Rescue teams on Sunday in Turkey successfully carried an American researcher up from the depth of a cave at 1040 meters (3412.07 feet) to the 700-meter (2296.59 feet) mark where he will rest at a base camp before they continue the taxing journey to the surface. An experienced caver, Mark Dickey, 40, started vomiting on Sept. 2 because of stomach bleeding while on an expedition with a handful of others in the Morca cave in southern Turkey’s Taurus Mountains, one of the deepest in the world, according to experts. Read: Webb Space Telescope reveals moment of stellar birth, dramatic close-up of 50 baby stars A rescue operation began Saturday afternoon with doctors, paramedics and experienced cavers from across Europe rushing to help. They set up small medical base camps at various levels along the shaft, providing Dickey an opportunity to rest during the slow and arduous extrication. “Mark was delivered to the campsite at -700 meters as of 03:24 local time (GMT+3). At this stage, he will set out again after resting and having the necessary treatments,” the Speleological Federation of Turkey wrote on its official account on X, formerly known as Twitter. Turkish authorities said there are 190 personnel from eight countries taking part in the operation, 153 of them search and rescue experts. Read: New crew for the space station launches with 4 astronauts from 4 countries The most challenging part of the rescue operation is widening the narrow cave passages to allow stretcher lines to pass through at low depths, Yusuf Ogrenecek of the speleological federation previously said. The extraction is expected to take up to 10 days depending on his condition.  

Roles assumed by women have undergone a profound evolution. Transitioning from traditional nurturing responsibilities, they have emerged as indispensable contributors across diverse domains, including science and technology. Chandrayaan-3 hailed the women scientists who led India’s moon landing. This article serves as a tribute to the female engineers who orchestrated the expedition, making groundbreaking history. Groundbreaking Chandrayaan-3 mission ISRO, or the Indian Space Research Organisation, is India's national space agency. Chandrayaan-3 marks the third chapter in its lunar exploration saga through the Chandrayaan program. Its purpose is to explore the moon's surface, study lunar composition, and demonstrate soft landing capabilities. Embarking on a transformative lunar exploration journey, Chandrayaan-3 stands as a testament to India's space ambitions. Launched on July 14, 2023, from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, this mission is an extension of ISRO's lunar program, aiming to explore the moon's mysteries with precision. Read more: 3 Bangladeshi women make it to list of top 100 Asian scientists The mission comprises the Vikram lander and the Pragyan rover, symbolising technological innovation. The propulsion module facilitated the lunar orbit insertion, a crucial step, achieved on August 5, 2023. This propelled the spacecraft into an orbit around the moon, preparing for a historic lunar landing. Vikram, equipped with four landing legs and thrusters, carries both Pragyan and scientific instruments for lunar analysis. Pragyan, the six-wheeled rover, embarked on an odyssey across the lunar surface. Chandrayaan-3's triumphant lunar descent on August 23, 2023 showcased India's prowess in soft landings. With meticulous calculations, Vikram achieved a controlled touchdown, setting the stage for Pragyan's mission. Read more: New crew for the space station launches with 4 astronauts from 4 countries Pioneering Women Scientists behind Chandrayaan-3 Mission Within Chandrayaan-3's celestial voyage, a constellation of remarkable women scientists emerges. This assembly of 54 adept female engineers and scientists exemplifies the culmination of scientific excellence intertwined with relentless determination. Here are the nine leading women scientists who were part of India’s Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission. Ritu Karidhal Srivastava This accomplished Indian scientist and aerospace engineer started on her ISRO journey in 1997. As the Deputy Operations Director of India's Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan), she played a pivotal role in orchestrating the spacecraft's autonomy system. It enables the spaceship to navigate space autonomously and respond to anomalies with precision.  Fondly referred to as one of India's "Rocket Women," Ritu's contributions were undeniable in propelling India into the exclusive league of space explorers. Her expertise resonates in conceptualizing and executing the craft's onward autonomy system. It was a cornerstone of the mission's success. Read more: 10 Greatest Female Scientists of All Time Kalpana Kalahasti Kalpana, armed with an aeronautical engineering degree from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, entered ISRO in 2003 as a scientist. Her illustrious career includes diverse satellite projects, including communication and remote sensing satellites. This expertise has transformed India's capabilities in data collection and communication.  