Latest news with #ThePack
Daily Record
6 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Stunning Scottish isle used as setting for BBC's Walking With Dinosaurs
The isle stands in for prehistoric Alberta in Walking With Dinosaurs, home to deadly predators from 71 million years ago. Scotland's Isle of Skye, best known for its dramatic cliffs, medieval castles and fishing villages, has taken on a more ferocious role, as the ancient hunting ground of a pack of deadly predators from 71 million years ago. The rugged Hebridean landscape stands in for prehistoric Alberta, Canada in an episode of BBC One's recent hit series Walking With Dinosaurs . In episode four, titled The Pack, viewers met Rose, a young Albertosaurus brought to life using cutting-edge CGI, forensic science and some surprisingly low-tech tools. Albertosaurus, a distant and faster relative of the fearsome Tyrannosaurus rex, is believed to have hunted in packs, making it one of the most formidable carnivores of the late Cretaceous period, Express reports. Palaeontologists uncovered Rose's fossilised remains in Drumheller, Alberta, and CT scanning was used to digitally reconstruct her brain and build a scientifically accurate model. But not all the production magic happened in high-tech labs. Behind the scenes, Skye stood in as the dramatic backdrop for Rose's on-screen adventures, offering terrain strikingly similar to that of ancient Alberta. 'There's a 'making-of' chapter in the book and what may be of interest is a lot of the background in what is shown as Alberta, Canada, was actually filmed on the Isle of Skye,' said Helen Thomas, senior executive producer of the series and co-author of the official companion book. Filming prehistoric giants amid Scotland's raw and windswept scenery came with its own challenges, not least the unusual sight of crew members wielding tennis balls and broomsticks to help visualise the dinosaurs. 'You take blue cut-outs of the heads of these creatures, which are quite large, and then a member of the production team will have a tennis ball or something representing the other end,' Helen explained. She added: 'You have people dressed all in blue and you've got them holding blue heads, and then you get somebody else with a broom pole with a blue tennis ball on top, that's there for the tip of the tail. "And the director of photography and the cameraman have to imagine what's in between and how that's moving.' Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. This inventive mix of imagination and science is at the heart of the BBC's ground-breaking series. Every detail is crafted to bring viewers as close as possible to the prehistoric world, while remaining rooted in scientific evidence. 'They have to have the most amazing imaginations and we have to make sure it's scientifically accurate,' said Helen. In the third episode, Band of Brothers, audiences met George, a heavily armoured juvenile Gastonia, who forms a herd with fellow youngsters in a bid to survive the looming threat of Utahraptor attacks. The companion book, Walking With Dinosaurs: Uncovering the Secret Stories of Prehistoric Life by Andrew Cohen, Helen Thomas and Kirsty Wilson (DK, £25), is available now.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
🇵🇹Will Quaresma make the top 8? Final matchday in the Icon League
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here. Today is the final matchday of the Icon League. The decision will be made as to which eight teams will compete in Berlin for a prize money of €500,000. For B2B United, the Top 8 is still within reach, but only with a victory ninth-placed team is up against the league leaders DNA Athletics, who are aiming to secure the Regular-Season Champion title. B2B has significantly strengthened for this important match. With Ricardo Quaresma, a real superstar is entering the stage - the Portuguese master technician is expected to make the difference. His compatriot Nani did not have a decisive influence last week. In addition, B2B has secured the services of Änis-Ben Hatira. The former Berliner became second division champion with Hertha in 2013 and has a total of 101 Bundesliga appearances. Can B2B make it into the Top 8 with these two top-class players? This also crucially depends on the match between Berlin City and Plyrs United. If Plyrs United were to win, not only would B2B's title dreams burst, but also those of Two Stripes United and Fokus Eagles. However, Berlin City still has the chance to conquer the first table place. So, an exciting duel is expected. FC OneFootball could achieve something incredible. With a win against The Pack, they would be unbeaten in ten consecutive games. In addition, OneFootball would jump to the first table place with a win of their own and a loss by DNA. For The Pack, it's about gaining confidence with a view to the Final 8. Here is an overview of all the matches of the last matchday: FK Motor Neufünfland vs. FC Bavarian Clique FC OneFootball vs. The Pack FC FOKUS Eagles vs. Berlin Underdogs FC Berlin City vs. Plyrs United B2B United vs. DNA Athletics SC Bürgeramt vs. Wontorriors FC Two Stripes United vs. Buzz Club 📸 Dean Mouhtaropoulos - 2018 Getty Images
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.'
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
What is cultivated meat? 'World first' dog treat made from lab-grown meat hits UK shelves
Pets at Home has launched a dog treat which the firm says is a first for the globe. Chick Bites, manufactured by Meatly, are made from plant-based ingredients combined with cultivated meat. According to Meatly, the meat is 'just as tasty and nutritious as traditional chicken breast' and has all the vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, and amino acids required for a healthy pet. A limited release of Chick Bites, sold under the plant-based dog food brand The Pack, will be available at a branch of Pets at Home in Brentford, London from Friday. But what exactly is cultivated meat and how is it made? Cultivated meat is meat that is generated in a laboratory using animal cells as opposed to being obtained by rearing and slaughtering animals. It is also known by other names including lab-grown, cultured, cell-based or clean meat. Meatly has revealed Chick Bites are made from a single sample of cells extracted from a single chicken egg, from which enough cultured meat could be made to feed pets 'forever'. Following the approval of Meatly's 'chicken' by the Animal and Plant Health Agency and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in July, the UK became the first nation in Europe to support the use of cultivated meat in pet food. Pets at Home also claimed to be the first business in the world to market cultivated meat for use in pet food. In the next three to five years, Meatly plans to raise money to increase production and make its chicken more widely available. Additional partnerships with The Pack, which supplied the plant-based ingredients, and Pets at Home are also planned. Meatly's founding CEO, Owen Ensor, stated in a statement: 'Just two years ago this felt like a moon shot. Today we take off. It's a giant leap forward, toward a significant market for meat which is healthy, sustainable and kind to our planet and other animals.' Meatly faces competition from others eager to take advantage of pet owners' desire for more environmentally friendly ingredients. BioCraft, an Austrian-American start-up, has been creating cultured mouse meat for cats and dogs. The process's high cost and complexity have contributed to these businesses' difficulties by delaying the release of their goods. BioCraft stated in May 2024 that it had successfully reduced expenses and intended to launch its pet food by the beginning of 2026. In the meantime, US company Hill's Pet Nutrition announced in February 2024 that it had been working with Bond Pet Foods to 'formulate test products'.
