Science of lab-grown and plant-based meat + Indonesia's child smoking problem

How do you mimic meat? We take a look at the science behind plant-based and cultured meat in this episode, where it might lead and how ready people are to eat meat grown in a lab.

Mariana Lamas, a research associate at the Centre for Culinary Innovation at Northern Alberta Institute of Technology in Edmonton, Canada, talks us through some of the key elements that make a plant-based meat mimic successful. Andrew Stout, PhD candidate in biomedical engineering at Tufts University in Massachusetts, US, explains how he grows meat in a petri dish, and where he sees the future of the field. And Matti Wilks, postdoctoral research associate in psychology at Yale University in Connecticut, tells us what she's found by asking people about their readiness to eat cultured meat.

In our second story (25m30), we hear about new research on cigarette advertising and how it lures in children in Indonesia – ranked in the top 10 countries in the world for the number of adults who smoke. Nurjanah, senior lecturer in health promotion at Universitas Dian Nuswantoro in Semarang City, explains what she and her colleagues found when they mapped the proximity of cigarette advertising to schools.

And Hannah Hoag, deputy editor at The Conversation in Canada, gives us some of her recommended environment stories to dip into this week (34m40).

The Conversation Weekly is produced by Mend Mariwany and Gemma Ware, with sound design by Eloise Stevens. Our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. You can find us on Twitter @TC_Audio, on Instagram at theconversationdotcom or via email on podcast@theconversation.com. You can also sign up to The Conversation’s free daily email here. Full credits for this episode available here.

Further reading

• How scientists make plant-based foods taste and look more like meat, by Mariana Lamas, Northern Alberta Institute of Technology
• No animal required, but would people eat artificial meat?, by Clive Phillips, The University of Queensland and Matti Wilks, The University of Queensland (now Yale)
• Plant-based burgers: should some be considered ‘junk food’?, by Richard Hoffman, University of Hertfordshire
• Lab-grown meat could leave marginalized people in need, by Sarah Duignan, McMaster University
• Research: teenagers whose schools are surrounded by cigarette advertisements tend to smoke more, Dian Kusuma, Imperial College London; Abdillah Ahsan, University of Indonesia; Nurjanah and Sri Handayani, Dian Nuswantoro University (In Bahasa Indonesia)
• Putting an end to billions in fishing subsidies could improve fish stocks and ocean health, by Daniel Skerritt, University of British Columbia
• Scientists aim to build a detailed seafloor map by 2030 to reveal the ocean’s unknowns, by Sean Mullan, Memorial University of Newfoundland