How cultured meat is made

The basics of synthetic meat

Lab-grown meat companies promise to remove animal slaughter from the production process. But they have run into a few road bumps along the way.

How synthetic meat is made

The future of meat is cheaper, faster, and more environmentally friendly—it will also be grown in a lab. This three-minute video breaks down how exactly lab-grown meat is made.

How healthy is lab-grown meat?

While meat-less meat options like Beyond and Impossible burgers are known for being the environmentally-friendly alternative to real meat, it’s important to also consider their impact on human health. Health benefits of these meat alternatives...

Tasting a lab-grown chicken nugget

Taste testing the first clean meat chicken nugget from a San Francisco company developing cultured meat. It’s chicken, but not as you know it.

The unexpected return of the steakhouse

Although the 2010s and early 2020s saw fewer people eating red meat, the momentum has now swung in the opposite direction, with vegetarian spots closing and hip new restaurants slinging beef. Food writer Bettina Makalintal makes sense of the sudden shift by unpacking the steakhouse's resurgence.

Should you eat an all-meat diet?

The carnivore diet is reportedly a way of eating inherited from human ancestors, a tale that has roots in anthropology's early days. This article explores the all-meat diet's ancestral claims and what happens if you cut vegetables and fruits from...

Many artisan cheesemakers avoid modern methods

While much of the cheese found at the supermarket has been made in a factory, there are still plenty of artisan cheesemakers who do things the old-fashioned way. There is also a burgeoning vegan cheese market, which has quickly evolved from plasticky neon-orange shreds to Camembert-style soft cheeses made using traditional techniques.

A collection of molecular gastronomy techniques, from flavored air to turning oils into powder

Soy lecithin can be blended with flavored mixtures, such as herbs and Parmesan, to produce edible bubbles, which can be frozen into a solid foam. Maltodextrin can be combined with liquid fats in a food processor to create light, flavorful powders.

Meat raffles are charitable events popular in the Midwest

The events, which take place at bars, often during sporting events, allow you to buy a ticket (usually for a dollar) and earn the chance to win some uncooked meat to take home and throw on the barbecue.

Watch a pro butcher turn half a pig into eight common meals

The variety of food derived from a pig is enormous—from the common hot dog to delicate capicola. Watch butcher John Ratliff transform this meat into the basis of some of the most well-known meals.

Beanless 'coffee' is an eco-friendly alternative

As we consider the role of agriculture in climate change, many people are seeking alternatives to the most resource-hungry crops—coffee included. Are new synthetic alternatives the answer? Startups are exploring beanless “coffee” made in a variety of ways.

Research on bacterial cultures used in yogurt production led to CRISPR's discovery

Scientists learned it was a microbial immune system that could be repurposed to protect dairy cultures from viruses. Today, nearly all yogurt is made with CRISPRized bacteria, as are genetically modified crops like herbicide-resistant corn, wheat, and soy.

Collagen supplements typically come from animal sources like fish, pigs, or cattle

Eating collagen-rich foods won't lead to more collagen in the body because your digestive system breaks down consumed collagen into amino acids. Instead, eating a healthy diet of proteins and greens helps your body to produce collagen. Collagen supplements derived from animal skin and bones are typically sold in a prebroken-down peptide formulation called hydrolyzed collagen so they can be absorbed through the gut into the bloodstream.

De-extinction techniques create new species from existing organisms

Rather than recovering a genetic sample of a lost species and editing it with that of living creature—as has been depicted in science fiction—scientists begin with living cells from close genetic relatives and use tools like CRISPR to swap in extinct versions of specific traits to create new hybrid species.

Most Westerners don't need more protein, despite the protein boom

You can find the macronutrient in snack bars and pretzels, shakes, and more, even though most normal diets in the West are already protein-heavy with meat and milk. A mix of increased exercise culture and influencer sway has led to a market hungry for it.

Tick bites can fuel an allergy to a sugar molecule in red meat

Alpha-gal syndrome is on the rise globally as ticks spread due to climate shifts. Bites from some ticks can trigger a sensitivity to a sugar molecule called alpha-gal found in mammal meat, which can lead to allergic responses to hamburgers and steak, among other products. Listen to an expert’s tips for avoiding this allergy, including quickly removing any ticks to limit exposure to their saliva or vomit.

What exactly is a GMO?

A GMO, or genetically modified organism, is an organism whose DNA has been altered for specific improvement such as longer shelf life, disease resistance, or enhanced nutrition—which can benefit both farmers and consumers. While humans have used...

'Artificial embryos': The hidden steps in forming a spine

Somitogenesis is the process by which segmented body structures like vertebrae form in embryos. While the process is well understood in animals like mice or zebrafish it is difficult to study in humans. But now, researchers have created a model of somitogenesis, using pluripotent stem cells, called an axioloid.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of young men ate standard American food—replete with food additives like borax and formaldehyde—as part of government research to better understand food safety.

