Synthetic Biology
As climate change threatens to eliminate land suitable for arabica production, cell-based coffee may eventually offer a solution
Scientists in Finland have shed new light on the process of making, roasting and analyzing lab-grown cellular coffee ...
‘Gastronomic dreams of astronomical proportions’: Collaboration between government and companies key to producing cell-based meat at scale
Creating a technological (and delicious) wonder is one thing; scaling it to feed billions of people is another ...
Viewpoint: Why Italy’s cell-based meat ban is short sighted and alienates consumers
Italian lawmakers banned cell-culture meat and blocked plant-based proteins from being labeled with meat terminology ...
The ‘holy grail’ of beer yeasts: How genetically-modified IPAs could stay fresh forever
Yeast is central to brewing, as it turns the sugars provided by barley malt and other grains into alcohol, while ...
Meat lobby restricting innovation? Florida legislature to take up cell based meat ban in the wake of Italy’s vote to restrict cultured meats
The Italian government has voted to ban cultured meat being produced or sold in the country, which could complicate the ...
Cell-based, lab grown food banned in Italy
Italy's lower house of parliament gave final approval for a law banning the use of laboratory-produced food and animal feed ...
Oil-based chemicals are used in everything from pillows to house paint. What are possible substitutes?
Petrochemicals are in everything from cleaning agents, paints and cosmetics to pillows, acrylic worktops and much of our clothing and ...
Biofuels, e-fuels and solar fuels are possible substitutes for fossil fuels and electric vehicles. Is that realistic?
Synthetic fuels (or synfuels) are liquid or gaseous fuels that are practically similar to fossil fuels in everything but the ...
Transforming agricultural waste into bioplastics
Although bioplastics have been touted as a promising sustainable alternative to traditional plastics for some time, making bio-based materials that ...
Biological crop treatments: Farmers divided on whether they’re breakthroughs on the horizon or ‘snake oil’?
Whenever the topic of microbiological crop protection products comes up, the words “snake oil” can appear. Biologicals are said to ...
Animal fat texture and taste is extremely hard to replicate in plant-based meat. Here’s how next-gen alt meat companies are responding
Replicating fats in plant-based meat is an important part of getting its texture right. A range of ingredients, including a ...
Lab-grown meat could cost the same as animal meat by 2030. Will that sway grocery shoppers?
Lab-grown meat could see a significant decrease in price if it continues its current trajectory, potentially matching conventional meat costs ...
Fabric of the future: This leather-like jacket is made of bacteria fed on fruit waste
What do you get when you feed bacteria with industrial fruit waste? “A yellow leather jacket” might not be your ...
‘Europe is already late to the party’ when it comes to recognizing economic and strategic importance of agricultural biotech. Here’s an urgent argument for change
European Union lawmakers are being urged to avoid too much risk aversion from holding back the potential of the homegrown biotech ...
The 2020-2022 plant-based meat gold rush is over. What’s next?
Sales of vegan burgers, nuggets or eggs have struggled as rampant food inflation and the cost-of-living crisis force consumers to cut back ...
Tiger steaks and lion burgers? Cell-cultivated exotic meats open new market possibilities but raise controversial questions
Which animals we find acceptable to eat vary from person to person, according to our values, palates, and upbringing ...
Animal-free cheese and other high tech foods taking page out of electric car industry’s financial strategies to grow in a highly-competitive market
"We need to meet people where they are today," said Magi Richani, founder and CEO of San Francisco-based Nobell Foods ...
‘Upside’ and ‘Goodmeat’: Two cell-cultured chicken companies take different paths in long road to consumer acceptance
No one knows yet what approach to cell-cultivated meat will ultimately resonate with consumers, which probably explains why Upside and ...
While advocates for lab-grown protein see a solution to America’s meat addiction, many chefs give hearty ‘no’ to what they call ‘fake meat’
Lab-grown meat, heralded by proponents as the next big thing in food, has appeared on select restaurant menus around the ...
How Dolly, the first cloned sheep, sparked bioethical debate over ‘creating life’
Perhaps more than any other biotech advance, Dolly, the first cloned animal, symbolized growing human power over nature. But the ...
Muslim and Jewish leaders debate whether lab-grown protein is Halal or Kosher
Lab-grown meat has begun getting the green light from regulators and is making its way onto restaurant menus. Still, not ...
Investigation: ‘Everything is made by hand’ — Lab grown meat startup Upside Foods presents high-tech facade, but its ‘futuristic factory’ is a lie
“We’re starting to show, from day one, what this whole industry is about,” Upside Foods cofounder and CEO Uma Valeti ...
Can lab-grown fruit reduce hunger and methane-generating waste?
Scientists in New Zealand are attempting to create lab-grown fruit from plant cells, without the parts that are usually thrown ...
Podcast: How synthetic biology can tweak DNA in viruses, plants or even animals to improve the environment, health, agriculture and industrial processes
Welcome back to Dirt to Dinner: Digging In, where we dig into what’s going on in the food and ag world ...
How Ginkgo Bioworks leverages synthetic biology to shape future of food
Patrick Boyle is currently the Head of Codebase at Ginkgo Bioworks, a Boston-based synthetic biology company that makes and sells ...
Fertilizers are critical for farming — but they are often environmentally costly. Synthetic biology may offer a solution
Almost everything about synthetic fertilizer sucks. It sucks for the climate, generating 2.5 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, more than ...
Viewpoint: ‘All-natural’ animal meat misnomer designed to make plant-based foods look bad
The culture war pitting plant-based meat against its animal-based counterpart rages on, it seems. Plant-based alternatives are called “ultra-processed,” “fake” ...