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Lab-Grown Meat Exists (But Nobody Wants To Eat It)

Slashdot.org - Wed, 02/18/2026 - 10:20
An anonymous reader shares a report: In 2013, scientists unveiled the first lab-grown burger at a cost of $330,000. By 2023, the FDA approved cultivated chicken for sale. The price had dropped to around $10-$30 per pound, and over $3 billion in investor money had poured into more than 175 companies developing meat grown from animal cells instead of slaughtered animals. The promise is straightforward: real meat, no slaughter required. You could eat beef without killing cattle, chicken without industrial farming, steak without ethical compromise. The technology works. Federal regulators approved it as safe. And nearly a third of US states have banned it or are trying to. Not because it's dangerous -- because it threatens something deeper than food safety. Start with a small sample of animal cells -- a biopsy, not a slaughter. Place them in a bioreactor with nutrients. The cells multiply, forming muscle tissue identical to conventional meat at the cellular level. Nutritionally comparable, same protein content, but grown without raising and killing an animal. The process uses 64-90% less land than conventional meat production and drastically reduces greenhouse gas emissions. No factory farms, no slaughterhouses, no ethical compromise for people who love meat but hate industrial animal agriculture. For vegetarians who gave up meat for ethical reasons, it offers something impossible before: guilt-free steak. [...] Here's where the dream hits reality. Consumer surveys show people perceive conventional meat as tastier and healthier than lab-grown alternatives. Fewer consumers are willing to try cultivated options than expected. The words "lab-grown" and "cultivated" don't exactly make mouths water. Something about meat grown in a bioreactor triggers deep discomfort for many people, even those who claim to care about animal welfare and environmental impact. It's the same psychological barrier that made "Frankenfood" stick as a label for GMOs. Meat is supposed to come from animals, raised on farms, connected to land and tradition. Growing it in a facility feels wrong to people in ways they struggle to articulate.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Pixel 10a: Everything you need, at a price you’ll lovePixel 10a: Everything you need, at a price you’ll loveProduct Manager

GoogleBlog - Wed, 02/18/2026 - 10:00
Learn more about Google’s new Pixel 10a, its latest A-series Pixel phone.Learn more about Google’s new Pixel 10a, its latest A-series Pixel phone.
Categories: Technology

FDA Reverses Decision and Agrees To Review Moderna's Flu Vaccine

Slashdot.org - Wed, 02/18/2026 - 09:40
The Food and Drug Administration has reversed its decision on Moderna's flu vaccine and has agreed to review it for possible approval, Moderna announced on Wednesday. From a report: Last week, the agency rejected Moderna's application for review of a new flu vaccine, saying the company's research design was flawed. But in subsequent discussions the company said that the agency had relented and agreed to begin a review. Moderna said it split its application for the flu vaccine based on age, seeking a traditional approval for people 50 to 64 years old, and accelerated approval for those 65 and older. The company also said it agreed to conduct an additional study among those 65 and older once the vaccine reached the market. Moderna said on Wednesday that the F.D.A. set a deadline of August to decide whether to approve the vaccine. If it is authorized, it would be available for those older adults in the flu season that begins later this year. The vaccine uses messenger RNA technology, which Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has repeatedly criticized as unsafe and ineffective. The mRNA approach, which instructs the body to produce a fragment of a virus that sets off an immune response, was widely successful in Covid vaccines and is considered generally safe by public health experts and scientists.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

India Tells University To Leave AI Summit After Presenting Chinese Robot as Its Own

Slashdot.org - Wed, 02/18/2026 - 09:00
An anonymous reader shares a report: An Indian university has been asked to vacate its stall at the country's flagship AI summit after a staff member was caught presenting a commercially available robotic dog made in China as its own creation, two government sources said. "You need to meet Orion. This has been developed by the Centre of Excellence at Galgotias University," Neha Singh, a professor of communications, told state-run broadcaster DD News this week in remarks that have since gone viral. But social media users quickly identified the robot as the Unitree Go2, sold by China's Unitree Robotics for about $2,800 and widely used in research and education globally. The episode has drawn sharp criticism and has cast an uncomfortable spotlight on India's artificial intelligence ambitions.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Get your first look at the new Pixel 10a.Get your first look at the new Pixel 10a.