The significant milestones of her career include Mars Orbiter Mission and Chandrayaan-2. Her ingenious design of propulsion systems and imaging equipment exemplified her engineering prowess. Notably, her integral role in the Chandrayaan-2 and Mangalyaan missions underscores her versatility and indelible contributions. Dr. V. R. Lalithambika Dr. V. R. Lalithambika, a stalwart since 1988, carved her niche in the realm of Advanced Launcher Technologies. Her journey with ISRO commenced at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), where she joined as a young engineer. Over the years, she led a team that designed rocket control and guidance systems, an integral aspect of mission success. Her expertise spans over a hundred space missions, reflecting her adeptness in engineering and leadership.  Read more: Jute Sanitary Napkins: Bangladeshi scientist Farhana Sultana got awarded for eco-friendly innovation

Four astronauts from four countries rocketed toward the International Space Station on Saturday. They should reach the orbiting lab in their SpaceX capsule Sunday, replacing four astronauts living up there since March. A NASA astronaut was joined on the predawn liftoff from Kennedy Space Center by fliers from Denmark, Japan and Russia. They clasped one another's gloved hands upon reaching orbit. Read: India’s lunar mission inches towards historic success It was the first U.S. launch where every spacecraft seat was occupied by a different country — until now, NASA had always included two or three of its own on its SpaceX taxi flights. A fluke in timing led to the assignments, officials said. “We're a united team with a common mission,” NASA's Jasmin Moghbeli radioed from orbit. Moghbeli, a Marine pilot serving as commander, said her crew’s makeup demonstrates “what we can do when we work together in harmony.” With her on the six-month mission are the European Space Agency’s Andreas Mogensen, Japan’s Satoshi Furukawa and Russia’s Konstantin Borisov. “To explore space, we need to do it together,” the European Space Agency's director general, Josef Aschbacher, said minutes before liftoff. “Space is really global, and international cooperation is key.” The astronauts' paths to space couldn’t be more different. Moghbeli’s parents fled Iran during the 1979 revolution. Born in Germany and raised on New York’s Long Island, she joined the Marines and flew attack helicopters in Afghanistan. The first-time space traveler hopes to show Iranian girls that they, too, can aim high. “Belief in yourself is something really powerful,” she said before the flight. Read: Webb Space Telescope reveals moment of stellar birth, dramatic close-up of 50 baby stars Mogensen worked on oil rigs off the West African coast after getting an engineering degree. He told people puzzled by his job choice that “in the future we would need drillers in space” like Bruce Willis' character in the killer asteroid film “Armageddon." He’s convinced the rig experience led to his selection as Denmark’s first astronaut. Furukawa spent a decade as a surgeon before making Japan’s astronaut cut. Like Mogensen, he’s visited the station before. Borisov, a space rookie, turned to engineering after studying business. He runs a freediving school in Moscow and judges the sport, in which divers shun oxygen tanks and hold their breath underwater. Read: China launches new crew for space station, with eye to putting astronauts on moon before 2030 One of the perks of an international crew, they noted, is the food. Among the delicacies soaring: Persian herbed stew, Danish chocolate and Japanese mackerel. SpaceX's first-stage booster returned to Cape Canaveral several minutes after liftoff, an extra treat for the thousands of spectators gathered in the early-morning darkness. Liftoff had been delayed a day for additional data reviews of the capsule's life-support system. Another NASA astronaut will launch to the station from Kazakhstan in mid-September under a barter agreement, along with two Russians. SpaceX has now launched eight crews for NASA. Boeing was hired at the same time nearly a decade ago, but has yet to fly astronauts. Its crew capsule is grounded until 2024 by parachute and other issues. Read: Green comet zooming our way, last visited 50,000 years ago The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

