Hot Cows, NIH DEI Woes + Virtual Ears

🐮When Cows Get Cranky: The Science of Dairy Distress

How now, hot cow? Not so great, it turns out. Scientists have determined that climate change is negatively impacting dairy cattle and milk products. For Science News, Meghie Rodrigues covers how ​climate change is coming for our cheese​. 

🤢Heat stress doesn’t taste good

Producing great milk takes more than just happy cows; a stable climate is a huge factor. Rising global temperatures and increasingly erratic weather patterns impact the quality and availability of pasture and feed, which alters milk composition. This in turn affects the fat and protein content crucial for cheese making. Furthermore, changes in rainfall and temperature contribute to heat stress in cows, which makes them more vulnerable to diseases. The ill effect is a double whammy: less milk overall, and milk that’s less suitable for producing the consistent high-quality consumers demand. 

👩🏼‍🔬Biotech to the rescue

The dairy market, a robust segment of the global food industry, is ripe for sustainable innovation. Changing conditions create fertile ground for biotech solutions that can help dairy farmers adapt and thrive. Sustainable formulas for dairy cattle feedstock not only aim to keep cows healthy and productive under stress, but also to address the significant environmental footprint of livestock, particularly methane emissions. Investing in solutions that reduce both climate vulnerability and greenhouse gas output is not just good for the planet; it’s good for long-term profitability.

🧀Cultivating Tomorrow’s Dairy: Biotech Innovators

The race is on to develop the next generation of sustainable dairy solutions. Here are some notable startups focused on feedstock innovations to tackle bovine emissions, improve livestock health, and ensure quality dairy output:

• ​CH4 Global​, based in Nevada, has developed a red seaweed “Methane Tamer” feed additive for use in both beef cattle and dairy cows. The company has raised $47M, including a $29 million Series B round in 2023 and a recent round in January 2025 for an undisclosed amount.
• ​Symbrosia​, based in Hawaii, offers SeaGraze, a feed additive made from sustainably grown red algae that’s a traditional ingredient in Hawaiian poke. They’ve raised over $8 million, including a Series A led by Danone Manifesto Ventures.
• ​Healthy Cow​, based in Canada, focuses on patented intravaginal probiotics that tackle the root causes of reproductive and other health issues in dairy herds. The company is in the early stages of fundraising, with just $200,000 to date. 

If we want our cheese to stay sharp and our cows to stay cool, let’s invest in science that keeps the cream — and the climate — from curdling.

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☠️ Health Science Funding Fail

We’ve ​said it before​, and (sadly 😭) we’re saying it again: science funding in the United States is in trouble. To add insult to injury, programs benefiting minorities are the most vulnerable to cuts. As SN’s Sujata Gupta reports, ​$1.8 billion in grant cuts at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) hit minority health research the hardest​. 

🧐NIH + DEI = 0

Nearly 700 NIH grants worth a combined total of $1.81 billion were terminated between late February and early April. The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities saw a 30% funding decrease — ten times higher than the average cut. Researchers dug deep into the data to quantify these cuts, underscoring the severe disruption to ongoing medical studies and the career trajectories of scientists. For those in early career stages, the damage may be a dealbreaker, raising concerns about the future of U.S. scientific leadership and researcher training. 

A small ray of hope: a federal ​judge has ordered the NIH to restore some grants​ that were cut based on gender ideology or diversity, equity and inclusion, calling the terminations illegal. A big caveat is that the ruling only applies to specific disputed grants, and will only restore these grants while the case makes its way through court.

🦸‍♀️Private sector heroes

Science thrives on new ideas and different ways of looking at challenges. When research teams are diverse — bringing together individuals from various racial, ethnic, gender, socioeconomic, and experiential backgrounds — they offer a wider range of perspectives, insights, and approaches to problem-solving. Empathy also plays a role. When medical researchers and healthcare professionals serve patients from diverse backgrounds, they’re better able to address disparities, improve patient outcomes, and advance scientific innovation. The best investors understand the importance of diversity in increasing profitability. That’s why there are several private sector tech funds with a mandate to recruit minority candidates. Here are a few we love:

• ​Techstars Rising Stars​ is a pre-seed, pre-accelerator fund specifically designed to attract underrepresented founders of color in the U.S. The program aims to fill a crucial funding gap that often exists for these entrepreneurs at the very earliest stages. Their model is to award $100K to qualified startups and founders from historically underrepresented racial or ethnic groups (Black, Hispanic and Latino, Indigenous American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and Filipino, Hmong and Vietnamese Asian). While funds are not exclusively for STEM founders, many awardees come from scientific or technical backgrounds.
• ​JLABS (Johnson & Johnson Innovation)​ is a corporate program with a global network of life sciences incubators that provide lab space, resources, and mentorship to biotech, pharma, medical device, and health tech startups. Unlike traditional private sector accelerators, JLABS does not take equity. Instead, it provides a “no-strings-attached” model with a goal to help startups access industry and secure external funding. JLABS has a stated commitment to supporting diverse entrepreneurs and founders, and they track diversity metrics within their portfolio companies (e.g., 30% led by women or racial or ethnic minorities in one report, compared to industry averages of 1% and 8%). 
• ​UCLA Anderson Venture Accelerator​ supports promising startups within the Anderson student, alumni, and local communities, with a strong focus on life sciences & digital health, AI & machine learning, and enterprise technology. The program provides access to curated programs and resources, an industry network, and crucially, connections to capital and tech events to engage with the Los Angeles startup ecosystem. They have helped companies raise $228M in funding. They have also proudly assisted ​65% underrepresented founders, including 226 female founders.​

The private sector is good at picking winners, proving that diversity isn’t just good science, it’s smart business.

