British scientists have estimated the total methane output of one class of dinosaurs at a point around 150 million years ago. Amazingly it’s more than the total methane produced in the world today and could theoretically have prolonged a period of historically high temperatures.

The work was carried out by a team led by David Wilkinson of Liverpool John Moore’s University and published in Current Biology. It looked at sauropods, the group of giant land-based vegetarian dinosaurs that includes the brontosaurus apatosaurus.

Wilkinson’s calculations are extremely rough and ready, partly because of their simplicity and partly because there’s inherently no way to validate them. He worked by looking at the methane produced by cows in comparison to their mass, then extrapolated that ratio to the sauropods.

In both cases, the combination of vegetation food and stomach microbes produces methane gas in the form of flatulence. That methane can absorb the sun’s radiation, and trap it in the atmosphere, raising temperatures.

Taking in to account the sauropod population at the time, Wilkinson came up with a figure of 520 million tons a year, which compared to an estimated 500 million tons a year from all sources today, including man-made sources.

The higher methane output of the dinosaurs compared with cows isn’t necessarily just a matter of size. They could reach vegetation on tree-tops and had a wider range of land on which to live and graze (permanent ice caps didn’t exist.)

Even without humans and industry, methane levels at the time may have gone beyond that produced by the sauropods and other creatures. Forest fires and leaking gasfields — neither of which would have been limited by human intervention — could also have played a part. Because of this, Wilkinson estimates that the total methane levels may have been 6 to 8 parts per million, or 3 to 4 times today’s levels.

While historical figures suggest that this didn’t lead to a rise in temperatures (instead that came 50 million years earlier, likely by a methane release from the seafloor), it’s certainly conceivable that dinosaur flatulence helped maintain the high temperatures. However, Wilkinson pointed out that his work simply demonstrates a theory and it’s not one that is ever likely to be proven.

The total time since the creation of the earth was converted into 24 hours, and each big event has been represented by certain hours or minutes, according to the relative time it has last. But, regardless of explanation, you can simply understand it while looking at it:

Pretty amazing, don’t you think?

However, what saddens me is when I encounter technologists with the brilliance to create new and wonderful things, but lack a sense of what is beautiful to people. Technology is most often known for being ugly and unpleasant to use, because technologists most often build technology for other technologists.

But to touch millions of people, you have to tell a story – a story that they can believe in, a story that can inspire them. Technology is a tool by which new stories can be crafted. They are not the end product unto themselves.  All too often, I find engineers and researchers who are eager to build the technology without understanding the story that goes around about why people should care, why what they built can be inspiring rather than just enabling.

It is not a skill you learn at school.  I have encountered people who understand this, and others who don’t.  I can’t say that I have mastered this ability.  However, I can at least respect how powerful it can be and strive to be better at it.

As an engineer, as a technologist, as a researcher, or inventor… I encourage you understand the power of stories.  A story isn’t merely the sequence of events in a book or film.  It can be a story about you, and how your life or the lives of the people around you could be a bit different… or how the world could be different than it is today.

It is inspiring to see what a talented artist can do with the very simplest of tools.

When you build something or design something, take a moment to imagine the stories than can be told around what you create and to share that story with others.