Sheep and herders travel along a country road in Molise, southern Italy, in late May. They are headed to a high pasture near the town of Roccamandolfi, part of the biannual transhumance journey. (Cindi Emond/CBC)
An ancient practice at peril
Seasonal droving of livestock, known as transhumance, has survived in rural Europe and around the world. As it gains newfound respect, though, pastoralists say without more support, the practice is at risk.
I admit I'm surprised, in France, herd owners who do it tend to transport the livestock by truck, or even helicopter, rather than make them walk...
sending herds of slow moving beasts all over the public roads would be the fastest way to be hated by enough people that an anti transhumance lobby might very well become strong enough to have the practice banned.
I admit I'm surprised, in France, herd owners who do it tend to transport the livestock by truck, or even helicopter, rather than make them walk...
sending herds of slow moving beasts all over the public roads would be the fastest way to be hated by enough people that an anti transhumance lobby might very well become strong enough to have the practice banned.
You French don't understand sheep the way the Welsh and Australians do.
An easy way for dairy farmers to reduce their climate impact
by Lorena Anderson, University of California - Merced
Research reveals an easy way for dairy farmers to reduce their climate impact
Study collaborators held a demonstration of how biochar is created. Credit: Juan Rodriguez Adding even a small amount of biochar—a charcoal-like material produced by burning organic matter—to a dairy's manure-composting process reduces methane emissions by 84%, a recent study by UC Merced researchers shows.
A charcoal-like material produced by burning organic matter eh!
Rationalia relies on voluntary donations. There is no obligation of course, but if you value this place and want to see it continue please consider making a small donation towards the forum's running costs.
Details on how to do that can be found here. .
"It isn't necessary to imagine the world ending in fire or ice.
There are two other possibilities: one is paperwork, and the other is nostalgia."
Frank Zappa
"This is how humanity ends; bickering over the irrelevant."
Clinton Huxley » 21 Jun 2012 » 14:10:36 GMT
An easy way for dairy farmers to reduce their climate impact
by Lorena Anderson, University of California - Merced
Research reveals an easy way for dairy farmers to reduce their climate impact
Study collaborators held a demonstration of how biochar is created. Credit: Juan Rodriguez Adding even a small amount of biochar—a charcoal-like material produced by burning organic matter—to a dairy's manure-composting process reduces methane emissions by 84%, a recent study by UC Merced researchers shows.
According to a recent study, a new small-molecule compound that regulates the firing of serotonergic neurons has a fast-acting antidepressant effect. The results pave the way for the development of a new class of treatments for major depressive disorder (MDD) and other difficult-to-treat mood disorders. MDD is one of the most common mental disorders, affecting hundreds of millions of individuals globally.
The majority of today’s antidepressants target the serotonin transporter (SERT). These drugs, however, are limited. SERT-targeted antidepressants not only take up to 4 weeks to take effect, but they may also have serious side effects, including suicide, and only a percentage of individuals who take them recover from depression following treatment. While ketamine has been considered as an alternative, its potentially addictive properties as well as the danger of schizophrenia have aroused concerns.
As a result, there is a need for new, fast-acting antidepressant targets and compounds without these serious drawbacks. Here, Nan Sun and colleagues present one such solution. Sun and his team designed a fast-onset antidepressant that works by disrupting the interaction between SERT and neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS).
The authors found that disassociating SERT from nNOS in the brains of mice reduced intercellular serotonin in a brain region called the dorsal raphe nucleus. This enhanced serotonergic neuron activity in this area and dramatically increased serotonin release into the medial prefrontal cortex. According to the findings, this resulted in a fast-acting antidepressant effect in a mouse model of MDD.