We chop, slice, and sink our teeth into it,

我們剁碎、削薄片，用牙齒啃咬肉品

it's rooted in our genes and culture,

這樣的行為根植在我們的基因、我們的文化中

and globally speaking, appetites are on the rise.

而且在世界各地來說，大家對吃的慾望不斷上升。

The average amount of meat consumed per person has nearly doubled in the past 50 years.

過去 50 年來平均每人肉品消費數量已多出一倍。

And this demand is putting an incredible amount of pressure on the world's resources.

而這樣的需求給世界資源帶來巨大的壓力。

Is there a way to feed everyone and help the planet at the same time?

是不是有個方法可以同時餵飽所有人又能幫助地球呢？

Scientists think they might have found something in a new supplement plucked from the ocean.

科學家認為他們可能從海底摘來的東西裡發現了一種新的補充品。

Here at UC Davis's Beef Barn, a team of scientists and students are mixing together

在加州大學戴維斯分校的牛肉穀倉中，一組由科學家與學生組成的團隊

molasses and a special kind of seaweed.

將糖漿與一種特殊海草混合在一起。

They'll sprinkle it over the cow's meals, like a nutritional boost.

他們會將它撒在奶牛的飼料上，像是營養增強品。

We're using for low dose about a quarter of a percent.

我們只使用低劑量，大約 0.25%

In our high dose is half a percent.

我們的高劑量則是 0.5%。

It may not seem like much, but this dash of seaweed is part of a new diet that could help

看起來似乎不多，但這種少量海草攙和物是新飲食菜單的一部份

curb greenhouse gas emissions in cows.

可以幫助抑制奶牛的溫室氣體排放。

Livestock are responsible for about 14 and a half percent of the greenhouse gas emissions.

溫室氣體排放量中畜牧業大約佔 14.5%。

And cattle are far and away the biggest contributors.

而牛隻是其中排放量最大的。

Usually when you hear about methane from cattle you think about cow farts and it's actually

通常當你聽到從牛身上排放的甲烷，你會想到奶牛的屁

the complete opposite.

但其實完全不是這麼回事。

Methane from cattle mostly comes from the burps.

從牛身上排放出甲烷的途徑大部分是打嗝。

But methane does not stay too long in the atmosphere, it actually gets destroyed

但甲烷不會在大氣中存在太久，其實甲烷

in about ten to twelve years.

在十年到十二年內就會被破壞。

However, it does have a global warming potential

然而，甲烷還是有讓全球暖化的可能性

and traps heat within our atmosphere at about 28 times greater than carbon dioxide.

並且在我們的大氣中保存的熱能大約是二氧化碳的 28 倍。

But the world's 1.5 billion cows really can't help themselves, it's in their biology.

但世界上 15 億頭奶牛真的無法自制，因為這是牠們的生物本能。

A majority of the methane that comes from the animal itself is actually through enteric fermentation.

來自動物本身的甲烷大部分其實是腸道的發酵作用。

There's microbial populations within their stomach and these microbial populations

在牠們的胃裡有微生物菌種，這些菌種

are actually degrading the feed and producing byproducts that the cows either absorb

其實是在降解飼料並且生產副產品，這些副產品是奶牛可以吸收作為養分的

into nutrients, or other microbes actually ingest them and create other byproducts.

或是其他微生物可以攝取並產生其他副產品。

Methane is one of these byproducts.

甲烷就是其中一個副產品。

Greenhouse gas emissions are very much related to the quality of diet, the more forage,

溫室氣體排放跟飲食的質量密切相關，越多飼料

the more fiber, you get proportionately more methane emissions.

就有越多纖維，相對地就會有越多甲烷排放。

And that's why this seaweed, Asparagopsis, is so intriguing

那也是為什麼這種海草，蘆筍藻

to an international community of scientists.

對全世界的科學家來說是如此的有趣。

It was first found in Australia.

最剛開始是在澳洲發現的。

Some of this Asparagopsis was introduced into a Petri dish with the bacteria from the cow guts.

