhouse gases. Last year, New Zealand joined the Kyoto Protocol, agreeing to reduce the production of greenhouse gases, and since they’re not a heavily industrialized country, controlling flatulence is the only way they can do it.

Worldwide, animal flatulence accounts for about 15% of methane emissions, but the percentage is higher in heavily agricultural countries. The new taxes are expected to raise almost 5 million dollars, which will be used to fund research on reducing animal emissions.

Don’t laugh?they’re doing more than we are about this problem.
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Robert Roy Britt writes in Space.com that the SOHO spacecraft, which warns us about large solar flares, has a stuck antenna which causes blackout periods, when it can’t send home data. If a giant solar flare should occur?and there have been many during the last few years?we would have no warning about interrupted satellite communications. Solar storms affect cell phones and TV broadcasts. More importantly, intelligence agencies and the military also rely on satellites.
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It’s not just humans who practice cannibalism: birds, certain flies, our close cousins the chimpanzees, and even bacteria eat their own kind. Intelligent species, like humans, may eat each other for psychological or religious reasons. Chimps seem to do it in a fit of revenge or just plain nastiness, as when females eat other mothers’ babies. Lions do it to preserve their genetic line?when a male takes over a pride, he eats the previous king’s cubs. Praying mantises do it as part of good sex: At the end of the sex act, the female bites the head off her mate and eats him.
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In the June 22nd Sunday New York Times, Lawrence Osborne writes about Australian researcher Allan Snyder, who has developed the Medtronic Mag Pro. When you wear it on your head, it turns you into a savant. Scientists have always been puzzled by savants?retarded or autistic people who are geniuses in one area, like math or calculating dates. Snyder is trying to figure out how their brains do this, and how to turn anyone into a savant.
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