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👂The Sound of the Future: Invisible Headsets

From headphones to speakers, we have tons of options when it comes to audio tech. But Ananya Palivela reports for SN how researchers are trying to ​manipulate sound waves so that only some people can hear them​ without accoutrements. 

🔊Audible Enclaves

Researchers have developed what they call “audible enclaves.” These nooks create a ​private audio environment out in the open​, as described in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this past March. When positioned just right, the listener can hear sounds inaudible to someone nearby.

“It is like wearing an invisible headset,” co-author Yun Jing, an acoustics researcher at Penn State, told SN.

To create this enclave, the researchers 3-D printed acoustic panels with zigzagging air channels — small repeating structures that direct sound,  something that natural materials cannot accomplish. By modifying each channel’s path length, they steered ultrasonic waves — which humans can’t hear — into curved paths, similar to the way a lens bends lightwaves. 

The researchers covered two speakers with thin sheets of the material, bending the inaudible ultrasonic beams toward each other. The beams’ intersection created a sound audible only at that point. While sound quality isn’t pristine yet, it demonstrates that this technology works.

📣Hear Here

It’s commonplace now to encounter someone in public watching a video, scrolling social media, or listening to music without headphones, subjecting those around them to noise. While the audio tech industry is replete with speakers, stereos, headphones, and earbuds, this appears to be an opportunity for innovations that create a targeted listening experience without equipment.

Imagine watching a movie on a long flight without flimsy, single-use earbuds. Or, listen to your favorite podcast on a subway commute even though your headphones are dead. Audible enclaves could also reduce noise pollution by isolating cacophony, or serve as private communication zones for military personnel.

📢Sound Investments

• ​Audfly Technology​: Founded in 2015, this Chinese company offers audiotech with a focus on indoor and outdoor directional speakers, which deliver sound in a targeted way, unlike traditional speakers that radiate sound waves in all directions. They highlight how isolated audio can come in handy in retail settings, museums, hospitals, and more. In 2024, they raised over $16 million over four funding rounds.
• ​Noveto​: This Israel-based company was founded in 2011. Integrating its ultrasonic tech into a third-party soundbar, Noveto’s product creates a personalized, immersive sound bubble around the listener. In 2021, they raised $10 million from tech investors Adit Ventures.

It’s not the cone of silence made famous by ​sci-fi blockbuster Dune​ (not yet anyway), but it’s a step in the right direction!

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💡Shining a New Light on Vertical Farming

The future of food isn’t just growing up, it’s glowing up. Sophie Hartley reports for SN on how ​cutting-edge smart lighting could transform vertical farms​ into increasingly profitable ventures. 

🌳The Green Revolution, Illuminated

While traditional farming relies on Mother Nature’s unpredictable whims, vertical farms are reliable, climate controlled environments that save water and space. However, their use of relatively static, energy-guzzling lights gets expensive. Researchers led by horticulturist Leo Marcelis of Wageningen University in the Netherlands designed a computer program that controls lighting to adjust the intensity of grow lights based on variables in electricity costs. They found that they could optimize favorable growing conditions for basil, spinach and arugula while reducing energy consumption. The study cited an estimated 12% reduction in electricity bills, which could be a significant bonus for botanists.

🎋Cultivating a Lucrative Market

The global vertical farming market is estimated at $8 billion in 2024 and expected to triple by 2030. This explosive growth is fueled by increasing populations, dwindling arable land, and a soaring demand for fresh, local, and sustainably grown produce. Plants thrive when they receive precisely what they need, exactly when they need it, so “light recipes” that control growth and cost simultaneously are desirable. In this capital-intensive sector, innovations that drive down operating costs – particularly energy costs, often the largest expense – are not just beneficial, they’re essential for scaling profitably and achieving long-term viability. In fact, multiple vertical farming companies with billion-dollar valuations have shut down or ​filed for bankruptcy​ in the last two years. 

🫛Sprouting Ventures: Leading the Charge

Several forward-thinking vertical farming startups are switching up their operational strategies, deploying sophisticated smart lighting and environmental control technologies: 

• ​Thrive Agritech​, based in New York, is heavily focused on (though not limited to) the commercial cannabis sector. The company makes LED lighting products and remote power systems for greenhouses, warehouses, and vertical farming operations. Thrive Agritech has raised a total of $3 million in capital over two funding rounds.
• UK-based ​Intelligent Growth Solutions​ makes industrial-scale vertical farms with a patented sensor-enabled power and communications platform designed to boost LED grow light efficiency. The company has raised a total of $114 million in capital over 6 funding rounds, the largest being a $57.3 million Series B round in November 2021. 
• ​AeroFarms​ grows microgreens using AI in combination with a custom light algorithm that varies spectrum, intensity, and frequency on demand. The firm is a pioneer in aeroponic indoor farming, a method of growing plants without soil, where roots are suspended in the air and misted with a nutrient-rich solution. The New Jersey-based company has raised over $300 million, including investment from IKEA and a partnership with Whole Foods. Notably, AeroFarms survived a brush with bankruptcy, filing for chapter 11 in early 2023, but ​emerging fully-funded​ later that same year. 

Here’s hoping smart lighting continues to brighten the sector. 

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