有一些蘆筍藻會跟奶牛腸道裡的細菌一起引入培養皿。

They could actually prevent methane from being produced.

它們實際上可以防止甲烷產生。

It struck me that this is something that could also work quite well in real animals.

這讓我震驚的是，在真正的動物身上也可以很好的發揮作用。

Asparagopsis has an active ingredient called bromoform.

蘆筍藻有種叫三溴甲烷的活性成分。

It basically acts as an inhibitor to an enzyme that's required by the microbes to convert hydrogen into methane.

它基本上是作為微生物將氫轉為甲烷的酶的抑制劑。

It disrupts that process so that methane is not formed.

它破壞了整個過程讓甲烷不會產生。

Once the cows finish their dinner, the team will calculate their emissions to see if the

一旦奶牛吃完晚餐，團隊就會計算牠們的排放量

seaweed is doing the trick.

看看海草是不是有用。

We use a machine called green feed.

我們利用一個稱作綠色飼料的機器。

When an animal walks in it reads their ear tag, it drops down feed, and they get to stay

當一隻動物走過去，它會讀取牠們耳朵上的標籤，然後飼料落下

there and eat feed.

牛隻就會留在原地吃飼料。

Usually they barrel in there, but these young steers were a bit camera shy.

通常牠們會速戰速決，但這些年輕小牛在攝影機前有點害羞。

The machine will take their sample of the breath and will then automatically analyze it.

機器會採集牠們的呼吸樣本，然後自動分析它。

You can actually monitor it in real time.

實際上你可以實時監控它。

And their first study with dairy cows netted some promising results.

他們首次對酪農業的奶牛研究獲得了一些有希望的結果。

What we saw was a reduction of up to 60 percent when we feed 1 percent of seaweed to the cows.

我們看到的結果是當我們餵了 1% 的海草給奶牛，最多可以減少 60%。

What we've seen so far is the amount of methane that can be reduced is proportional to the

到目前為止我們看到的是可以減少的甲烷量

amount of bromoform that the seaweed contains.

跟海草含有的三溴甲烷量成正比。

This second study with beef steers will be looking into the overall health of the animal.

跟肉品牛隻有關的第二項研究將探討動物的整體健康狀況。

These animals will be eating seaweed for approximately 200 days.

這些動物食用海草的時間大約 200 天。

We'll be able to capture that, if there's any long term benefits to feeding seaweed.

如果餵食海草有任何長期益處，我們就能夠捕捉到。

If it increases any weight gain, we'll be able to see that as well.

如果它促使體重增加，我們也能夠看到。

And another big question on everyone's mind:

大家心中還有另一個大問題：

we will have taste panels.

我們會有品嚐小組。

They will tell us if they can pick up differences in meat quality from steers

他們會告訴我們那些有被餵食海草的牛隻

that have been fed seaweed and those that were not fed seaweed.

跟沒有被餵食海草的牛隻之間肉質有沒有任何差異。

So while they're trying to understand how Asparagopsis will affect cow health and wellbeing,

所以當他們試著了解蘆筍藻如何影響奶牛健康與福利

we're trying to understand how to influence Asparagopsis' health and wellbeing.

我們試著了解如何影響蘆筍藻的健康與福利。

Dr. Jennifer Smith is a marine biologist at UC San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Jennifer‧Smith 博士是加州大學聖地牙哥斯克里普斯海洋學研究所的海洋生物學家。

She's working with the UC Davis team to see how we can cultivate seaweed responsibly,

她正在跟加州大學戴維斯團隊合作看看我們如何可靠地培育海草

so this potential solution doesn't become a whole new problem.

不讓這個潛在的解決方案成為一個全新的問題。

Asparagopsis taxiformis is incredibly beautiful red seaweed.

蘆筍藻是種非常漂亮的紅色海草。

It produces a lot of really unique chemical compounds, and some of these chemical compounds

它製造很多非常獨特的化合物，而有一些化合物

have been found to be really valuable.

