ClimateCan You Have Your Burger And Protect The Planet, Too? What's going on: Scientists are exploring how to genetically engineer cows’ stomachs to knock out their greenhouse gas emissions, starting with a young calf named Sushi. The lore behind his name can tell you a lot about the project — scientists have discovered that when cows eat seaweed, it can significantly reduce the methane they produce when they burp during digestion. But since it’s a tall order to totally change the diets of the 1.5 billion cows on the planet, this team of gene editors is working to develop a probiotic pill that cows could take at birth to transform their gut microbiomes for the rest of their lives. The multiyear experiment will cost $30 million and comes to us from a Nobel-prize-winning chemist who pioneered gene editing, the University of California at Davis, and the Innovative Genomics Institute. What it means: Methane is responsible for around 30% of the current rise in global temperatures (with cows specifically causing 4%), which is linked to an increase in extreme weather like flooding and severe storms. In other words, the “steaks” are high. Meanwhile, despite recent pushes from climate activists for people to go vegetarian or vegan, cattle are still some of the most-consumed animals on Earth. Experts say this could be a huge step forward in changing the trajectory of our warming planet, but there’s still a long way to go to make it happen. As one of the researchers put it: “The microbial world is a brutal, Mad Max wasteland.” Related: The Great Salt Lake Is Warming The Earth (NPR) | 