Researchers Grow Record-sized Lab Meat (nature.com) 61
Researchers at the University of Tokyo have created what they believe is the largest single piece of lab-grown meat to date: a chicken nugget-sized chunk measuring 7 centimeters long, 4 centimeters wide, and 2.25 centimeters thick, weighing 11 grams. The breakthrough, reported today in Trends in Biotechnology, uses an artificial circulatory system to overcome a fundamental limitation in cultured meat production.
The team, led by biohybrid system engineer Shoji Takeuchi, grew cells around a network of semipermeable hollow fibers -- similar to those used in water filters and dialysis machines -- that deliver nutrients and oxygen throughout the tissue. Unlike most commercial approaches that produce tiny meat fragments later assembled with binders or scaffolds, this method creates a single coherent piece with more natural structure and texture.
This is the first working model using tubes to grow muscle tissue into a thick slab, according to Mark Post, chief science officer at Mosa Meat, who created the world's first lab-grown hamburger in 2013. Significant hurdles remain before commercialization. The hollow fibers aren't edible and must be manually removed. Researchers are exploring automating this process or creating edible alternatives using cellulose.
The team, led by biohybrid system engineer Shoji Takeuchi, grew cells around a network of semipermeable hollow fibers -- similar to those used in water filters and dialysis machines -- that deliver nutrients and oxygen throughout the tissue. Unlike most commercial approaches that produce tiny meat fragments later assembled with binders or scaffolds, this method creates a single coherent piece with more natural structure and texture.
This is the first working model using tubes to grow muscle tissue into a thick slab, according to Mark Post, chief science officer at Mosa Meat, who created the world's first lab-grown hamburger in 2013. Significant hurdles remain before commercialization. The hollow fibers aren't edible and must be manually removed. Researchers are exploring automating this process or creating edible alternatives using cellulose.
Record-sized? (Score:5, Funny)
Researchers Grow Record-sized Lab Meat
... measuring 7 centimeters long, 4 centimeters wide, and 2.25 centimeters thick, weighing 11 grams
I know it's been a while since vinyl was ubiquitous, but records are round, (usually) larger in diameter, and not nearly that thick ...
Re: Record-sized? (Score:5, Informative)
What are you going on about? A record is a single card of information. 80 characters wide, 6 bits per character. It's rectangular and made out of heavy cardstock.
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What are you going on about? A record is a single card of information. 80 characters wide, 6 bits per character. It's rectangular and made out of heavy cardstock.
It's not rectangular, one of the corners is diagonally cur off. It's 5-sided. :-)
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Does anybody remember the 96 column card?
They were smaller, and squarer.
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CRAM Cards were threaded onto a series of snail-cam shaped rods. When a record needed to be obtained the 8 rods holding all the cards would turn to match the binary address of the card, and release the exact card required, which fell into a hopper and was read, then put back in the random stack.
https://s3data.computerhistory... [computerhistory.org]
Re: Record-sized? (Score:2)
Sounds like a very tiny sausage.
Let me know when they are the size of ... (Score:1)
... an Ameglian Major Cow.
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I'll take a bite after I see what it does to you mutants in 20-30 years ;-D
It's likely to be no more harmful than the last 20-30 years of food additives. At least the food additives tasted good. :-)
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That's Nothing (Score:3)
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Wait 'till you see my Record-sized Lap Meat!
Smallest on record? :-)
Also tastes like... (Score:2)
Jesus (Score:1, Insightful)
If you don't want to eat meat, just eat a fucking vegetable. This shit is so pointless. It's not even on the market yet, and lab grown meat is already banned in numerous states.
Re:Jesus (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not pointless. Once the technology is perfected, it should eventually become cheaper to grow lab meat than to grow actual animals.
Also, there are plenty of people that like meat, but don't eat it due to ethical concerns - so there is a market for it even if it is more expensive.
This would also be useful in situations like having fresh meat on Mars, or further out, where having actual animals would be prohibitively expensive in comparison.
I think it's fairly unimaginative and naive to call research into new technologies 'pointless'. Are you just angry because some vegans are annoying, so now you hate the idea of anything that could possibly further a vegan cause?
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Not to mention growing meat would be a massive step forwards towards growing other organs.