已經被發現是非常有價值的。

Just because we find that it could, potentially, mitigate methane production in cows

只是因為我們發現它可能、有機會，可以減少奶牛製造的甲烷

doesn't mean that tomorrow we're ready to mass produce Asparagopsis.

不代表我們馬上就準備好大量生產蘆筍藻。

I knew, given the complexity of this seaweed's life cycle, that it was gonna take a bit of research.

我知道，有鑑於這種海草生命週期的複雜性，我們需要稍微花點時間研究它。

When you look at Asparagopsis growing in the wild, you often see these large, pink, feathery,

當你看到野生的蘆筍藻，你常常會看到很大的、粉紅色的、像羽毛般柔軟的

iridescent, beautiful plants, and that is one of the stages of Asparagopsis

色彩斑斕的美麗植物，那是蘆筍藻生長期的某一階段

that eventually grow into another phase, and that phase looks a little bit like a pink cotton ball.

最終它們會成長到另一個階段，在那個階段看起來有點像是粉紅色的棉花球。

It's a filamentous, very delicate phase.

這是一個有如絲狀、很精緻的階段。

To date, nobody has really completed the life cycle of Asparagopsis in cultivation.

到目前為止，還沒有人真的以培育的方式栽培出蘆筍藻的生命週期。

In my laboratory at Scripps, we're manipulating things like light, temperature, and nutrient

在斯克里普斯的實驗室中，我們正在控制光線、溫度與養分濃度這樣的變因

concentrations to explore growth rates and chemical composition of the tissue.

以利探索組織的成長速度跟化學成分。

If you can alter light or temperature and you can get a doubling of growth, that's going to

如果你改變光線或溫度後可以獲得兩倍的生產速度

be really important for thinking about scaling up cultivation.

那對考慮到提升栽培規模來說是非常重要的。

Like the UC Davis team, this research project is at very early stages.

就像加州大學戴維斯團隊，這個研究專案還在很初期的階段

There's so much to be done, and it's such an exciting time.

還有很多事情要做，而且這是個非常激勵人心的時刻。

Ultimately, what we need to know is how fast can we grow Asparagopsis,

最後，我們需要知道的是我們可以讓蘆筍藻長得多快

how much space do we need,

我們需要多少空間

how much resources do we need,

我們需要多少資源

how can we scale this to make it viable as a supplement on a global scale.

我們如何擴展規模，讓它能夠成為全球規模的補充品。

We don't want to have a cultivation facility that requires a ton of electricity and power

我們不想要一個需要大量電力、能源的栽培設施

in order to grow the seaweed, because we're trying to, ultimately,

就為了種植這個海草，因為我們最終是想要

reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reduce our carbon footprint.

減少溫室氣體排放以及減少我們的碳足跡。

There's hope that if this proves out, all cows around the world could have this supplement added to their diets.

我們有個期望是如果這個研究證實可行，能在世界上所有奶牛的日常飲食中加入這個補充品。

It'd be a small tweak with big ramifications.

這會是個微小的調整，但帶來深遠的影響。

I think every sector, including the animal agriculture sector, needs to find ways to reduce their overall greenhouse gas emissions.

我認為所有部門，包括動物農業部門，都需要找到減少它們溫室氣體總排放量的方法。

We have to be working towards a more sustainable system.

我們必須努力建立一個更永續的系統。

It could be complementary to other things that would help in reducing emissions.

跟其他有助於減少排放量的事物相輔相成。

And so if feeding seaweed at a cost effective way that doesn't negatively affect these animals,

因此，如果以不會對這些動物造成負面影響又有成本效益的方式餵食海草

I think it's a viable way for us to actually meet those standards.

我想這對我們想要實際達成這些標準來說是可行的方法。

For more science documentaries, check out this one right here.

想要更多科學紀錄，看看畫面上這一部影片吧！

Don't forget to subscribe and keep coming back to Seeker for more videos.

別忘了訂閱並回來 Seeker 看更多的影片。