GoogleBlog - Wed, 02/18/2026 - 08:13
Pixel 10a is here! Our newest, most durable A-series phone has our best-in-class camera system and many of our most advanced AI tools, powered by our custom-built Google…
Categories: Technology

Thousands of CEOs Just Admitted AI Had No Impact On Employment Or Productivity

Slashdot.org - Wed, 02/18/2026 - 08:00
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Fortune: In 1987, economist and Nobel laureate Robert Solow made a stark observation about the stalling evolution of the Information Age: Following the advent of transistors, microprocessors, integrated circuits, and memory chips of the 1960s, economists and companies expected these new technologies to disrupt workplaces and result in a surge of productivity. Instead, productivity growth slowed, dropping from 2.9% from 1948 to 1973, to 1.1% after 1973. Newfangled computers were actually at times producing too much information, generating agonizingly detailed reports and printing them on reams of paper. What had promised to be a boom to workplace productivity was for several years a bust. This unexpected outcome became known as Solow's productivity paradox, thanks to the economist's observation of the phenomenon. "You can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics," Solow wrote in a New York Times Book Review article in 1987. New data on how C-suite executives are -- or aren't -- using AI shows history is repeating itself, complicating the similar promises economists and Big Tech founders made about the technology's impact on the workplace and economy. Despite 374 companies in the S&P 500 mentioning AI in earnings calls -- most of which said the technology's implementation in the firm was entirely positive -- according to a Financial Times analysis from September 2024 to 2025, those positive adoptions aren't being reflected in broader productivity gains. A study published this month by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that among 6,000 CEOs, chief financial officers, and other executives from firms who responded to various business outlook surveys in the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Australia, the vast majority see little impact from AI on their operations. While about two-thirds of executives reported using AI, that usage amounted to only about 1.5 hours per week, and 25% of respondents reported not using AI in the workplace at all. Nearly 90% of firms said AI has had no impact on employment or productivity over the last three years, the research noted. However, firms' expectations of AI's workplace and economic impact remained substantial: Executives also forecast AI will increase productivity by 1.4% and increase output by 0.8% over the next three years. While firms expected a 0.7% cut to employment over this time period, individual employees surveyed saw a 0.5% increase in employment.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Drive with World of Warcraft on Waze.Drive with World of Warcraft on Waze.

GoogleBlog - Wed, 02/18/2026 - 06:38
Waze is once again teaming up with World of Warcraft, this time bringing a darker presence to your turn-by-turn directions: the Harbinger of the Void, Xal’atath.After th…
Categories: Technology

AI Impact Summit 2026: How we’re partnering to make AI work for everyoneAI Impact Summit 2026: How we’re partnering to make AI work for everyoneSVP, Research, Labs, Technology & Society

GoogleBlog - Wed, 02/18/2026 - 05:30
An overview of Google’s new global partnerships and funding announcements at the AI Impact Summit in India.An overview of Google’s new global partnerships and funding announcements at the AI Impact Summit in India.
Categories: Technology

We’re launching the Google.org Impact Challenge: AI for Science.We’re launching the Google.org Impact Challenge: AI for Science.

GoogleBlog - Wed, 02/18/2026 - 05:30
AI isn’t just helping people solve problems faster, it’s unlocking new possibilities for discovery and scalability. To support organizations at the forefront of scientif…
Categories: Technology

We’re announcing the new Google.org Impact Challenge: AI for Government Innovation.We’re announcing the new Google.org Impact Challenge: AI for Government Innovation.

GoogleBlog - Wed, 02/18/2026 - 05:30
Government AI adoption isn't just a technical upgrade, it's a way to solve real world challenges and drive societal impact for communities. Yet new data reveals that whi…
Categories: Technology

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