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[10ebbor10]

High-power tasers anyone?

Maybe they could be used to transmit energy wirelessly, more effectively? I know it's been done over a not-too-small distance of either inches, 2 feet, or a meter. I can't find the article. But it's been done and this could maybe make it better.

Doubt it.  Though it might help with electric cars and all that. Thanks to their rapid charging capability, you could put induction systems under several major interjunctions, in order to extend the range. There have been several trials to power electric busses that way,

[Sheb]

To be honest, most livestock take way shorter to grow than humans do so they have less time to accumulate whatever can be accumulated.

As for lab-grown human steak, I wonder if it'll really taste like human. That hamburger may have been decent, but did it taste like beef, or just non-descript "meat"?

[10ebbor10]

At this point, none of the lab meat tastes like it's normal counterpart. It's simply a giant muscle tumour, no fat cells and all that other stuff.

[Sheb]

So basically, you'd have to grow whole muscles, probably even limbs to have a really human steak experience. Can you imagine what a "leg factory" would look like? It'd make an hell of a setting for an RPG.

[Lagslayer]

To be honest, most livestock take way shorter to grow than humans do so they have less time to accumulate whatever can be accumulated.

As for lab-grown human steak, I wonder if it'll really taste like human. That hamburger may have been decent, but did it taste like beef, or just non-descript "meat"?

It was dry and pretty bad. It only tasted like real beef if you really concentrated on it.

[alway]

To be honest, most livestock take way shorter to grow than humans do so they have less time to accumulate whatever can be accumulated.

As for lab-grown human steak, I wonder if it'll really taste like human. That hamburger may have been decent, but did it taste like beef, or just non-descript "meat"?

It was dry and pretty bad. It only tasted like real beef if you really concentrated on it.

I don't think it was described as dry, but that it tasted like "an animal-protein cake." Which makes sense, because it was entirely free of any fat, and so that's effectively what it is. It's basically uber-lean meat, as they still need to figure out a good way to mix in the fat content that actually makes meat taste good.

[Helgoland]

So basically, you'd have to grow whole muscles, probably even limbs to have a really human steak experience. Can you imagine what a "leg factory" would look like? It'd make an hell of a setting for an RPG.

My money's on actually growing whole cows, minus the brain. Keep 'em alive via respirator and feeding tube, and you're all set. And because there's no brain, there's no pain, and no ethical concerns remain!

[10ebbor10]

It's very inefficient however, and much harder to do than just creating a muscle tumor.

[Helgoland]

BUT it tastes better, and I guess growing the framework for actual muscles is easier than providing an artificial one and getting the biological bits to connect to it. Plus the feedstock is cheaper (animal feed vs. sterile nutritient solution), blood is provided by the carcass (you kinda need that for muscles), immune system relies on various parts of the body, so the carcass wouldn't need complete sterility, various hormones are produced only in certain parts of the body*, etc etc.


*You could of course simply add them to the lab muscles, but people might be sceptical of that. On the other hand, I'm proposing artificially respirated semi-alive brainless cow carcasses, so that argument goes both ways

[10ebbor10]

That's more of a genetically engineered "dumb/lobotomized" cow rather than lab grown meat though.

[alway]

You need to exercise them. In order for tissue to be viable, it needs to be stimulated & exercised, otherwise it basically becomes goop. On of the important steps to getting the meat they have thus far is growing small layers of muscle tissue, then stretching and stimulating it, such that it gains the texture of actual muscle tissue. Prior to that, it was basically just goop.

[Helgoland]

To get good meat, you basically need a fully functioning cow. Why reinvent the veal? The border between dumb cow and lab grown meat is fluid - we're just trying to get on the right side of an arbitrary moral barrier, and if crossing it is easier than starting on the other side, why not?

A better application for lab grown tissue might be milk, as it lacks structure to begin with. Any news on that?

[alway]

To get good meat, you basically need a fully functioning cow. Why reinvent the veal? The border between dumb cow and lab grown meat is fluid - we're just trying to get on the right side of an arbitrary moral barrier, and if crossing it is easier than starting on the other side, why not?

Because the point isn't animal rights. That's only a very tangential benefit. The purpose is to make meat production efficient. Currently, meat is incredibly wasteful to produce, requiring massive resource consumption. The primary purpose of natural meat, again, is to benefit the organism it's attached to. By refocusing it into a food-stuff without regards for the needs of supporting an animal, it can be made with much less waste. Only a very tiny portion of metabolism goes towards growth. Less waste means cheaper production, cheaper meat, and meat which does less harm to the environment. It reduces disease vectors substantially as well, potentially eliminating things like mad cow disease from meat production. So the fact that it's lab grown solves a good dozen or so problems in meat production.

[Helgoland]

Oh, okay: If that's the problem, focusing on the genetic engineering of cows (think super-Belgian Blues) is the way forward. Many of the structures present in cows are necessary for muscle growth: skeleton, stomach, organs, immune system etc. To get proper lab-grown meat, you need to replicate all these structures: A pump instead of a heart, chemical processing instead of a stomach, dialysis instead of a liver, hormones instead of glands, antibiotics and sterility instead of an immune system, etc etc.

[alway]

To get proper lab-grown meat, you need to replicate all these structures: A pump instead of a heart, chemical processing instead of a stomach, dialysis instead of a liver, hormones instead of glands, antibiotics and sterility instead of an immune system, etc etc.

No you don't.