However I won't be buying it to eat. We've already screwed up our food supply in so many ways and lab grown won't be any better. A lot of consumer purchases are driven by trends (often artificially created) and you know the labs will modify their products to follow those trends. Hell, companies are already experimenting with different feeds and injecting things into real meat to tweak their salability. Nutrition is
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I think that's the point. Convince people the healthy, nutrient-dense real foods are bad then replace with highly processed and nutrient-vacuous substitutes. Like all these alternative 'milks', which would kill infants if you actually had to rely on such milks exclusively. Sadly people are dumb and some are doing this and there are children dyin
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People have other reasons than ethical concerns to not eat meat... Is this lab meat better for the environment? Does it use less resources? produce less greenhouse gases? If not now, will it ever be better for the environment than animal-grown meat? What nasty substances are involved in the production, and is it all actually removed from the lab meat? How healthy is this meat to consume compared to animal meat or other alternatives?
Re:Jesus (fucking Christ) (Score:1)
I'm guessing you dunno what 4H means, and are oblivious to the prices of production for livestock.
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I once asked a vegan if they will eat lab grown meat - especially if the original component that was used was a discarded hair (from a mammal) or a feather (from poultry). So there is no reason to think that animals were made to feel pain from getting blood / tissue samples.
That vegan thought for a couple of seconds and said no.
Figured at that point that at least some vegans are vegans just to be hip or something and not necessarily due to animal cruelty or some other related reasons.
Re:Jesus (Score:4, Funny)
Is there a vegetable that tastes like bacon? If not, I'm not interested.
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Except for the fact that animal meat takes massive amounts of water to grow. The average pound of beef takes 2000 gallons! (7570 ltr) of water to grow. Look around you. 2000 gallons is enough to fill a room 16 feet x 16 feet, 8 feet high. That's probably bigger than the room you're in right now. And if your date also wants a pound of beef, that's another 2000 gallons. Not very water efficient. Other meats are not as wasteful but still require a large amount of water just to make it to market. A poun
Re:Jesus (Score:4, Informative)
That water isn't consumed or destroyed, it just gets slightly contaminated and continues the water cycle.
There's no shortage of water in the world, and there are known processes both natural and artificial to clean otherwise undrinkable water, plus the "drinkable" standard for farm animals is somewhat lower than humans anyway.
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wtf world are you living in that there aren't water shortages?
You can literally just google the words "water shortage" and find out that you're wrong.
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The planet is literally 71% covered in water, there is no shortage of water. If you're experiencing a localised shortage it's because of an economic decision not to treat or transport the water to your specific location, not an actual shortage.
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"already banned in numerous states", I think you mean in numerous states, the meat industry has bought the laws banning lab grown meat.
Re: Jesus (Score:2)
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It also scales. Need more meat? Install more vats in the meat factory.
Today we have to add more animals, which requires more feed, which requires more land, water rights, fertilizer, petroleum to power tractors, etc. We've scaled production as best we can, but there's no getting around the inputs to growing animals for meat.
Obviously, availability of the inputs for a "lab process" also matter, and the eventual quality of output; but this industrial process could revolutionize food security for a whole lo
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If you don't want to eat meat, just eat a fucking vegetable. This shit is so pointless. It's not even on the market yet, and lab grown meat is already banned in numerous states.
It's banned in numerous states because the real meat producers have *LOTS* of lobbying money. Or at least the corporate sponsored part of real meat producers. The beef lobby is gigantic. The poultry lobby, not quite so gigantic. But they're still big money players, and they are doing everything they can to prevent progress on lab grown substitutes that aren't just ground up vegie matter with salt and fat additives.
Re: Jesus (Score:2)
It's banned because consumers don't want this shit sneaked into their food supply, like the veggie-meat people keep trying to do.
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It's banned because consumers don't want this shit sneaked into their food supply, like the veggie-meat people keep trying to do.
That's hyperbolic paranoia. All of this type of thing needs to be clearly labeled, and they're not going to sneak this thing into the food supply while it's the most expensive possible option.
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Bullshit. They are trying to veggie-meat mixed in among real meat in the grocery stores. That's not something you do unless you insist on people getting confused.
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Bullshit. They are trying to veggie-meat mixed in among real meat in the grocery stores. That's not something you do unless you insist on people getting confused.
If you're so illiterate you can't read a label, that's on you. There is zero veggie-meats available that isn't clearly labeled as such.
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The "veggie-meat people" aren't sneaking anything. Simply learn to read.
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I don't think it is pointless at all. This is much more humane that slaughtering animals.
Re: Jesus (Score:2)
So is eating vegetables. But it doesn't waste resources developing a niche food source that will never be successful.
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Just like other technologies (Score:2)
If you electricity, just plug into the grid. This shit is so pointless. It's not even on the market yet, and the battery is already banned in numerous states.
