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Test-Tube Burgers Coming Soon

ananyo writes "A burger made entirely from lab-grown meat is expected to be unveiled by October this year. But costing in excess of $250,000, it's not going to be flying off supermarket shelves quite yet. The lab meat is produced using adult stem cells, which are then grown on scaffolds in cell-culture media. Because such lab-assembled muscle is weak, it has to be 'bulked up' by exposing to electric shocks. The researchers, based in the Netherlands, had already grown goldfish fillets in 2002, then fried them in breadcrumbs before giving them to an 'odor and sight' panel to assess whether they seemed edible." While I'm not overly enthusiastic about this Dutch attempt at growing burgers, it is a huge step-up from the Japanese effort.

12 of 276 comments (clear)

  1. Can I get a cut of veal instead? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Made from embryonic stem cells rather than adult, of course.

  2. Re:Excited by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm excited too. Apparently not even the Vulcans got this far.

  3. Re:Or... Just Eat Less Meat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    You guys have haggis. What kind of cancer does eating bowels give you?

  4. Just a thought by hyades1 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Perhaps if part of training the muscle involved teaching it to hump its way up onto a bun, then pull a slice of tomato and some lettuce over itself as a kind of blanket...

    --
    I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
  5. $250K by DogDude · · Score: 3, Funny

    They could sell the shit out of these $250K burgers they were called iBurgers and were sold by Apple.

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    I don't respond to AC's.
  6. Re:Question for the other Catholics by wiedzmin · · Score: 5, Funny

    I love eating beaver.

    --
    Bow before me, for I am root.
  7. Re:Excited by serviscope_minor · · Score: 5, Funny

    As they say, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

    That (according to TFA) can be fixed with electric shocks.

    --
    SJW n. One who posts facts.
  8. Blobbi tastes like "despair". by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 4, Funny
    Reminds me of the Better Off Ted episode "Heroes", where Veridian Dynamics is working on lab-grown beef:

    • Phil: Blobby, like Bobby, only with an l
    • Lem: Don't name it or you won't want to eat it. Remember Chester the carrot?
    • Phil: Yeah, I miss him

    When the company food taster is asked for his opinion on the beef, he stares off sadly and says, "it tastes like despair".

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  9. Re:Excited by ColdWetDog · · Score: 4, Funny

    Have you seen the inside of some labs these days? Disgusting. Doritos everywhere. Chemicals piled up on racks. Blue LEDs.

    You'd want to eat something that came out of that environment?

    Not me. I'll go for stuff raised in manure any time.

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    Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  10. Re:Question for the other Catholics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Right and if you can't avoid the inhumane treatment of animals in one microcosm of your life, you better just start clubbing baby seals to death because shades of gray are for people more sophisticated than us.

  11. Re:Question for the other Catholics by PopeRatzo · · Score: 4, Funny

    Does this qualify as meat during Lent?

    Ask me again when Obama forces us all to eat hamburgers made out of test-tube babies.

    Clearly, as President-to-be Santorum has said, Satan is attacking America:

    This is not a political war at all. This is not a cultural war. This is a spiritual war. And the Father of Lies has his sights on what you would think the Father of Lies would have his sights on: a good, decent, powerful, influential country - the United States of America. If you were Satan, who would you attack in this day and age? There is no one else to go after other than the United States and that has been the case now for almost two hundred years, once America's preeminence was sown by our great Founding Fathers.

    He didn't have much success in the early days. Our foundation was very strong, in fact, is very strong. But over time, that great, acidic quality of time corrodes even the strongest foundations. And Satan has done so by attacking the great institutions of America, using those great vices of pride, vanity, and sensuality as the root to attack all of the strong plants that has so deeply rooted in the American tradition.

    He was successful. He attacks all of us and he attacks all of our institutions. The place where he was, in my mind, the most successful and first successful was in academia. He understood pride of smart people. He attacked them at their weakest, that they were, in fact, smarter than everybody else and could come up with something new and different. Pursue new truths, deny the existence of truth, play with it because they're smart. And so academia, a long time ago, fell.

    I am comforted by a presidential candidate who talks about Satan's evil plan to destroy America, using "sensuality". So when Satan/Obama comes do destroy America, he will force us to eat hamburgers made of test-tube babies at Hooters! We need a president like Rick Santorum. That's why I encourage all of you to visit spreadingsantorum.com where you can donate to the cause.

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    You are welcome on my lawn.
  12. Re:Question for the other Catholics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    What about an ethical vegan?

    No such thing.