Jacket Grown from Living Tissue

RangerRick98 writes "Wired has a story about growing jackets from living tissue. The jacket is grown using "a biodegradable polymer as a base," a coating of 3T3 mouse cells (which apparently continue to grow and split even after being removed from their host), and human bone cells for rigidity. The jacket grown so far is only about 2 x 1.4 inches. The hope is that when the polymer degrades, the jacket will retain its structure. The focus behind this work is 'victimless' leather."

Comments

Re:Save the cows.

[blincoln]

We're growing cattle for their meat anyway - if we can't or won't use the leather (a byproduct of the cow) it would just go to waste.

Growing cattle en masse for meat is one of the worst possible things that can be done for the environment. It contributes to global warming through greenhouse gases, wastes agricultural space by growing feed and using water that could go to humans instead, et cetera.

A lot of cattle are even raised at the expense of rainforests, because people in e.g. South America will slash and burn e.g. the Amazon to make places to raise them.

The main reason that the meat industry is profitable is because they are able to sell so many by-products to be used in so many other ways - leather, gelatin, and so on. If, for example, cheaper vat-grown alternatives were used, I expect that meat prices would increase dramatically, and maybe Americans would end up eating food that is actually good for them and the planet instead of clogging up their arteries and digestive tract and helping to ensure the doom of the biosphere.

I would buy one of these jackets in a second if they were available commercially, but in the meantime I've found that Vegetarian Shoes' synthetic material lasts longer than the real thing anyway.