Milk

[Bobsy]

If a Cow can turn grass into Milk why can't our scientists ?

[Old_Geezer]

Adding the right things and performing the right processes I suspect they could, but why would they when nature has evolved mammals to do it for us cheaply ?

[ummmm]

And if humans can turn everything they eat into milk?

[bhg481]

I've seen machines that turn money into milk - you put a coin in the top and a carton of milk comes out at the bottom.

[Cloverjo]

We have evolved so that we can feed our babies with milk. You can't just give a woman, or even a cow, just grass and expect her to produce milk.

This is a joke, isn't it?

[mikey4444]

Bobsy....well, they can turn bloody soya beans into cheese, and very disgusting it is !

[mushroom25]

actually, they did -

http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/986f097d5d214aabb80f7e64bc0b8fc9

I remember this being broadcast. but it's a no brainer really, why spend thousands when the cow can do it just as well for a much smaller cost.....

[Bobsy]

Perhaps because the Cow population is causing the increased warming of our planet Euh !

[Old_Geezer]

It the suggestion to kill the species off and produce milk with technology, then ?

[ToraToraTora]

they can also turn grass into meat, lovely!

[mibn2cweus]

Which one makes the chocolate milk?

[1ozzy]

The brown cows,,,,

[1ozzy]

And the sun burnt ones make Strawberry milk,,,thought everyone knew that ;-/

[mibn2cweus]

Or . . .

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140110131013.htm

[theprof]

We can turn grass into milk and have been able to do so for some years.

However, there were many issues to be considered before it was put on the supermarket shelves, not least the cost involved.

In a nutshell, you wouldn't be able to afford the stuff. The equipment necessary to do the job would take up a huge amount of space even before the cost of the equipment was taken into account.

Besides, I doubt the idea will ever see the light of day because apart from anything else, dairy farmers would soon be out of business. Just imagine the uproar it would cause in the farming community.

[EDDIE51]

Dairy farms produce milk from cows at around 20p a liter ! Try beating that with technology!

[Togo]

I wonder what the effect would be, with millions of machines turning grass into milk, on the warming of our planet. Euh? Electrickery? Steam Power? Move the grass? Waste disposal? Does any of that count in the quasi equation? Plus who is going to eat the machines when they are done?

[theprof]

All good and valid points Togo. The science involved looked good on paper and a number of small scale production units were set-up to show that the theory could be turned into practice. However, the scientists soon came to realise that scaling up the method was prohibitively expensive and costs spiraled out of control. That was when the bean counters came on the scene and effectively buried the project.

As well as my university duties, I loiter around UK government research facilities for a good few hours every month as they tell me they need my advice and expertise. One site that was involved in the early stages of the project still has a fully functioning prototype machine in situ in a gigantic shed not far off the size of an aircraft hanger. I'm convinced the prototype is there to bring home to the boffins that not all ideas are workable.

As EDDIE51 says, there was no way that the milk could be produced for 20p a litre. At the time , it was even less than that.