Pull-my-finger research, I guess?

[Chad L. Magee]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2017/01/11/scientists-are-building-an-animal-fart-database/?utm_term=.ae8d60fe605b

Finally I can properly use this in a post.

All I can say is this:  What has science come to.... 

[69rtse4spd]

Your tax dollars at work . They got a big grant to figure this out, I'm in the wrong trade.

[Mytur Binsdirti]

Hopefully the incoming administration will tell these "scientists" to blow it out their collective asses.

[XH29N0G]

It sounds like it is a combination of outreach (to the public) which is now mandated by government funded science and a serious international effort.  You never know if some little cute outreach activity is going to capture the imagination of the next Einstein or piss off the public. Luckily most can sort it out.

Methane is actually a very serious issue and there is a lot of $$ related to knowing where it comes from.  There are very serious people who study methane and agricultural methane and understanding industrial losses from an economic perspective.  There are also valuable things that come out of basic (in addition to applied) science.  For instance, I never thought that things like quantum tunneling would leave behind traceable signals in methane that could be used for a purpose, but it does and it provides a fingerprint that can be used to answer questions pertinent to the agricultural and industrial issues mentioned above.  So I would not argue for shutting down the science of the US or transferring it to industry.  It is the many dimensions of our science that have made this country's scientists the leaders in the world and their findings continue to open up new opportunities for business and progress. 

Personally, I find the article annoying because it is meant to be cute and can be misread and used to send us backwards.   

[shorty442]

Well, regardless of the pros and cons, it's gotta be a real "gas" to work with those folks !!!

[DeltaV]

That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.
Christopher Hitchens