The Moon's little-explored South Pole is where India's third lunar mission is eyeing to land a lander and rover on August 23. Also read: Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter detects solar proton events: Space Agency ISRO The lander, Chandrayaan 3, started its final stage of the mission on Thursday when it separated from the propulsion module that had been bringing it near the Moon, reports BBC. Read also: Isro locates Chandrayaan-2 lander on Moon, but yet to make contact However, a Russian spaceship is also voyaging towards the moon’s South Pole, it said. Luna-25 is Russia’s first moon mission since 1976, when the country was a part of the Soviet Union. Also read: India's 3rd lunar mission may spill over to 2021 The Luna-25, which was launched last week, is set to make a soft landing on August 21 or August 22. If Luna-25 succeeds in making the soft landing as scheduled, Chandrayaan-3 will have to settle for being a close second, said the report. However, the much-anticipated Chandrayaan 3’s landing will bring India into the list of nations—the US, the former Soviet Union, and China—that made it to the lunar surface, the report also said. The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft was launched on July 14 but made several Earth orbits before entering lunar orbit on August 5. Since then, the spacecraft has been circling the Moon in preparation for the landing, said the report. There has been talk of a "mini space race" as both Russian and Indian spacecraft are inching towards history together, it added. The Indian Space Research Organisation, however, is keen to call it a new "meeting point" on the moon rather than a race. "Isro has never been in any race, right from the day one of its inception in the 1960s," an Isro spokesman told the BBC.

Researchers from China's Peking University have found a new potential drug target for improving the effectiveness of diabetes treatment. Bacteroides spp. microbial dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP4) from the gut microbiota is believed to be an important therapeutic target for the management of type 2 diabetes, according to the researchers. DPP4 can degrade the host's glucagon and contribute to compromising glucose homeostasis, as indicated in the joint study by Peking University Health Science Center, Peking University Third Hospital, and the College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of Peking University. The researchers also found that the enrichment of the peptidase in the host's body will significantly reduce the clinical efficacy of Sitagliptin, a commonly used diabetes treatment medication, as Sitagliptin cannot inhibit the activity of DPP4 effectively. Efforts are underway to seek methods to inhibit the enzyme activity of DPP4, which holds the potential to enhance the efficacy of existing medications and even discover new treatment approaches. The discovery is expected to have significant implications for further understanding the pathogenesis of diabetes and for enhancing the efficacy of related drug treatments, according to the study. The research was published in Science on Aug. 4. 

Dr. Alfonso Sabater pulled up two photos of Antonio Vento Carvajal’s eyes. One showed cloudy scars covering both eyeballs. The other, taken after months of gene therapy given through eyedrops, revealed no scarring on either eye. Antonio, who’s been legally blind for much of his 14 years, can see again. The teen was born with dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa, a rare genetic condition that causes blisters all over his body and in his eyes. But his skin improved when he joined a clinical trial to test the world’s first topical gene therapy. That gave Sabater an idea: What if it could be adapted for Antonio’s eyes? This insight not only helped Antonio, it also opened the door to similar therapies that could potentially treat millions of people with other eye diseases, including common ones. Antonio’s mom, Yunielkys “Yuni” Carvajal, teared up thinking about what Sabater did for her son. “He’s been there through everything,” she said in Spanish during a visit to the University of Miami Health System’s Bascom Palmer Eye Institute. “He’s not only a good doctor but such a good human being and provided us with hope. He never gave up.” The family came to the U.S. from Cuba in 2012 on a special visa allowing Antonio to get treatment for his condition, which affects around 3,000 people worldwide. He had surgeries to remove scar tissue from his eyes, but it grew back. Antonio’s vision kept getting worse, eventually deteriorating so much that he didn’t feel safe walking around. Sabater had no answers then, and tried to reassure the boy: “I’ll find a solution. I just need some time. I’m working on it.” “‘Yeah, I know you’re going to do it,’” Sabater recalled Antonio saying. “That gave me the energy to continue.” At one point, Carvajal told Sabater about the experimental gene therapy gel for Antonio’s skin lesions. He contacted drugmaker Krystal Biotech to see if it could be reformulated for the boy’s eyes. Suma Krishnan, co-founder and president of research and development for the Pittsburgh-based company, said the idea made sense and “it didn’t hurt to try it.” Antonio’s condition is caused by mutations in a gene that helps produce a protein called collagen 7, which holds together both skin and corneas. The treatment, called Vyjuvek, uses an inactivated herpes simplex virus to deliver working copies of that gene. The eyedrops use the same liquid as the skin version, just without the