Latest news with #Ensor
Yahoo
20-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Pixar fans scramble to create ‘The Increggibles' and ‘Eggside Out 2' for Easter
From the Incredibles to Up, there was no shortage of creativity from parents and their children when it came to making egg-tastic projects for school competitions. Parents across the country have been taking to TikTok to post the egg-centred creations their children have made in the lead up to Easter. In Birmingham, Megan Ensor's five-year-old son Caleb Dove recreated characters from Pixar animation The Incredibles including Edna Mode, also known as 'Eggna Mode', and Jack-Jack using hard boiled eggs. He and his mother used paint to mimic the characters' hair and fine liner pens to draw faces on the eggs. 'I've got two sons and both of them are obsessed with The Incredibles, especially Jack-Jack, so we were fiddling around with names and I just thought of one scene in particular, which was when Jack-Jack was fighting with a racoon in Incredibles 2, and I just incorporated that with eggs,' Ms Ensor, who is 25 and works as a cleaner, told the PA news agency. 'We thought of the name the Increggibles, which made my son really excited.' The project – which also features other elements including a car made from cardboard and houses constructed with card – took roughly a week-and-a-half to create. 'There was a lot of cutting and sticking and my son was having fun with the glue stick and putting it all together,' she said. 'When all the box was done, we decided to move on to the eggs which took hours. 'When we were boiling them, I lost about two because they completely cracked.' Despite not winning with his entry, Caleb provided some Easter joy to social media users through a video of his creation, which was shared by his mother under the TikTok handle @meganensor and has received hundreds of views. 'I was not expecting that,' Ms Ensor said. 'We had a really good laugh with it, it was so much fun.' In Lancashire, Janeane Kearney, 34, has been busy over the past two weeks working with her two daughters – Isla Slater, 10, and Eva Slater, eight – on their separate entries for their respective classes' egg competitions. Isla's project, which pays homages to Pixar movie Up and features hard boiled egg versions of main characters Russell and Carl Fredricksen and the famous balloon house, won first place. Eva, however, did not have the same luck as her sister, with her offering – a take on Inside Out 2 called 'Eggside Out 2', complete with egg versions of the emotions including sadness and anxiety – missing out on victory. Speaking through the process for both entries, Ms Kearney, who is a counsellor, told PA: 'For the Up house, real eggs was used for the figures and polystyrene eggs used for the balloons. 'We used cardboard boxes and cut them up to make the house from scratch using a picture off Disney to make it as realistic as possible. 'We used hot glue, acrylic paints and wire too and a shoe box for the base. 'For the Inside Out 2 entry, we used hard boiled eggs for the emotions and painted them using acrylic paints, (used a) shoe box for the base, polystyrene eggs for the 'memories' and cardboard to make the shoots, the tower and also the control desk.' Eva was not too disappointed by her defeat as a TikTok her mother posted on her egg-cellent endeavour under the handle @xjaneanex went viral after being viewed by over 130,000 people which she said 'helped soften the blow' of losing. A video on Isla's entry similarly went viral, racking up over 170,000 views and over 3,000 likes. 'I did not expect the videos to get as many views as they have… it was also lovely to read people's comments,' Ms Kearney added. The Kearney family are not novices in the art of egg decorating competitions, having made other prize-winning designs over the years including their unique adaptation of SpongeBob SquarePants and the other members of Bikini Bottom, as well as Taylor Swift's lesser known counterpart, 'Taegg Swift'.
