A gelatinous goop that resembles melted brown Nerf is emitting from hog manure and causing explosions in southern Minnesota and Iowa. More than 1,500 pigs have died and scientists are baffled. Wired Science takes a closer look.

A female employee at a Nicollet County hog farm south of the Twin Cities found a hidden video camera recording in a shower facility, where women are often required to shower to lessen the spread of germs and disease, the Mankato Free Press reports. A total of four recordings with three women, one a topless teen, were discovered. A 53-year-old male employee from New Ulm faces felony charges.

Investigators say the incidents appear to be the work of a well-organized theft ring that sells the hogs to slaughterhouses for money.

Second Harvest Heartland was skeptical last year when the Minnesota Pork Producers dropped off 2,000 pounds of meat and promised to double the donation this year. But the group was gratefully surprised when the hog farmers came back Tuesday with 5,000 pounds of pork. Second Harvest will distribute it among 1,000 food banks around the state.

An excavator was used to peel back the barn's roof, which had collapsed, to get firefighters inside. Crews were able to cut holes in the walls to save 150 hogs.

The Globe Gazette reports 35-year-old Greg Swenson, of Rose Creek, was arrested on theft and animal charges. He is the second person arrested with the hog. Forty-four-year-old John Arndt, of Hayfield.

According to a Humane Society official, Hormel's CEO said in Austin this week that the company plans to stop using "gestation crates" for hogs within the next five years.

Minnesota's $2.5 billion hog industry is on the defensive. At issue is the widespread practice of housing pregnant sows in stalls so small the animal can't turn around. The hog stall used by most farmers is roughly seven feet long by two feet wide — about the same size as a pregnant sow weighing 600 pounds or more.