added gel. After two years, which included testing the drug in mice, the team got “compassionate use” approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and permission from university and hospital review boards. Last August, Antonio had surgery on his right eye, after which Sabater started treating him with the eyedrops. Krishnan said they were cautious, frequently watching to see that it was safe. Antonio’s eye recovered from the surgery, the scarring didn’t return and there was significant improvement each month, Sabater said. Doctors recently measured the vision in Antoni’s right eye at a near-perfect 20/25. This year, Sabater began treating Antonio’s left eye, which had even more scar tissue. That one is also steadily improving, measuring close to 20/50, which Sabater said “is pretty good vision.” Antonio comes to the eye institute for checkups almost weekly and gets the drops once a month. During visits, Antonio must wear protective clothing covering his arms, hands, legs and feet. Like other kids with the condition — who are sometimes called “butterfly children” — his skin is so fragile that even a touch can wound him. Antonio still uses the skin gel, which was approved by the FDA in May and can also be used off-label on eyes. It doesn’t modify DNA, so it’s not a one-time treatment like many gene therapies. Sabater, director of the Corneal Innovation Lab at the eye institute, said gene therapy eyedrops could potentially be used for other diseases by changing the gene delivered by the virus. For example, a different gene could be used to treat Fuchs’ dystrophy, which affects 18 million people in the U.S. and accounts for about half the nation’s corneal transplants. The prospect of treating more conditions this way is “exciting,” said Dr. Aimee Payne, a dermatology professor at the University of Pennsylvania who isn’t involved in the research. The approach “delivers gene therapy that really addresses the root cause of disease.” With his vision restored, Antonio has enjoyed a typical teen pastime he’s wanted to do for quite a while: playing video games with his friends. And he finally feels safe walking around. Sabater said the two-year journey seeking government and hospital approvals “was worth it. Just for Antonio, it was worth it ... but also because it opens the space to treat other patients in the future.”  

The Webb Space Telescope is marking one year of cosmic photographs with one of its best yet: the dramatic close-up of dozens of stars at the moment of birth. NASA unveiled the latest snapshot Wednesday, revealing 50 baby stars in a cloud complex 390 light-years away. The region is relatively small and quiet yet full of illuminated gases, jets of hydrogen and even dense cocoons of dust with the delicate beginnings of even more stars. NASA Webb telescope captures star on cusp of death "Prepare to be awestruck!" NASA Administrator Bill Nelson tweeted, noting that the image "presents star birth as an impressionistic masterpiece." All of the young stars appear to be no bigger than our sun. Scientists said the breathtaking shot provides the best clarity yet of this brief phase of a star's life. "It's like a glimpse of what our own system would have looked like billions of years ago when it was forming," NASA program scientist Eric Smith told The Associated Press. Old NASA satellite falling from sky this weekend, low threat "I like to remind people that when this light left, it was roughly 1633. ... People were putting Galileo on trial for believing that the Earth goes around the sun, and here we are seeing separate suns and planets forming today," Smith said. This cloud complex, known as Rho Ophiuchi, is the closest-star forming region to Earth and is found in the sky near the border of the constellations Ophiuchus and Scorpius, the serpent-bearer and scorpion. With no stars in the foreground of the photo, NASA noted, the details stand out all the more. Some of the stars display shadows indicating possible planets in the making, according to NASA. NASA Orion capsule safely blazes back from moon, aces test Webb — the largest and most powerful astronomical observatory ever launched into space — has been churning out cosmic beauty shots for the past year. The first pictures from the $10 billion infrared telescope were unveiled last July, six months after its liftoff from French Guiana. It's considered the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, orbiting Earth for 33 years. A joint NASA-European Space Agency effort, Webb scans the universe from a more distant perch, 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) away. Still ahead for Webb: Astronomers hope to behold the earliest stars and galaxies of the universe while scouring the cosmos for any hints of life. "We've already been using Webb to look at planets around other stars to see if we can analyze their atmospheres to see if they would be capable of hosting life," Smith said. "We haven't found one of them yet, but we're still only one year into the mission."  