BBC News
06-04-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Alzheimer's fundraiser, 80, wants to collect £76k on 1,200-mile walk
An intrepid 80-year-old is walking from John O'Groats to Land's End to raise money and awareness of Alzheimer's after his wife died from Ensor, who lives in Shipton-under-Wychwood, Oxfordshire, started his 1,200-mile (1,931km) trek on Tuesday and plans to finish it at the end of late wife Susan, a former primary school teacher, died three-and-a-half years ago after suffering with the Ensor has previously raised about £20,000 for Alzheimer's Research UK but hopes to smash that by raising £76,000 over the coming months. "I totally understand that this will not be easy, not least because at my age my physicality is not that of a 21-year-old and also because the terrain that I am going to walk over is challenging in itself," he said."Mix that with the British weather and we have a cocktail of improbability."Alzheimer's Research UK said 982,000 people are estimated to be living with dementia across the country and it was the leading cause of death in 2022, accounting for over 74,000 deaths. The Ensors lived in Parbold, West Lancashire, for over 50 years and moved to Oxfordshire to be closer to had initially known each other as childhood friends, living close to each other in Rainhill, Merseyside, but were reunited at Mr Ensor's sister's 21st birthday married in 1969 and had two sons."It's my lifetime's ambition to raise as much as I can do fund the scientists who are developing medications and eventually, we hope, a cure for these terrible diseases," Mr Ensor has undertaken similar challenges, albeit not on the same September 2022, he hiked 500 miles (805km) from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port in south-west France to Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain, raising about £15,000 for in September 2023, Mr Ensor set himself the challenge of hiking 34 miles (55km) around Lake Windermere in under 12 hours. He just managed to complete that, finishing in 11 hours and 54 minutes. His efforts raised about £4, is documenting his progress on an online blog. You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Pet Food Made From 'Lab-Grown Meat' Is Now Available and People Have Opinions
Today, there are more options than ever for vegans (or people who want to eat less meat) to enjoy foods like burgers and chicken nuggets without actually eating real meat. There are so many different types of protein that can be used to reproduce similar textures and flavors, and it's making it a lot easier to avoid meat for those who choose to. On the heels of vegan meat like Impossible Burgers are developments in lab-grown meat, which basically is the real thing, only it's made with the help of science, not animals. It's not widely available quite yet — at least, not for humans. Because now, it's official: The first lab-grown pet food has hit the market. On Wednesday, February 12, news station WDRB News shared a report on YouTube that is raising a lot of questions. According to the outlet, the world's first lab-grown meat for pets is now for sale in the United Kingdom. The food in question is actually a new treat called Chick Bites, and it contains 4% chicken meat that was made in a lab by a company called Meatly. As the news anchors explained, it's made by sampling animal cells and culturing them "with water and nutrients." Judging by some responses to the news on social media, not everybody is on board with the idea. One person tweeted, "I'd not eat it, so I'd certainly never expect my dog to. What's wrong with natural food, you know, actual real chicken that we've eaten for thousands of years." Others are celebrating the development. One person wrote, "As long as the lab stuff is healthy I don't see a problem; it would cause less suffering for farm animals." Owen Ensor, the founder of Meatly, told CNN that pets are actually the highest consumers of meat, not humans. "Our intention was always to do cultivated meat for pet food," he said. "We recognized that there was a huge burning need in the pet world, with 20% of meat globally being eaten by our pets." It seems like dogs appear to be fans of the new meat. Ensor said that in product testing, many of the dogs "preferred it to their baseline diet," which is really saying something! So far, the new treats are only available in the UK, but if they're a success, it wouldn't be too surprising if they made their way to the United States soon. It will certainly be interesting to see what even more dogs think of it when they get their paws on these snacks!🐶🐾🐾
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
‘World's first' lab-grown meat for pets launches in the UK
In what's been called a world first, consumers in the UK are now able to buy a pet treat made with lab-grown meat. The treat contains plant-based ingredients and 4% chicken meat cultivated in a lab by Meatly, a London-based startup that last year became the first company in the world to get regulatory approval for this type of meat to be used in pet food. Lab-grown or cultivated meat is made by harvesting a tiny sample of animals cells — from a chicken egg, in this case — and then culturing them in a steel tank called a bioreactor, along with water and nutrients. In a few weeks, a protein mass is produced with a much smaller environmental impact than growing a live animal, in terms of land and water use, as well as carbon emissions — and without having to kill an actual chicken. 'It's the first time ever a consumer has been able to buy a product made from cultivated meat for their pet, and it's the first time in Europe that a consumer has been able to buy cultivated meat full stop, whether for humans or animals,' says Owen Ensor, who founded Meatly in 2022. 