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It's unfortunately common for livestock to be kept in cramped confinement in America's rural farmland, especially during cold winter months. When farmers keep their cattle indoors, waste piles up quickly. The common solution is to spread the manure across the farm's cropland. After all, the manure will act as a natural fertilizer and invigorate the land, right? Maybe so, but this is actually dangerous and illegal for farmers to do. Rain and melting snow will carry that waste into local waterways, causing pollution and harming the people who live nearby.

Luckily, environmental agencies have technology that can detect manure remotely, and it's the same kind of satellite connectivity that works on your smartphone , too. The exact tech in question is Google Earth, an app you can use to view the world via satellite imagery from space.…