Beer isn't just enjoyable, it can be good for the environment

Q. Beer lovers, you know a good brew when you taste it. But do you know about several unusual uses for beer byproducts that produce winners all around?

A. The Milk River, located largely in Montana, gets its milky hue from the high amount of clay that has seeped into the water supply, says Dan Lewis on his “Now I Know” website. But the wastewater treatment system for the city of Havre, home to some 10,000 people, wasn’t doing a good job of reducing the phosphorous and nitrogen in the city water. Fixing the problem would cost more than $1 million.

Fortunately, Havre has an award-winning small craft brewery, with lots of waste barley mash to dispose of. In 2017, the wastewater treatment superintendent offered to take the mash for use in the river. As explained by Yellowstone Public Media, “bacteria play a big role removing nitrogen and phosphorus … but need some extra food at the end of the treatment process when they’re starving for carbon and volatile fatty acids. Luckily, spent barley has both.” Dumping just a few gallons of the brewery’s barley waste into the water each day allows the wastewater to be returned safely to the ecosystem.

Beer byproducts can also be used as a plastic substitute for six-pack rings that sometimes endanger wildlife when they end up in the ocean. A small Florida brewery has made an alternative ring system from barley and wheat, fully biodegradable and digestible. As “Discovery” puts it, “rather than ensnaring curious animals in a corset of litter, the company’s sixpack rings could serve as a satisfying snack.”

Q. From a reef-dwelling rainbow-colored fish, to an East African tree that grows to an impressive height of 65 feet, to a black-and-white spider less than a quarter-inch long, biological discoveries of new species can be amusing or downright shocking. Can you fill in the details about “E.voltai” and the three Madagascar frog species?

A. The electric eel, “E. voltai,” is the world’s greatest bioelectricty generator, discharging a zap of 860 volts, significantly more than the previous record of 650 volts, reports Gemma Tarlach in “Discover” magazine. Perhaps its super-shocking skills come from its home in exceptionally clear water, which has lower conductivity than murkier flows. “E. voltai” and a second eel are the first additions to the “Electrophorus” genus in 250 years.

Turning to the new frog species, the trio are so tiny they could sit together on your thumbnail. As Tarlach says, the researchers that made the discovery “had some fun naming the nano-frogs, which comprise the new genus “Mini”: “Mini scule,” “Mini ature” and “Mini mum.” Get it?

Q. For decades, chickens have held the front line in Florida’s fight against West Nile virus and viruses that cause Eastern equine encephalitis and Saint Louis encephalitis. How so?

A. In 2018, chickens from over a third of Florida’s counties provided weekly blood samples revealing if they’d been bitten by disease-bearing mosquitoes, says Aimee Cunningham in “Science News” magazine. If enough birds tested positive, pesticide spraying and other measures could be employed to stop the disease from spreading.

According to University of Florida biologist Thomas Unnasch, the birds “are sampling literally hundreds or thousands of mosquitoes every day.” But they’re not able to detect dengue or Zika, since mosquitoes carrying those viruses tend to bite people rather than birds. Fortunately, the viruses causing West Nile or Eastern equine encephalitis are relatively rare in people but can be deadly. Infected chickens show few signs of sickness. Moreover, neither infected people nor chickens can transmit the viruses because both are considered “dead-end hosts.”

Bill is a journalist, Rich holds a doctorate in physics. Together the brothers bring you “Strange But True.” Send STRANGE questions to sbtcolumn@gmail.com