'Our intention was always to do cultivated meat for pet food. We recognized that there was a huge burning need in the pet world, with 20% of meat globally being eaten by our pets. The average Labrador eats more meat than its owner,' he added. For now, the treat — called 'Chick Bites' and produced in collaboration with pet food brand The Pack — is in limited release and only available in one London outlet of Pets at Home, a chain that operates 457 stores in the UK and was an early investor in Meatly. It costs £3.49 ($4.30) for 50 grams. In recent years, meat alternatives have been growing in popularity, but unlike plant-based products, which use protein such as soy or peas to mimic real meat, and products that use the fermentation of microbes like fungi or yeasts to make the protein, cultivated meat is not yet widely available. Only a handful of countries have approved the sale of lab-grown meat, including Singapore, in 2020, the United States, in 2023, and Israel in 2024. However, two US states — Florida and Alabama — have since banned cultivated meat, and none is currently available for sale in the country. In 2023, Italy became the first country to ban the sale of lab-grown meat, although the measure has since been challenged by the European Union. Beyond the issues of regulatory approval and consumer acceptance, cultivated meat is still very expensive to make. 'Currently we're about £30 (about $37) per kilogram of the chicken that we're producing, and we'd want to be between £5 and £10 (between $6.20 and $12.40),' says Ensor. 'Our process is still quite expensive, but we've made incredible progress bringing the cost down, particularly of the nutrients we are feeding the chicken cells with. Those are often the most expensive component, and we've brought those down from what has been £700 (about $867) per liter to what is currently 26 pence per liter (about 32 cents). We have made this more cost efficient by orders of thousands in the last two years and are continuing on that journey.' Meatly's process involves taking 'a single sample of cells from one chicken egg one time,' Ensor explains, which is sufficient to create 'an infinite amount of meat forever more.' The cells are fed with a mix of amino acids, vitamins and minerals for about a week, after which the meat is ready and has the consistency of 'chicken pâté.' Meat made this way is nutritionally equivalent to the real thing, he adds, but free of steroids, hormones or antibiotics. Depending on the methods used in traditional animal agriculture, Ensor says it uses 50 to 60% less land, 30 to 40% less water, and creates about 40% fewer CO2 emissions. However, one of the biggest challenges for cultured meat companies is scaling up to be able to make enough product for a widespread commercial launch. Ensor says that Meatly currently uses 50-liter (13-gallon) bioreactors to grow its cells, but to be able to scale up production, it's planning to move to a new facility that will employ 20,000-liter (5,200-gallon) bioreactors instead. In product tests with dogs, he says the treat was enthusiastically received. 'Many of them preferred it to their baseline diet,' he says. Pet owners — who are technically barred from trying the product even if they wanted to, because it is not approved for human consumption — have also responded positively, Ensor adds. 'Once you start explaining that the process is very similar to making beer and that is dramatically more sustainable (than conventional meat production), that we've done a lot of safety testing and have regular engagements with the regulators to make sure our process adheres to all of the necessary rules, people are just excited about it. A lot of people who have pets are animal lovers and want to find a more sustainable and kind way of feeding their pets.' According to Tuck Seng Wong, a professor of biomanufacturing at the University of Sheffield, in the UK, and the deputy director of the National Alternative Protein Innovation Centre, who's not involved with Meatly, cultivated meat technology has advanced significantly and is now comparable in maturity to other alternative protein technologies, such as fermentation and insect cultivation. 'Pet food accounts for up to a quarter of total meat consumption,' he says. 'Therefore, developing an alternative method for pet food production that ensures food safety while preserving the essential nutrients pets require marks a significant milestone.' As the technology continues to advance, he adds, the culture media used for growing animal cells will become increasingly cost-effective and environmentally sustainable. 'Using cultured meat for pet food is a logical choice, provided it meets a price point acceptable to consumers while ensuring high food safety standards and maintaining, or even enhancing, the essential nutritional value for pets.' Christopher Bryant, a psychologist and honorary research fellow at the University of Bath, who studies consumer acceptance of alternative meat, and is also not involved with Meatly, says that lab-grown meat still has to win over consumers. 'There's a lot of evidence that consumer acceptance of cultivated meat is strongly associated with familiarity,' he adds. 'Once a product becomes more familiar in any form, it will tend to be viewed as more normal, and therefore will tend to be more accepted.' After making pet food, which it hopes will help consumers familiarize with lab-grown meat, Meatly aims to make cultured protein for people, too. 'The UK Food Standards Agency is currently undergoing a two-year project to set out the approval process for cultivated meat,' Ensor says. 'We hope to be part of that process, and everything in our production is safe for humans, it's just we don't have the regulatory pathway yet. But once that's established, we would love to bring sustainable, healthy and kind meat to people as well.'
