1. Scientists turn stem cells into pork By Danielle Olonoff, Ilan Gold, and Will Mairs

2. Scientists have come up with an alternative (meat in a petri dish)

• Scientists have begun to create a technique to turn pig stem cellsinto strips of meat

• They believe that one day this could offer an alternative to raising livestock, help lessonworld hunger, and save some pigs from their death.

3. The scientists are at work!

• Dutch scientists have been growing pork in the laboratory since 2006

• They have not gotten the texture quite right yet

• They also have not even tasted the stem cell meat

• However, they say the technology will greatly affect our food supply.

4. Saving the pigs

Mark Post a biologist at Maastricht University stated

"If we took the stem cells from one pig and multiplied it by a

factor of a million, wewould need one million fewer pigs to get

the same amount of meat,"

5. The Stem Cell Meat

• The meat been described as sort of like scallop like texture

• it is firm but a little squishy and moist.

• This is because the lab meat has less protein content than real meat.

6.

• Several other groups in the U.S., Scandinavia and Japan are also researching ways to make meat in the laboratory

• The Dutch project is the most advanced

• In the U.S., similar research was funded byNASA

• Hoped astronauts would be able to grow their own meat in space.

• But after growing insufficient thin sheets of tissue, NASA gave up

7. How it's done

• To make pork in the lab they isolate stem cells from pigs' muscle cells.

• They then put those cells into a nutrient-based soup that helps the cells replicate to the desired number.

• So far the scientists have only succeeded in creating strips of meat about 1 centimeter (a half inch) long

• it is estimated that it would take about 30 days of cell replication in the lab.

8. Better for your health too!

Fish stem cells could be used to make healthyomega 3 fatty acids

These could be mixed with the lab-produced pork instead of the usual artery-clogging fats found in livestock meat.

One scientist stated"You could possibly design a hamburger that prevents heart attacks instead of causing them,"

9. Protein Problems

Post said the strips they've made so far could be used as processed meat in sausages or hamburgers.

Their main problem is reproducing the protein content in regular meat

In livestock meat, protein makes up about 99 percent of the product

the lab meat is only about 80 percent protein.

The rest is mostly water andnucleic acids.

None of the researchers have actually eaten the lab-made meat yet

Post said the lower protein content means it probably wouldn't taste anything like pork.

10. Spreading the technology

Scientists stated that the new technology can also be used on other meats like chicken, lamb, etc.

Some scientists did not believe that they could ever replicate the taste of meat

If they could it could theoretically lowergreenhouse gas emissionsby up to 95 percent.

Hanna Tuomisto stated " In theory, if all the meat was replaced by cultured meat, it would be huge for the environment,"

"One animal could produce many thousands of kilograms of meat."

11. Problems With This Way of Making Pork

• There will not be as many pigs in the environment which could change the food chain and other factors

• With any new technology there could be a downside

• This downside could prove harmful to humans

12. Advantages of The Meat Being Grown in a Petri Dish

• This could mean that astronauts could grow and eat their own meat

• This way of making pork could stop world hunger

13. Costs

Post and colleagues haven't worked out how much the meat would cost to produce commercially

but because there would be much less land, water and energy needed, it is guessed that once production reached an industrial level the cost would be equivalent or lower than conventionally produced meat.

14. Obstacles

One of the biggest obstacles will be making laboratory meat production to meet the growing global demand.

By 2050, theFood and Agriculture Organizationpredicts meat consumption will double from current levels as growing middle classes in developing nations eat more meat.

15.

Matheny stated "To produce meat at an industrial scale, we will need very large bioreactors, like those used to make vaccines or pasteurized milk,"

He believed lab-produced meat might be on the market within the next few years, while Post said it could take about a decade.

16.

For the moment, the only types of meat they are making this way are processed meats like minced meat, hamburgers or hot dogs.

scientists wonder if it's cheap enough and is proven to be scientifically valid, they don't know why people wouldn't eat it,