The next big advance in cancer treatment could be a vaccine. After decades of limited success, scientists say research has reached a turning point, with many predicting more vaccines will be out in five years. These aren't traditional vaccines that prevent disease, but shots to shrink tumors and stop cancer from coming back. Targets for these experimental treatments include breast and lung cancer, with gains reported this year for deadly skin cancer melanoma and pancreatic cancer. New AI model can accurately diagnose cancer: Study "We're getting something to work. Now we need to get it to work better," said Dr. James Gulley, who helps lead a center at the National Cancer Institute that develops immune therapies, including cancer treatment vaccines. More than ever, scientists understand how cancer hides from the body's immune system. Cancer vaccines, like other immunotherapies, boost the immune system to find and kill cancer cells. And some new ones use mRNA, which was developed for cancer but first used for COVID-19 vaccines. For a vaccine to work, it needs to teach the immune system's T cells to recognize cancer as dangerous, said Dr. Nora Disis of UW Medicine's Cancer Vaccine Institute in Seattle. Once trained, T cells can travel anywhere in the body to hunt down danger. Ancient viruses can help fight cancer, scientists say "If you saw an activated T cell, it almost has feet," she said. "You can see it crawling through the blood vessel to get out into the tissues." Patient volunteers are crucial to the research. Kathleen Jade, 50, learned she had breast cancer in late February, just weeks before she and her husband were to depart Seattle for an around-the-world adventure. Instead of sailing their 46-foot boat, Shadowfax, through the Great Lakes toward the St. Lawrence Seaway, she was sitting on a hospital bed awaiting her third dose of an experimental vaccine. She's getting the vaccine to see if it will shrink her tumor before surgery. "Even if that chance is a little bit, I felt like it's worth it," said Jade, who is also getting standard treatment. There are more than 2.3 million cases of breast cancer that occur each year: WHO Progress on treatment vaccines has been challenging. The first, Provenge, was approved in the U.S. in 2010 to treat prostate cancer that had spread. It requires processing a patient's own immune cells in a lab and giving them back through IV. There are also treatment vaccines for early bladder cancer and advanced melanoma. Early cancer vaccine research faltered as cancer outwitted and outlasted patients' weak immune systems, said Olja Finn, a vaccine researcher at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. "All of these trials that failed allowed us to learn so much," Finn said. Australian researchers make breakthrough in rare blood cancer treatment As a result, she's now focused on patients with earlier disease since the experimental vaccines didn't help with more advanced patients. Her group is planning a vaccine study in women with a low-risk, noninvasive breast cancer called ductal carcinoma in situ. More vaccines that prevent cancer may be ahead too. Decades-old hepatitis B vaccines prevent liver cancer and HPV vaccines, introduced in 2006, prevent cervical cancer. In Philadelphia, Dr. Susan Domchek, director of the Basser Center at Penn Medicine, is recruiting 28 healthy people with BRCA mutations for a vaccine test. Those mutations increase the risk of breast and ovarian cancer. The idea is to kill very early abnormal cells, before they cause problems. She likens it to periodically weeding a garden or erasing a whiteboard. Others are developing vaccines to prevent cancer in people with precancerous lung nodules and other inherited conditions that raise cancer risk. Childhood Cancer: Risk factors and causes of cancer in children "Vaccines are probably the next big thing" in the quest to reduce cancer deaths, said Dr. Steve Lipkin, a medical geneticist at New York's Weill Cornell Medicine, who is leading one effort funded by the National Cancer Institute. "We're dedicating our lives to that." People with the inherited condition Lynch syndrome have a 60% to 80% lifetime risk of developing cancer. Recruiting them for cancer vaccine trials has been remarkably easy, said Dr. Eduardo Vilar-Sanchez of MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, who is leading two government-funded studies on vaccines for Lynch-related cancers. "Patients are jumping on this in a surprising and positive way," he said. Breast Cancer Prevention: How to Cut Your