CNN
12-02-2025
- Business
- CNN
‘World's first' lab-grown meat for pets launches in the UK
In what's been called a world first, consumers in the UK are now able to buy a pet treat made with lab-grown meat. The treat contains plant-based ingredients and 4% chicken meat cultivated in a lab by Meatly, a London-based startup that last year became the first company in the world to get regulatory approval for this type of meat to be used in pet food. Lab-grown or cultivated meat is made by harvesting a tiny sample of animals cells — from a chicken egg, in this case — and then culturing them in a steel tank called a bioreactor, along with water and nutrients. In a few weeks, a protein mass is produced with a much smaller environmental impact than growing a live animal, in terms of land and water use, as well as carbon emissions — and without having to kill an actual chicken. 'It's the first time ever a consumer has been able to buy a product made from cultivated meat for their pet, and it's the first time in Europe that a consumer has been able to buy cultivated meat full stop, whether for humans or animals,' says Owen Ensor, who founded Meatly in 2022. 'Our intention was always to do cultivated meat for pet food. We recognized that there was a huge burning need in the pet world, with 20% of meat globally being eaten by our pets. The average Labrador eats more meat than its owner,' he added. For now, the treat — called 'Chick Bites' and produced in collaboration with pet food brand The Pack — is in limited release and only available in one London outlet of Pets at Home, a chain that operates 457 stores in the UK and was an early investor in Meatly. It costs £3.49 ($4.30) for 50 grams. In recent years, meat alternatives have been growing in popularity, but unlike plant-based products, which use protein such as soy or peas to mimic real meat, and products that use the fermentation of microbes like fungi or yeasts to make the protein, cultivated meat is not yet widely available. Only a handful of countries have approved the sale of lab-grown meat, including Singapore, in 2020, the United States, in 2023, and Israel in 2024. However, two US states — Florida and Alabama — have since banned cultivated meat, and none is currently available for sale in the country. In 2023, Italy became the first country to ban the sale of lab-grown meat, although the measure has since been challenged by the European Union. Beyond the issues of regulatory approval and consumer acceptance, cultivated meat is still very expensive to make. 'Currently we're about £30 (about $37) per kilogram of the chicken that we're producing, and we'd want to be between £5 and £10 (between $6.20 and $12.40),' says Ensor. 'Our process is still quite expensive, but we've made incredible progress bringing the cost down, particularly of the nutrients we are feeding the chicken cells with. Those are often the most expensive component, and we've brought those down from what has been £700 (about $867) per liter to what is currently 26 pence per liter (about 32 cents). We have made this more cost efficient by orders of thousands in the last two years and are continuing on that journey.' Meatly's process involves taking 'a single sample of cells from one chicken egg one time,' Ensor explains, which is sufficient to create 'an infinite amount of meat forever more.' The cells are fed with a mix of amino acids, vitamins and minerals for about a week, after which the meat is ready and has the consistency of 'chicken pâté.' Meat made this way is nutritionally equivalent to the real thing, he adds, but free of steroids, hormones or antibiotics. Depending on the methods used in traditional animal agriculture, Ensor says it uses 50 to 60% less land, 30 to 40% less water, and creates about 40% fewer CO2 emissions. However, one of the biggest challenges for cultured meat companies is scaling up to be able to make enough product for a widespread commercial launch. Ensor says that Meatly currently uses 50-liter (13-gallon) bioreactors to grow its cells, but to be able to scale up production, it's planning to move to a new facility that will employ 20,000-liter (5,200-gallon) bioreactors instead. In product tests with dogs, he says the treat was enthusiastically received. 'Many of them preferred it to their baseline diet,' he says. Pet owners — who are technically barred from trying the product even if they wanted to, because it is not approved for human consumption — have also responded positively, Ensor adds. 'Once you start explaining that the process is very similar to making beer and that is dramatically more sustainable (than conventional meat production), that we've done a lot of safety testing and have regular engagements with the regulators to make sure our process adheres to all of the necessary rules, people are just excited about it. A lot of people who have pets are animal lovers and want to find a more sustainable and kind way of feeding their pets.' According to Tuck Seng Wong, a professor of biomanufacturing at the University of Sheffield, in the UK, and the deputy director of the National Alternative Protein Innovation Centre, who's not involved with Meatly, cultivated meat technology has advanced significantly and is now comparable in maturity to other alternative protein technologies, such as fermentation and insect cultivation. 'Pet food accounts for up to a quarter of total meat consumption,' he says. 'Therefore, developing an alternative method for pet food production that ensures food safety while preserving the essential nutrients pets require marks a significant milestone.' As the technology continues to advance, he adds, the culture media used for growing animal cells will become increasingly cost-effective and environmentally sustainable. 'Using cultured meat for pet food is a logical choice, provided it meets a price point acceptable to consumers while ensuring high food safety standards and maintaining, or even enhancing, the essential nutritional value for pets.' Christopher Bryant, a psychologist and honorary research fellow at the University of Bath, who studies consumer acceptance of alternative meat, and is also not involved with Meatly, says that lab-grown meat still has to win over consumers. 'There's a lot of evidence that consumer acceptance of cultivated meat is strongly associated with familiarity,' he adds. 'Once a product becomes more familiar in any form, it will tend to be viewed as more normal, and therefore will tend to be more accepted.' After making pet food, which it hopes will help consumers familiarize with lab-grown meat, Meatly aims to make cultured protein for people, too. 'The UK Food Standards Agency is currently undergoing a two-year project to set out the approval process for cultivated meat,' Ensor says. 'We hope to be part of that process, and everything in our production is safe for humans, it's just we don't have the regulatory pathway yet. But once that's established, we would love to bring sustainable, healthy and kind meat to people as well.'
