'It’s parody at this point': Internet mocks study indicating human breathing contributing to global warming

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA: Social media platform X was abuzz following a recent study proposing that human breathing might be contributing to global warming in the UK.

As unveiled in a recent publication in the journal PLOS, the research indicated that “exhaled human breath can contain small, elevated concentrations of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O), both of which contribute to global warming."

What did the study suggest?

According to the New York Post, research findings suggest that methane and nitrous oxide exhaled by humans contribute to approximately 0.1% of the UK's greenhouse gas emissions, in addition to the carbon dioxide exhaled by individuals.

The study, led by Dr Nicholas Cowan from the UK Center for Ecology and Hydrology and involving 104 adult volunteers, revealed that nitrous oxide was detected in the breath of every participant, while 31% exhaled methane.

Even those who didn't exhale methane in their breath potentially released the gas through "ion flatus," which includes burping and flatulence, as reported by the New York Post.

The research team emphasized as per the New York Post, “We report only emissions in breath in this study, and flatus emissions are likely to increase these values significantly, though no literature characterizes these emissions for people in the UK.

Assuming that livestock and other wild animals also exhale emissions of N2O, there may still be a small but significant unaccounted-for source of N2O emissions in the UK, which could account for more than 1% of national-scale emissions."

As per the New York Post, the concentration of gases in the study samples allowed researchers to estimate that human breath contributes to 0.05% of the UK's methane emissions and 0.1% of nitrous oxide emissions. The study did not establish a connection between exhaled gases and diet.

The researchers conveyed, “Concentration enhancement of both CH4 and N2O in the breath of vegetarians and meat consumers are similar in magnitude. Based on these results, we can state that, when estimating emissions from a population within the UK, diet or future diet changes are unlikely to be important when estimating emissions across the UK as a whole," as per the New York Post.

Internet users call the research a 'parody'

Reacting to the revelation made by the new study that human breathing may be causing global warming, a user wrote, "Lmaooo it’s parody at this point".

A user made a joke about the research and wrote, "I would gasp at this revelation but it would only be contributing to the problem."

A user shared a meme and wrote, "“Humans may be fueling global warming by breathing”".

Another user wrote, "They want to kill us all to save the planet."