Burger to go? That'll be Dh1.5 million, please

Scientists in the Netherlands grow artificial meat, plus Domino's plans to put a pizza restaurant on the Moon and more news you can lose.

A burger made entirely from artificial meat will be ready to eat within a year, but with a price tag of Dh1.5 million.

Scientists in the Netherlands have used cells to construct what they call "in vitro meat" or muscle tissue created in a laboratory rather than taken from slaughtered animals.

They hope to produce enough meat for a sausage within months and for a burger by 2012. One hurdle is that the meat is white because it contains no blood cells, but Maastricht University says they are now developing a technique to add colour.

Although the cost of producing the first burger is high, the research team hopes artificial meat might one day feed the planet.

Fly faster - before take-off

Airlines have been boarding passengers the wrong way, a new survey has concluded.

Dr Jason Steffen of the Fermi National Laboratory in Illinois has studied the problem since 2008 after he found himself at the back of a long queue for a flight.

His "Steffen method" involves boarding passengers in the window seats first, followed by those in the centre and aisle seats.

By refining the method further, using a strategy of alternate rows, Dr Steffen, an astrophysicist, says giving passengers greater space as they struggle into their seat can speed up boarding time by up to 40 per cent, resulting in significant savings for airlines.

Glitter in the litter

After hiding his wife's gold jewellery in bin bags to conceal it from burglars, a husband in Australia accidentally put it out for the dustmen.

The couple estimate the value of the jewellery at Dh196,000, with the man now planning to buy a metal detector in the search for the missing pieces.

Council officials in Caloundra have warned him that it may be an impossible task since the tip receives around 1,400 tonnes of rubbish a week, all of which is first compacted before being dumped.

A spokesman called it "worse than a needle in a haystack situation".

Clearly, that's amore …

Domino's has revealed plans to open the first pizza restaurant on the Moon.

The company's Japanese division says the dome-shaped restaurant would cost around Dh78 billion, including 70 tonnes of construction materials sent on 15 rockets.

The two-storey building would have a diameter of around 26 metres, with a basement and a pizza preparation area. Domino's says staff would have to live in.

A company spokesman, Tomohide Matsunaga, said: "In the future, we anticipate there will be many people living on the Moon, astronauts who are working there and, in the future, citizens of the Moon."