If you don't want to do mental math, just use an abacus. This shit is so pointless. It's not even on the market yet, and the calculator is already banned in numerous states.
If you don't want to deliver a message, just send a letter in the mail. This shit is so pointless. It's not even on the market yet, and the telegraph is already banned in numerous states.
If you don't want ride a horse, just take a rickshaw. This shit is so pointless. It's not even on the market yet, and the automobile is already banned in numerous states.
I hope you can see how poor your argument is.
Re: Just like other technologies (Score:2)
Well, if you understood the argument better...
This will not be a successful product. I am generally not a fan of wasting resources on developing products that will never be successful.
I take similar issue with investments into LLMs.
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This will not be a successful product.
The same was said about aforementioned technologies. What changed was that they were all improved, refined, and ultimately became inexpensive options.
Don't even attempt to tell me you would turn your nose up at something that tasted better and cost half the price because I know it's a lie.
Re: Just like other technologies (Score:2)
I would definitely not eat something just because it is half the price. I also am not hedonistically eating all the most delicious, but unhealthy foods. So, yeah, I'm telling you those are not particularly compelling arguments.
I prefer to my meat to be raised sustainably. One of the main ways to do this is to avoid using electricity. How are you ever going to grow meat sustainably when your process is in a lab? It's ridiculous.
Eat a fucking vegetable.
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I prefer to my meat to be raised sustainably. One of the main ways to do this is to avoid using electricity.
Umm... No, no you don't. None of our methods of ranching are sustainable because of resulting emissions of the livestock themselves. Beef is the worst and is absurdly unsustainable. Also, electricity is neither sustainable nor unsustainable, only the source of it is one or the other.
How are you ever going to grow meat sustainably when your process is in a lab? It's ridiculous.
Are you unaware that there are sources of energy that do not result in emissions? If you are aware then your assertion is disingenuous.
Eat a fucking vegetable.
From what you've written here it seems like you don't fully grasp all the factors involved su
Re: Just like other technologies (Score:2)
The entire lab is filled with machines and materials that are not sustainably produced.
And yes, cattle can absolutely be sustainable and even carbon negative. That's the point. Focus on capturing externalities and you can deliver high quality meat without anywhere near the environmental impact of a lab.
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The entire lab is filled with machines and materials that are not sustainably produced.
was not != incapable of being
And yes, cattle can absolutely be sustainable and even carbon negative.
Cattle emit high levels of enteric methane emissions. Without re-engineering cattle feed or their digestive systems, cattle will remain intrinsically a large emitters of methane.
ChickieNobs (Score:2)
Margaret Atwood foretells it again...
Vegan Beef vs. Real Beef (Score:3)
https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/i... [kym-cdn.com]
SFW
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and "Water" is an ingredient in a bunch of inedible things, so what is your point?
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And just wtf is "natural flavor"?
Most of these are extracts so heavily processed that they are now far from "natural", and they're hidden under the "natural flavor" banner because the real names would put people off.
Cell culture with or without FBS? (Score:4, Interesting)
So the thing about growing mammalian cells in a dish is that the soup they grow in most likely contains fetal bovine serum (FBS)... You know, a byproduct taken from the blood of cow fetuses.
Growing muscle cells is any quantity is already hard as it is, growing them in FBS free cell medium is really cutting-edge research [nature.com]. Always makes me wonder: Are these company always 100% honest about their process? And if they use FBS without telling their customers, is that ethical? Let alone sustainable in the long term?
Anyway, just a thought :-)
How big is too big? (Score:1)
An oil tanker size piece of lab grown meat... Blurgh!
Car sized ... Blurgh
No bigger than a turkey please , and an easy slicing cube for manwiches
Re: How big is too big? (Score:3)
Costco will be selling Kirkland's I-am-so-hungry-I-could-eat-a-horse lab grown meat snack. One metric ton of meat served on a forklift.
Re: How big is too big? (Score:2)
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I'm sure a properly industrialized process will create it in whatever size and shape best fits the interstitial steps of the industrialized process, and at the end of the process they'll use "cutting edge" technology known as a "knife" to cut it down to whatever packaging size and shape best fits the market.
Much like basically every other industrialized process since the late 1800s.
But does it taste like despair? (Score:3)
sustainable (Score:2)
It confuses me how it takes a huge amount of machinery, chemistry, factories, a bevy of PhDs, and a complex supply chain to create something that is "sustainable" to replace a cow eating grass.
Tastes like despair (Score:2)
n/t
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Mmm, you can really taste the prinons! (Score:2)