Critics argue social media made 'foodie' culture increasingly superficial

For 40 years, being a "foodie" meant possessing knowledge and expertise about ingredients, restaurants, and flavors. Now, the author argues, being a foodie has more to do with documenting aesthetically pleasing meals than critical consumption. She argues for increased attention toward the complex systems that bring food to our tables.

How the methods of catching fish for food affects their taste

Commercially caught fish are often killed through suffocation, allowing the causing the fish extreme stress and flooding their bodies with stress hormones and lactic acid. These chemicals cause the fish's flesh to become bitter where it was once rich and quickens the rotting process.

Before launching his cereal company, John Harvey Kellogg promoted natural food at a sanitarium

Kellogg was the director of the Battle Creek Sanitarium, a health resort in Michigan, where he served patients vegetarian dishes, including early experiments with meat substitutes. Kellogg espoused a philosophy of "Biologic Living," which suggested consuming natural food would lead to "racial hygiene" for white Americans, a tenet of the eugenics movement.

The world's first commercial biological computer combines neurons with silicon

Australian start-up Cortical Labs unveiled CL1, a hybrid chip designed to help scientists study brain function in real-time. The 800,000 lab-grown neurons on the chip are kept viable for six months via a built-in life support system.

McDonald's intentionally avoids using the word 'milkshake'

The restaurant's US menus use an abbreviated term: the simple "shake." Conspiracy theorists suggest this means the chain doesn't use actual milk, but the truth is a bit more complicated and—much to their displeasure—mostly related to dairy regulations.

Additive manufacturing consists of seven different process categories

Although 3D printing has become synonymous with the term, objects can be fabricated without filaments of hot plastic or light-sensitive powders. For example, during sheet lamination, ultrasonic waves—high-frequency vibrations—can join metal sheets by creating molecular bonds through friction.

Dawkins believes cultural memes have mutated into internet memes

The world's creations fall into two categories: those that look designed but whose appearance or function came about due to random mutation and natural selection, such as birds, and those whose designs and mutations are knowingly crafted, such as airplanes.

Artificial coral reefs have been 3D printed from nontoxic, biodegradable terracotta clay, which coral polyps have used as a foundation for rebuilding marine ecosystems.

After her fellow cult members tried to kill her with an LSD-infused hamburger, one member of the Manson Family, the murderous cult led by Charles Manson, decided to testify against the group's leader.

Fast-casual restaurant Chili's is experiencing a resurgence, with its parent company recently reporting a nearly 32% increase in sales, thanks to passionate Gen Z fans on TikTok.

Budweiser stores yeast derived from the original 1800s strain in a secret bunker, which only the Head of Yeast Management can access—not even the CEO

While atoms are normally made of protons, neutrons, and electrons, exotic ones have been built with antimatter—alternate versions of normal matter that live for fractions of a second and are about a billion times as rare.

Indefinite cloning of some endangered species may not sustain their longevity because cloning success rates decrease as genetic mutations accumulate.

Read a deep dive on the 'all-purpose healing' peptide BPC-157.

Visualize how CRISPR-Cas9—a type of immune system used by single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses—targets and makes precise changes to a gene's DNA.

Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency—a form of digital currency with a wide variety of uses—created around popular 'memes,' or viral internet jokes.

The use of fungi to detoxify land and water—a process known as mycoremediation—has been used to clean up natural resources affected by the 2025 California wildfires.

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

This site reaches millions of visitors who are tired of AI chatbots and seeking human connection. Pretend to be an AI chatbot and ask questions, provide answers, and draw for people in real time.

Some Pokémon have been named after real and fictional organisms, while some real-world species have been named after Pokémon, such as Chilicola charizard and Binburrum zapdos.

Learn how to read a prospectus, the juicy document that any company must file with the SEC before going public.

Bone marrow (soft tissue found inside certain bones) generates roughly 500 billion new blood cells each day

Crows are believed to have intelligence on par with a seven-year-old child and demonstrate complex behaviors, from problem-solving with tools to recognizing human faces.

'Silent' fireworks have gained more interest in recent years as a quieter celebratory option.

The animatronic shark from Steven Spielberg's 'Jaws,' the first modern blockbuster, was a complex underwater apparatus called 'Bruce.'

Sony set the standard for cylinder-shaped batteries when it repurposed manufacturing equipment used to make rolls of magnetic recording tape.

'Saturday Night Fever,' the 1977 film that introduced disco to the mainstream, was based on a fabricated magazine story.

The Great Salt Lake's distinct dual coloration results from high-salinity organisms that only live in the northern portion and produce a purple protein.

Hear 50 years of iconic hip-hop samples, the genre's foundational looped tracks

Poison ivy is in the same family as mangoes, cashews, and pistachios—and they all produce oily urushiol in their raw, unprocessed state—but they are typically prepared in ways to avoid causing human discomfort.

Take a 3D tour of the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, undertaken by over 1.5 million Muslims.