Risk? Drugmakers Moderna and Merck are jointly developing a personalized mRNA vaccine for patients with melanoma, with a large study to begin this year. The vaccines are customized to each patient, based on the numerous mutations in their cancer tissue. A vaccine personalized in this way can train the immune system to hunt for the cancer's mutation fingerprint and kill those cells. But such vaccines will be expensive. "You basically have to make every vaccine from scratch. If this wasn't personalized, the vaccine could probably be made for pennies, just like the COVID vaccine," said Dr. Patrick Ott of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. The vaccines under development at UW Medicine are designed to work for many patients, not just a single patient. Tests are underway in early and advanced breast cancer, lung cancer and ovarian cancer. Some results may come as soon as next year. ‘Next big wave’: Radiation drugs track and kill cancer cells Todd Pieper, 56, from suburban Seattle, is participating in testing for a vaccine intended to shrink lung cancer tumors. His cancer spread to his brain, but he's hoping to live long enough to see his daughter graduate from nursing school next year. "I have nothing to lose and everything to gain, either for me or for other people down the road," Pieper said of his decision to volunteer. One of the first to receive the ovarian cancer vaccine in a safety study 11 years ago was Jamie Crase of nearby Mercer Island. Diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer when she was 34, Crase thought she would die young and had made a will that bequeathed a favorite necklace to her best friend. Now 50, she has no sign of cancer and she still wears the necklace. She doesn't know for sure if the vaccine helped, "But I'm still here."  

When I told friends and family I was reporting on the first chicken meat grown from animal cells, their first comment was "Eww." Their second comment was: "How does it taste?" The short answer (you've probably heard this sentence before in other contexts): Tastes like chicken.   The longer answer, which folds in the "Eww" response, is more nuanced. Yes, it's strange to think of eating a totally new kind of meat — chicken that doesn't come from a chicken, meat that will be sold as "cell-cultivated" chicken after the U.S. Agriculture Department on Wednesday gave the green light to two California firms, Upside Foods and Good Meat. For the first time, US approves sale of ‘lab-grown’ chicken meat But it's also interesting (and exciting!) to taste test the first offerings of a new era in meat production, which aims to eliminate harm to billions of animals slaughtered for food — and to dramatically reduce the environmental effects of grazing, growing feed for those animals and dealing with their animal waste. FACING UP TO THE 'MEAT PARADOX' I'm a lifelong meat eater. I'm also a victim of the "meat paradox," a term scientists use to describe the psychological conflict that occurs in people who like to eat meat but don't like to contemplate the animals that died providing it. As someone who has reported on food-borne illness outbreaks and slaughterhouse safety, I'm keenly aware that the chicken on my dinner plate probably suffered to get there. And that fact makes me uneasy if I dwell on it too much. Heatstroke killing chickens, wreaking havoc on Kurigram poultry farms  So I was open to trying a different kind of meat — and also curious to see if it would taste like the real thing. I've tried plant-based options like the Beyond Meat sausage and the Impossible Burger and liked them, even though I didn't think they were perfect substitutes. To be honest, the Beyond Meat sausage tasted good, but a little mealy. And the Impossible Burger was dry, although I may have cooked it too long. In both cases, I enjoyed the taste of the products but was still aware that I wasn't actually eating pork or beef. What about the artificiality of it all? It didn't bother me that this new cultivated meat is made from cells that grow to epic proportions in big steel vats, only to be shaped and formed — "extruded" is the somewhat unfortunate verb that came to mind — into familiar cutlets, filets and nuggets that would look right at home on the dinner table. But as with all food, in the end it would come down to taste. And in this case, to the larger question behind it: Is this new material in fact chicken, or is it an impostor? TIME FOR THE ALL-IMPORTANT MOUTH TEST In January, I traveled to the Upside Foods manufacturing plant in