In fact it’s a different still from this exact photo shoot of the bladder:

http://dsc.discovery.com/technology/tech-10/tissue-engineering/bladder-324×205.jpg

Animal material was just the next logical step, I’m surprised no one had thought of this earlier.

I think it is a fantastic concept that has just sent my mind spinning on this Saturday afternoon. What if the house was a sentient biocomputer? Could the house be programmed to create offspring? Can I eat my house? Can I have one please?

That\’s exactly the point I was getting at, and my response was sarcastic. I apologize for not clearly indicating that.

These proposed structures would be alive, and I presumed that further research would go into developing a way for them to be maintained (ie immune and digestive systems.)

I think you need to think a bit more before you provide your answers because not everything you say makes sense, with all due respect. What keeps my body alive is not chemicals but the fact that I am alive and with all my different levels of body symbiotic micro-organism,immune system and the rest of my living body systems – NOT PRESERVATIVE CHEMICALS. This conversation is loosing scientific rigor and a grip of reality so I do not want to waste any further time. Enjoy your fantasies.

My guess is that nobody is going to be living in a pigskin house, but that this research (the ability to grow any kind of organic structure) is only the first step in the process that will lead to the future of buildings, vehicles, etc. We already ‘feed’ and water our gardens, imagine our buildings being similar to this. There would potentially be material and labour saving costs if we could ‘grow’ houses; there may also be savings of energy if we design them correctly (e.g. reduced heating and cooling costs, etc). Quite possibly, the house could be ‘fed’ by our waste.

Symbiosis will be less environmentally damaging, hence more sustainable in the long run.

Yes, they laughed at Einstein and they laughed at Edison. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.

Possibly the same ones that you need to keep your body from from rotting and infesting with regular micro-organisms and decomposing as you typed that.

It would seem that you’re envisioning raw steaks, or beef jerky slapped to the outside of a structure being passed off as a house, but this will be living, growing tissue. Possibly with some kind of immune system.

With a house like this, I could envision a digestive system integrated to provide sustenance to the structure and eliminate household waste like food scraps and even human excreta.

As for aesthetics, I could imagine walls with chameleon like skin capable of changing colors, biolumenescent lights, fur for carpeting, even transparent windows grown like corneas.

Even if not for home dwelling, structures like this could find use in the industrial sector, possibly being used to produce antibiotics, ethical furs or as waste treatment facilities.

This is a very exciting development.

“Yes, thinking meat! Conscious meat! Loving meat. Dreaming meat. The meat is the whole deal! Are you beginning to get the picture or do I have to start all over?”

“Omigod. You’re serious then. They’re made out of meat.”

“Thank you. Finally. Yes. They are indeed made out of meat. And they’ve been trying to get in touch with us for almost a hundred of their years.”

“Omigod. So what does this meat have in mind?”

“First it wants to talk to us. Then I imagine it wants to explore the Universe, contact other sentiences, swap ideas and information. The usual.”

“We’re supposed to talk to meat.”