Lab-grown meat might be only 6 months away
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Re: Lab-grown meat might be only 6 months away
#2> 2.5 centimeters long and 0.7 centimeters wide
An improvement on the 8mm x 2mm meat reported on just a few months ago:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/05/23/110523fa_fact_...
But still, where is "6 months" coming from? A vague "year" figure is given by Mark Post (with the caveat that funding is needed), but that doesn't even bring into consideration the process of getting the meat out of the lab and into the grocery store.
Re: Lab-grown meat might be only 6 months away
#3[deleted]
Re: Lab-grown meat might be only 6 months away
#4Would it be legal to produce a product called 'Soylent Green' ?
Re: Lab-grown meat might be only 6 months away
#5> 2.5 centimeters long and 0.7 centimeters wide An improvement on the 8mm x 2mm meat reported on just a few months ago: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/05/23/110523fa_fact_... But still, where is "6 months" coming from? A vague "year" figure is given by Mark Post (with the caveat that funding is needed), but that doesn't even bring into consideration the process of getting the meat out of the lab and into the…
I wondered the same thing about the 6 month figure. This is some aggregator site run by the SciFi/SyFy channel? It's the kind of pop science reporting I think is bordering on irresponsible, really. Their source is New Scientist requiring a signup:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21128283.500-meat-with...
That article isn't much more informative though. That New Yorker article was much higher quality, as expected.
Re: Lab-grown meat might be only 6 months away
#6> 2.5 centimeters long and 0.7 centimeters wide An improvement on the 8mm x 2mm meat reported on just a few months ago: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/05/23/110523fa_fact_... But still, where is "6 months" coming from? A vague "year" figure is given by Mark Post (with the caveat that funding is needed), but that doesn't even bring into consideration the process of getting the meat out of the lab and into the…
Relevant NPR interview:
http://www.npr.org/2011/08/30/139786731/tube-burgers-the-wor...
Re: Lab-grown meat might be only 6 months away
#7I'm skeptical that this is only 6 months away (6 years sounds more reasonable), but I'm still curious about the ramifications of synthetic meat.
Would it be more energy efficient to grow meat in a factory than in the fields? What are the energy requirements for a pound of lab meat vs a pound of pig meat?
More importantly, what would happen if it turned out cheaper and tasted the same? How many industries depend on eating meat? What would happen to all the pigs if nobody wanted to eat them?
Re: Lab-grown meat might be only 6 months away
#8I'm skeptical that this is only 6 months away (6 years sounds more reasonable), but I'm still curious about the ramifications of synthetic meat. Would it be more energy efficient to grow meat in a factory than in the fields? What are the energy requirements for a pound of lab meat vs a pound of pig meat? More importantly, what would happen if it turned out cheaper and tasted the same? How many industries depend on ea…
Even more interesting, at least to me- what will the vegetarians do?
As for all the animals, their populations would obviously get scaled back. The transition would not happen overnight, there would be plenty of time. Though you may have a point- domestic pigs would likely become pets and little else. However, chickens still lay eggs, cows still make milk, and sheep and goats still produce milk and wool.
Re: Lab-grown meat might be only 6 months away
#9This is awesome. Presumably, at some point we'll have the process optimised to the point that it could be done in your own home, or at a local (supermarket?) level. Imagine having a kitchen appliance that produces meat from liquid feedstock.
Even more speculatively, I wonder if the nutrient medium could be produced from other kitchen scraps? That's basically what animals were kept for in the past.
Aside, it sounds like efforts are focused on replicating pork/beef. It seems like some kind of fish might be easier, since texture is less of an issue, but I guess that's not what the US palate demands.
Re: Lab-grown meat might be only 6 months away
#10I'm skeptical that this is only 6 months away (6 years sounds more reasonable), but I'm still curious about the ramifications of synthetic meat. Would it be more energy efficient to grow meat in a factory than in the fields? What are the energy requirements for a pound of lab meat vs a pound of pig meat? More importantly, what would happen if it turned out cheaper and tasted the same? How many industries depend on ea…
This article/study claims lab meat would be more energy efficient: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es200130u
Linked from the New Scientist article.