Emeryville, California. There, chef Jess Weaver sauteed a cultivated chicken breast in a white wine butter sauce with tomatoes, capers and green onions. The aroma was enticing, just like any filet cooked in butter would be. And the taste was light and delicate with a tender texture, just like any chicken breast I'd make at home – if, that is, I were a chef trained at the Culinary Institute of America. Easy Durga Puja Vegetarian Recipes to Try at Home Last week, I visited the Alameda, California, plant where Good Meat is poised to begin production of its chicken products. Chef Zach Tyndall was ready with a smoked chicken salad with mayonnaise, golden raisins and walnuts. He followed it with a chicken "thigh" dish — darker meat served on a bed of potato puree with a mushroom-vegetable demi-glace, golden beets and tiny purple cauliflower florets. The taste was richer than a chicken breast, more like the dark meat of a thigh. And the texture was both tender and chewy, like a well-cooked chicken thigh should be. That, says Tyndall, is the whole point. "It needs to be as lifelike as possible for it to catch on," he said. While "lifelike" is an interesting word, from my side of the fork I think this will catch on. There are still huge hurdles — how to scale up manufacturing and pare back costs, experts say, and the lingering question of whether chicken without the bird is, in fact, chicken — but if you're basing it on authentic taste, I'll leave you with this: Please pass the "chicken."  

For the first time, U.S. regulators on Wednesday approved the sale of chicken made from animal cells, allowing two California companies to offer “lab-grown” meat to the nation’s restaurant tables and eventually, supermarket shelves. The Agriculture Department gave the green light to Upside Foods and Good Meat, firms that had been racing to be the first in the U.S. to sell meat that doesn’t come from slaughtered animals — what’s now being referred to as “cell-cultivated” or “cultured” meat as it emerges from the laboratory and arrives on dinner plates. Scientists say taurine, present in meat, may extend life Meat grown from animal cells? Here's what it is and how it's madeThe move launches a new era of meat production aimed at eliminating harm to animals and drastically reducing the environmental impacts of grazing, growing feed for animals and animal waste. “Instead of all of that land and all of that water that’s used to feed all of these animals that are slaughtered, we can do it in a different way,” said Josh Tetrick, co-founder and chief executive of Eat Just, which operates Good Meat. The companies received approvals for federal inspections required to sell meat and poultry in the U.S. The action came months after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration deemed that products from both companies are safe to eat. A manufacturing company called Joinn Biologics, which works with Good Meat, was also cleared to make the products. Meat prices shoot up in Dhaka ahead of Eid Cultivated meat is grown in steel tanks, using cells that come from a living animal, a fertilized egg or a special bank of stored cells. In Upside’s case, it comes out in large sheets that are then formed into shapes like chicken cutlets and sausages. Good Meat, which already sells cultivated meat in Singapore, the first country to allow it, turns masses of chicken cells into cutlets, nuggets, shredded meat and satays. SCIENCEHow search teams could use sound to find the Titan sub -- and why it's a challengeParis summit aims to shake up the financial system. It will test leaders' resolve on climateYoung plaintiffs' attorney closes Montana climate change trial with call for actionTropical Storm Bret grows stronger as eastern Caribbean islands prepare for heavy flooding But don’t look for this novel meat in U.S. grocery stores anytime soon. Cultivated chicken is much more expensive than meat from whole, farmed birds and cannot yet be produced on the scale of traditional meat, said Ricardo San Martin, director of the Alt:Meat Lab at University of California Berkeley. The companies plan to serve the new food first in exclusive restaurants: Upside has partnered with a San Francisco restaurant called Bar Crenn, while Good Meat dishes will be served at a Washington, D.C., restaurant run by chef and owner Jose Andrés. Company officials are quick to note the products are meat, not substitutes like the Impossible Burger or offerings from Beyond Meat, which are made from plant proteins and other ingredients. Globally, more than 150 companies are focusing