World's first lab-grown burger eaten, England win ashes and X Games glory for Heikkinen - the news in world records

The record breakers in the news today

The world's first laboratory-grown burger has been cooked and eaten at a news conference in London this morning.

Developed by Maastricht University in the Netherlands, to create the history-making burger, scientists took cells from a cow before turning them into strips of muscle that they then combined to make a patty,

The 5oz (142g) burger was by cooked at the event by chef Richard McGeown, and tasted by food critics Hanni Ruetzler and Josh Schonwald.

After tasting the burger, Austrian food researcher Ms Ruetzler said: "I was expecting the texture to be more soft... there is quite some intense taste; it's close to meat, but it's not that juicy. The consistency is perfect, but I miss salt and pepper."

The team behind the burger say the technology could be a sustainable way of meeting what they say is a growing demand for meat.

Guinness World Records is currently awaiting evidence to support claims that the synthetic meat cost £250,000 to produce - if verified it would see the patty take the record for most expensive hamburger, beating the $5,000 (£3,188.37) price tag for a 352.44kg patty prepared by Juicys Outlaw Grill, in Oregon, USA, in July 2011.

England’s cricketers have this afternoon retained the Ashes after drawing the third Test with Australia at Old Trafford.

With the series poised at Australia had been in a strong position earlier in the day, having dismissed Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen to leave England to 37-3 in pursuit of an unlikely target of 332.

However, heavy rain after lunch prevented any resumption of the match, leaving no option but for the captains to shake hands on a draw.

The result gives England an unbeatable 2-0 lead with two Tests to play in the five-match series and ensures they will keep hold of the urn.

While the draw will offer little consolation to Australia, it does at least prevent a humiliating series whitewash for the tourists and the opportunity to salvage a draw from the series.

Australia currently hold the record for most Test match Men’s cricket series "whitewashes", having won every Test match in a series on 17 seperate occasions.

Finland’s Toomas Heikkinen was among the big winners at this weekend’s X Games in Los Angeles, after taking gold in the Global Rallycross event.

Heikkinen led the way, winning the event with a time of 6:15.573. Elsewhere, Justin Brayton, Vicki Golden and Mike Schultz each hit gold during some electrifying MotoX racing action at the Staples Center.

This year’s event marks the last time it will be held in Los Angeles, with Austin, Texas set the host the extreme sports festival next year.

The greatest height achieved in the X Games Moto X Step Up event is 14.33 m (47 ft), by Ronnie Renner (USA), at last year’s event in LA.