Scientist trying to grow hamburger from stem cells

[Jenna]

If you're concerned about the ethics of livestock production but don't want to become a vegetarian, consider this: It may be possible to grow meat in a petri dish.

Dr. Mark Post, professor of vascular physiology at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands, is working on creating meat from bovine stem cells.

The color is pinkish-yellowish, and Post and colleagues would like to make it look more appetizing in a natural way. Meat in typical hamburgers gets its color partly from blood. One way to make the stem-cell meat more authentic-looking is to use caffeine to coerce the cells to produce more myoglobin, a type of protein that carries iron and oxygen.

Apart from the "meat," scientists need to grow fat separately, for the juiciness and taste of the final product.

More here: One stem cell burger: $330,000 – Light Years - CNN.com Blogs

[IMGreat101]

With the resources Post and colleagues have right now, it's never going to happen, he says. With unlimited resources, it would still take 10 to 20 years.

Imagine the fast food restaurant.

Drive-thru: Welcome to Stemcell King, may I take your order?
Me: I would like a Steakhouse Stemcell Burger combo with Monsanto Fries
Drive-thru: Would you like one of our genetically engineered apple pies or an agent orange smoothie?
Me: The agent orange smoothie sounds great!
Drive-thru: That will be $350,000, please pull up. Will you be paying with the implanted credit chip in you arm today?
Me: Yes. (holding arm out window to be scanned.)
Drive-thru: Here's your order. Have a happy Stemcell King day!

[Odd]

Wonder if they could grow a grape flavored squirrel.

Oh look, they already did.

[Bjohnson63]

Isn't that what a hot dog is?

[Rhino]

Forget brain and spinal cures. This is the real reason we need funding for further stem cell research.