on meat from cells, not only chicken but pork, lamb, fish and beef, which scientists say has the biggest impact on the environment. Upside, based in Berkeley, operates a 70,000-square-foot building in nearby Emeryville. On a recent Tuesday, visitors entered a gleaming commercial kitchen where chef Jess Weaver was sauteeing a cultivated chicken filet in a white wine butter sauce with tomatoes, capers and green onions. The finished chicken breast product was slightly paler than the grocery store version. Otherwise it looked, cooked, smelled and tasted like any other pan-fried poultry. “The most common response we get is, ‘Oh, it tastes like chicken,’” said Amy Chen, Upside’s chief operating officer. Good Meat, based in Alameda, operates a 100,000-square-foot plant, where chef Zach Tyndall dished up a smoked chicken salad on a sunny June afternoon. He followed it with a chicken “thigh” served on a bed of potato puree with a mushroom-vegetable demi-glace and tiny purple cauliflower florets. The Good Meat chicken product will come pre-cooked, requiring only heating to use in a range of dishes. Chen acknowledged that many consumers are skeptical, even squeamish, about the thought of eating chicken grown from cells. “We call it the ‘ick factor,’” she said. The sentiment was echoed in a recent poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Half of U.S. adults said that they are unlikely to try meat grown using cells from animals. When asked to choose from a list of reasons for their reluctance, most who said they’d be unlikely to try it said “it just sounds weird.” About half said they don’t think it would be safe. But once people understand how the meat is made, they’re more accepting, Chen said. And once they taste it, they’re usually sold. “It is the meat that you’ve always known and loved,” she said. Cultivated meat begins with cells. Upside experts take cells from live animals, choosing those most likely to taste good and to reproduce quickly and consistently, forming high-quality meat, Chen said. Good Meat products are created from a master cell bank formed from a commercially available chicken cell line. Once the cell lines are selected, they’re combined with a broth-like mixture that includes the amino acids, fatty acids, sugars, salts, vitamins and other elements cells need to grow. Inside the tanks, called cultivators, the cells grow, proliferating quickly. At Upside, muscle and connective tissue cells grow together, forming large sheets. After about three weeks, the sheets of poultry cells are removed from the tanks and formed into cutlets, sausages or other foods. Good Meat cells grow into large masses, which are shaped into a range of meat products. Both firms emphasized that initial production will be limited. The Emeryville facility can produce up to 50,000 pounds of cultivated meat products a year, though the goal is to expand to 400,000 pounds per year, Upside officials said. Good Meat officials wouldn’t estimate a production goal. By comparison, the U.S. produces about 50 billion pounds of chicken per year. It could take a few years before consumers see the products in more restaurants and seven to 10 years before they hit the wider market, said Sebastian Bohn, who specializes in cell-based foods at CRB, a Missouri firm that designs and builds facilities for pharmaceutical, biotech and food companies. Cost will be another sticking point. Neither Upside nor Good Meat officials would reveal the price of a single chicken cutlet, saying only that it’s been reduced by orders of magnitude since the firms began offering demonstrations. Eventually, the price is expected to mirror high-end organic chicken, which sells for up to $20 per pound. San Martin said he’s concerned that cultivated meat may wind up being an alternative to traditional meat for rich people, but will do little for the environment if it remains a niche product. “If some high-end or affluent people want to eat this instead of a chicken, it’s good,” he said. “Will that mean you will feed chicken to poor people? I honestly don’t see it.” Tetrick said he shares critics’ concerns about the challenges of producing an affordable, novel meat product for the world. But he emphasized that traditional meat production is so damaging to the planet it requires an alternative — preferably one that doesn’t require giving up meat all together. “I miss meat,” said Tetrick, who grew up in Alabama eating chicken wings and barbecue. “There should be a different way that people can enjoy chicken and beef and pork with their families.”