Robyn Lowe

I was recently alerted to a lecture discussing how to “double your dog’s lifespan”. It is an understandable topic of interest. Every dog owner wants more time with their companion and, more importantly, we want those extra years to be healthy, comfortable, and with a good quality of life.

On 14 November, headlines circulated around corners of the internet, proclaiming: “HUGE: Norway SUSPENDS Bovaer Use in Cows.” The accompanying article stated that Norsk Melkeråvare, Norway’s largest dairy supplier, had suspended the use of the feed additive Bovaer, following reports from Danish farmers alleging it caused illness and collapse in cows. It also referenced Denmark’s decision to mandate methane-reducing feed additives for all dairy cattle, in herds of fifty or more cows.

“Its motion was so swift, complex and perfect that at first I did not see it as a machine”. Written over 125 years ago, these immortal words of HG Wells are as real today as in the turbulent era of their Victorian author. While these words were penned at a time of great mechanical development, with the awe and might of industrialised humanity (and with the mechanisation of warfare at the time), they spoke of an age where “machines” would dominate all of human existence.