The general idea is to use stem cell developments to grow tasty, authentic animal tissue in the laboratory, completely cutting out the need to breed and grow actual animals in the outdoor world. Professor Post’s method involves growing muscle cells on a velcro pad, using the muscle’s own desire to contract as a self-exercising bulking up technique.
Post’s “meat” can only grow a couple of millimetres thick at the moment, though, due to there being no way to get oxygen into the core of the muscle, which dies if the lab steak grows too big. Long term, the professor is planning to introduce a mesh that’ll deliver nutrients to the inside if his produce, allowing it to grow into proper adult meal proportions.[BBC via Gizmodo UK]
Image: Shutterstock
Timmy
Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 7:30 AMThe day we all start eating this , is the day I go vegeterian !
I love meat but not that much
Juan Bar
Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 9:39 AM@Timmy, the day this starts becoming a reality ill STOP being a vegetarian!
dave
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 12:30 AMagreed
TSH
Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 10:43 AMumm… what?
This is unlikely to reach store shelves until it has the taste, smell and texture of real meat. There will finally be no rational objection to eating meat! I can’t wait!
Biofilms are easy, but getting nutrition to high-volume tissue (such as muscle) is tricky without a whole organism. But if anyone can do it, it’d be a professor working in the department of vascular physiology!
Timmahh
Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 10:09 AMThis is the best thing to happen to meat since it was invented! When they get the process right, every piece of meat will have good texture and cook without the risk of toughness you get with varying cuts of animal meat. Don’t get me wrong, I likes my char grilled steak as well as the next omnivore, but it can be hit and miss when you buy it. Plus, hey,.. I don’t mind if we can get all those methane farting animals out of the picture and I don’t get off killing em either.
Matt L
Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 10:14 AMI’m turned off meat as it is.
Josh
Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 10:39 AMI’ll take it!
Meat is meat and at the moment it is a luxury which I try not to eat too much. If meat can be grown, thereby reducing the need for farting cows we’ll be on this earth that little bit longer.
Michael
Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 11:17 AMI will stick to my natural meat just as God intended.
Jaezass
Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 1:39 PMOh Jaezass Chroist, and did your God plan to help destroy the ozone layer, with his Billions of farting cows, sheep and pigs etc? Was it also his plan to allow the Malays and other countries to slit the throats of those animals and allow them to die in abstract terror and agony?
history
Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 1:46 PMActually the natural gods predates his god by alot, and animals were around long before then. Good troll, Im guessing thats an ode to our mythology.
blooper
Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 2:23 PMNah, he’s just a God botherer
Timmy
Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 2:19 PMIf artificial sweetners and colors in food makes us sick, which there is many study’s on , I am positive this won’t be the solution – If everyone just ate it sparingly and not abuse it by eating every day we wouldn’t have a problem with supply …all the healthiest countries in the world are the low meat per capita countries..
blooper
Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 2:25 PMWhat are you talking about? There won’t be any artificial additives! They are growing real meat in a vat that is biologically identical to natural meat.
Terry
Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 5:10 PMIt’s gonna happen.
It’s not gonna happen quickly enough.
We’ll be able to eat all the meat we want without resorting to taking life.
Humans should be well able to feed themselves without the need to kill something. We got’s brains, about time we used them.
As for Michael’s post.. There IS no god, and if there were, IT certainly would expect better from the humans IT gave intelligence to.
Why do so many technotards read a tech blog?
Mmmmm
Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 11:26 PMHow much greenhouse energy and resources will be required to produce 1Kg of artificial meat? What of the by products of production, we don’t get something for nothing? Will this be more or less than the current grass eating, methane farting cow, pig or sheep?