‘Back To The Future Sneakers’ Might Become Reality and The Futuristic Meat Called ‘Shmeat’

Adriana Diaz

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The year: 1989. The movie: "Back to The Future II." The thing everyone wanted: the cool sneakers that laced up automatically worn by Marty McFly (a.k.a. Michael J. Fox). Believe it or not, those shoes might be coming to a Nike Store near you. Last night, "Back to The Future" producer Frank Marshall cryptically tweeted, "Going to need a lot of hoverboards." He then linked to a YouTube video posted by Nike called McFly's Closet (you have to check it out). The video shows shelves upon shelves of unreleased Nike Air Mags, which bear a striking resemblance to Marty McFly's famed shoes. (Nike patented technology for an automatic lacing system last year.) The shoemaker added to the hype late last night by handing out gift bags of metal shield glasses, a Pepsi bottle from 1985, and a copy of "Back to The Future" at an invite-only event in Los Angeles. Social media are now in a tizzy over the rumored shoes. On Twitter, "Back to The Future" started trending worldwide overnight. NBA star Kevin Durant even tweeted, "I need some new shoes. Any recommendations? Think, McFly, think!"

From the shoes of the future to the meat of the future, social media are abuzz over shmeat, as in sheets of lab-grown meat. It's made by putting animal stem cells in a nutrient-rich culture to multiply (similar to bacteria). The result is a product that resembles muscle tissue. Scientists have been toying around with the idea of test-tube meat for decades. Last week the European Science Foundation held a workshop to figure out how to make shmeat a shreality. In addition to reducing animal cruelty, they say, shmeat would use 45 percent less energy to produce than meat. But shmeat's not cheap. Experts say it would cost a half-million dollars to make the first shmeat burger. PETA's stepping up and putting money where its mouth is. It's offering $1 million to anyone who can mass-produce fake chicken meat by June 2012. On Twitter, one person bluntly wrote, "shmeat? No thanks." Would you eat shmeat? Tell us on Facebook and Twitter!