When you think of a Panda you think of this cute little cuddly black and white bear eating bamboo and living in China. But when Ashli Brown thinks of pandas the first image that comes to her head is their poop. She is thinking that their poop can be a new way of turning grass into fuel. Bamboo makes up most of the pandas diet. Plants and grass absorb energy from the sun, so Brown is trying to find a way how to use this energy. Plants are renewable energy source so we are able to replace them, this is called biomass. But most energy we use is from non-renewable sources such as coal, oil, and natural gases this is called fossil fuels. Burning the biomass could be one way of getting energy, but the poop teaches us about breaking it down. It is what the panda's stomach does to get more energy. So anything in their stomachs can be broken down well. Every 14 months they have counted the poop from the pandas who live at the zoo which is Ya ya and Le le. They have found 12 different species of bacteria even some they have never found in pandas. Brown is going to use one type of refuse to break down another refuse. Refuse is another word for waste. Her team is trying to figure out the chemicals that help break down the biomass, once they all do that they can turn grass and other plants into energy fuels.
To find out about this article I went to Science news for kids. Because I wanted to go on this website. And what I found so interesting about this article is that the main thing is that we can find another way to have renewable energy. I have heard about renewable wind, water and more things about renewable energy but never from grasses and other plants. And another interesting thing is how they can figure out so much about how to do this by looking at a panda's digestive section and their poop. So I think it is good how scientist have noticed this because if we start to do and find out more ways to make renewable energy then maybe one day we won't have to use non-renewable, plus it is harder to find now. So now when I think of panda's I not only think about how cute they are I will think about how their poop and the way the digest their food can help the world.
By September 14, 2011
"An Energy Lesson from Panda Poop | Science News for Kids." Science News for Kids | Publication of the Society for Science & the Public. Web. 09 Nov. 2011.
That is interesting and gross in the same time.
ReplyDeleteI find this an interesting article. Your articles are so fun, always!
ReplyDeleteThis article is very interesting! And I think you will need some of this info for your next project. Good job at explaining and I like your pic.
ReplyDelete