New Interactive Tool Answers Questions About Methane from the 2025 State of the Science Summit
The State of the Science Summit, hosted by the UC Davis CLEAR Center, Spark Climate Solutions, California Department of Food and Agriculture and College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences is back June 16-18, 2026, in Davis, California.
To reduce methane emissions from livestock, it’s going to take ingenuity and creativity, along with cutting-edge technology. It’s no surprise the space moves quickly and leaves many questions. It’s one reason why the UC Davis CLEAR Center, Spark Climate Solution, the California Department of Food and Agriculture and the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences developed the State of the Science Summit, also called SOTS.
It's also why Spark Climate Solutions has created an interactive chatbot called SOTS Bot, a powerful new tool to answer questions — from the most basic to the most complicated — regarding reducing enteric methane in animal agriculture. Users can type questions in the chatbot, which then pulls answers and information from the recorded panel discussions at the 2025 State of the Science Summit. It even cites which videos the answers are pulled from and the timestamp.
“The SOTS Bot takes the State of the Science summit report to a new level, allowing users to interact with the event long after it is done,” said CLEAR Center associate director and SOTS co-organizer, Joe Proudman. “The State of the Science Summit features leading voices in the methane and animal agriculture research and policy space, and now people can more easily access the wealth of knowledge that was at the great event.”
This tool allows users to quickly and easily explore the latest insights and research directly from top experts in the field. It also turns the entire video library from the 2025 Summit into structured AI ready data and information. Users can ask questions such as:
● What feed additives are most effective for reducing methane in cattle?
● How can genetics reduce livestock methane emissions?
● Are methane vaccines for cattle commercially available?
● How do you measure methane emissions from grazing cattle?
“This Summit plays a vital role in distilling emerging science into a clearer understanding of what is known, what remains uncertain, and where innovation is most urgently needed,” said Charles Brooke, program director for the livestock enteric methane program at Spark Climate Solutions. “By improving access to the perspectives that are shared at this event every year, we hope to increase the flow and access of high-quality information, so that barriers and opportunities can be identified and pursued by a greater number of actors, bringing new knowledge and perspectives to the field.”
How to use it:
Simply start a conversation and type in the question to the chat interface. The chatbot will search its knowledge base, in this case the videos and transcripts from each informational session from the 2025 State of the Science Summit for an appropriate response. It’s best to ask one question at a time, but visitors are encouraged to engage with the chatbot and ask follow-up questions for clarity. The chatbot will not only provide you answers, with citations, it will also take you directly to the corresponding video session from which the answer is sourced from, at the 2025 State of the Science Summit.
Spark Climate Solutions is a non-profit that identifies and funds science to address major climate risks and opportunities, accelerating solutions for gaps in climate action. “The State of the Science Summit: Reducing Methane from Animal Agriculture,” is an annual event that is organized by the UC Davis CLEAR Center, Spark Climate Solutions, the California Department of Food and Agriculture, and the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. This year’s State of the Science Summit was held May 19-21 and the gathering brought together leading scientists, researchers, policymakers, farmers, ranchers and state, national and international industry experts to discuss the latest research, share innovative solutions, and create cross-sector collaboration, all aimed at mitigating enteric methane emissions.
For additional insights into the present outlook of livestock enteric methane solutions, Spark Climate Solutions has also have released their new Livestock Enteric Methane Mitigation Roadmap. The roadmap examines methane mitigation solutions and evaluates each approach against a clear set of criteria, including mitigation potential, safety, cost, social acceptance, productivity impacts, development timeline, and suitability for pasture-based systems. It also highlights where more research, investment, and coordination are needed most.
The 2026 State of the Science Summit is scheduled for June 16-18, 2026 with registration opening soon.