Toggle light / dark theme

Lab-Grown Meat Is Getting Closer to Supermarket Shelves

Slaughter-free meat is finally starting to make the jump from the lab to the factory line.

As Singapore becomes the first country to allow the sale of cultured meat, more startups around the world are preparing to test production of lab-grown meats like beef and chicken in factories. While there’s a long way to go, it’s a crucial step in getting cell-based products ready for supermarket shelves.

Scientists Say This Device Can Simulate Any Flavor

The device fooled participants into experiencing “the flavor of everything from gummy candy to sushi without having to place a single item of food in their mouths,” according to Miyashita.

Candy Sushi

“When we wrapped the device in dried seaweed, presenting taste of salty and sour with seaweed scent causes illusion of actually eating sushi,” he added.

From human waste to liquid gold

Ever wondered if your urine could help with food security in Africa? We go to Malawi this week to hear how a ‘magic liquid’ is helping farmers cope with the high cost of synthetic fertilisers, while keeping the marketplaces cleaner and smelling fresher.

Manmade mass now outweighs life on Earth: study

For the first time in history manmade materials now likely outweigh all life on Earth, scientists said Wednesday in research detailing the “crossover point” at which humanity’s footprint is heavier than that of the natural world.

The of roads, buildings and other constructed or manufactured materials is doubling roughly every 20 years, and authors of the research said it currently weighed 1.1 teratonnes (1.1 trillion tonnes).

As mankind has ramped up its insatiable consumption of natural resources, the weight of living biomass—trees, plants and animals—has halved since the to stand at just 1 teratonne currently, the study found.

Why are some scientists turning away from brain scans?

NEW YORK (AP) — Brain scans offer a tantalizing glimpse into the mind’s mysteries, promising an almost X-ray-like vision into how we feel pain, interpret faces and wiggle fingers.

Studies of brain images have suggested that Republicans and Democrats have visibly different thinking, that overweight adults have stronger responses to pictures of food and that it’s possible to predict a sober person’s likelihood of relapse.

But such buzzy findings are coming under growing scrutiny as scientists grapple with the fact that some brain scan research doesn’t seem to hold up.

SunCulture wants to turn Africa into the world’s next bread basket, one solar water pump at a time

The world’s food supply must double by the year 2050 to meet the demands of a growing population, according to a report from the United Nations. And as pressure mounts to find new crop land to support the growth, the world’s eyes are increasingly turning to the African continent as the next potential global bread basket.

While Africa has 65% of the world’s remaining uncultivated arable land, according to the African Development Bank, the countries on the continent face significant obstacles as they look to boost the productivity of their agricultural industries.

On the continent, 80% of families depend on agriculture for their livelihoods, but only 4% use irrigation. Many families also lack access to reliable and affordable electricity. It’s these twin problems that Samir Ibrahim and his co-founder at SunCulture, Charlie Nichols, have spent the last eight years trying to solve.

Houses built like pyramids go viral in China

https://sc.mp/subscribe-youtube.

A pyramid-styled housing complex was built in China’s eastern Jiangsu province. With a spacious balcony on each apartment, residents have found it difficult to cook inside the kitchen, because vent hoods cannot be installed in the flat.

Support us:
https://subscribe.scmp.com.

Follow us on:
Website: https://www.scmp.com.
Facebook: https://facebook.com/scmp.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/scmpnews.
Instagram: https://instagram.com/scmpnews.
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/south-china-morning-post/