Lab Grown Meat | Flying Car | Delivery Bots - The Convo Kit - Issue #3

Happy 4th of July weekend! Prep for your BBQ convos with intel on meat alternatives and check out the car that needs to dodge fireworks.

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Lab-Grown Meat

Future Meat Technologies aims to sell lab-grown meat as early as next year. The company is currently producing 5,000 lab-grown burgers per day.

• Lab lineup: lamb, chicken, and pork

• Produces meat 20x faster than livestock

• 80% fewer greenhouse gas emissions than traditional meat

The known impact of livestock production has little effect on most human diets and plant-based alternatives don’t capture the same flavor as little ol’ Wilbur. Lab grown meat has the potential to satisfy everyone, or at least make for good conversation at your ‘Murica BBQ.

More juicy details over on New Atlas.

Flying Car’s First Commute

Klein Vision’s street-legal car can turn into a small plane at the push of a button. Its wings remain compact enough to drive on normal roads before unfolding on the runway.

• 160 hp

• Flight speed of 118 mph

• 142 successful flights

Flying cars have been something of sci-fi fantasy for some time. With technology catching up, it’s only a matter of time before cars like this become more accessible. Let’s just hope the license test is far more rigorous than our current land car version.

Video of the real-life transformer is available in the article.

Bike Lane Battles

Refraction AI’s semi-autonomous delivery bot, REV-1, uses bike lanes to deliver pizza in Austin, TX. Ten REV-1s, accompanied by a human on an electric scooter, are currently operational.

• Top Speed: 15 mph

• Can operate in snow

• Less awkward to hand a tip to

Some cyclists fear crowded lanes and doubt the bots’ ability to move aside as advertised. I believe this will pave the way for more robust cycling infrastructure and welcome our fellow droid commuters.

Pic of the REV-1 and it’s scooter chaperone available here.

Eat Kelp, Save the Planet

Kelp is a seaweed that is edible, like many other plants. It’s grown in underwater forests and GreenWave wants us to eat more of it to save the planet.

• 5 acres of seaweed offsets carbon output = 20 million cars

• Kelp may follow the soy path (aka put it in everything)

• Ocean farm starting cost: $20k

Traditional meat alternatives are having a moment, but the market for standalone seaweed is iffy outside of woke millennials. If clever marketing fails, drench it in salt and attach it to fast food.

Great Freakonomics podcast with co-founder Bren Smith.

Underground Martian Lakes

NASA recently found evidence of dozens of lakes underneath the Martian south pole. Surface penetrating radar returned signatures consistent with water.

• “Likely frozen” …it’s -81°F

• Contains water, dust, and dry ice

• Similar lakes at Mars’ North Pole

These frozen lakes may hold proof of life on Mars, at least historically. To be fair, there is room for error in the accuracy of radar scans below a surface we have never seen before. One thing is for sure: If there’s water to be drilled, we’ll argue about it.

Video of what life could look like on Mars on Interesting Engineering.

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