‘Lab-Grown’ Dairy Products Replace Cows With Yeast

Thanks to a novel form of milk synthesis, that might change. Australian startup Eden Brew has been hard at work perfecting a way to create “cow-free dairy products” using yeast. Rather than relying on cows—which require a lot of land and emit greenhouse gasses—Eden Brew uses a process called precision fermentation to produce milk proteins in a lab. The result is a product that matches the taste, appearance, mouthfeel, and heat stability normally boasted by cow’s milk.

Eden Brew’s scientists begin by using synthetic DNA to genetically program yeast and other microorganisms to produce specific proteins. Cow’s milk contains about 20 different proteins, which are either considered casein or whey proteins. These lend cow’s milk its color, texture, and ability to withstand high heat, the latter of which is vital to avoiding curdling when added to coffee or stovetop meals. Eden Brew synthesizes six of these proteins in the lab, then dehydrates them to sell to dairy firms. Once a dairy firm obtains these proteins, it can rehydrate them and blend them into a marketable product. Minerals, plant-based fats, and a small quantity of sugar turn the proteins into a cow (and lactose) free competitor to what some now consider to be an outdated product.

American startups like Perfect Day and New Culture use similar precision fermentation processes to make proteins used in cow-free cheeses, yogurts, and ice cream products. In fact, they’re so successful that you may have previously eaten yeast-produced dairy products without even realizing it: many frozen desserts, chocolate bars, whey proteins, and other products that are advertised as “lactose-free” use these firms’ proteins in their recipes. Like animal-free “meat” products, lab-grown dairy products are even finding success with consumers who are indifferent about animal welfare and environmental concerns but find the products’ novelty intriguing.

Continue reading

Sony May Let Users Move Games Off PS5, Xbox Series X SSD Is User-Replaceable

Microsoft is using a user-replaceable SSD for the Xbox Series X, while Sony is researching PS5 game transfers.

Google Promises Not to Replace Third-Party Trackers With Something Worse

Last year, Google announced it would phase out third-party tracking cookies in Chrome. That's hardly the only way to track people around the web, though. Now, Google confirms it won't invest in any of those alternatives to track individual people.

Will Microsoft Mesh Replace Video Calls?

In the latest attempt to jumpstart the somewhat moribund market for a VR future, Microsoft has un-veiled an ambitious new mixed-reality platform, Microsoft Mesh. Running on its Azure services platform, it initially supports the company's own Hololens devices, and its Altspace VR application, but the plan is to make it work with other VR, AR, and MR devices as well.

Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti Replaces 3090 for Many Gamers, 3070 Ti Coming Soon

Nvidia has announced the RTX 3080 Ti with 12GB of VRAM and more GPU cores, with theoretical availability starting June 3. An updated RTX 3070 Ti will follow, with theoretical availability on June 10.