Scientists May Create Test Tube Chicken to Eat

Imagine chicken that's grown in a lab rather than as a live animal. Just two years after scientists cooked up the test tube beef hamburger, they're moving onto chicken.

Already, Amit Gefen, a bioengineer at Tel Aviv University, has begun a year-long feasibility study into manufacturing chicken in a lab, funded by a non-profit group called the Modern Agriculture Foundation. This group hopes that "cultured meat" will one day replace raising animals on a farm.

Growing chicken is apparently more difficult than growing beef, according to the Daily Mail. Instead of gathering small fibers of cow muscle into one big chunk of meet, Gefen hopes to make a whole piece of chicken starting from a single cell.

Demand for meat is expected to double between 2000 and 2050, according to Reuters. And while lab-grown meat may not sound appetizing, it could be huge in terms of supplying that demand without the same environmental consequences as raising more animals. Lab grown meat would produce 96 percent less greenhouse gas, consume 82 to 96 percent less water and virtually eliminate the land requirements needed to raise livestock, according to The Daily Mail.

That said, making lab-grown chicken and beef palatable and cost efficient will still be a challenge. Being able to actually grow chicken in a lab, though, will be a huge step forward in the right direction.

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