BBC Inside Science

Laboratory-Grown Meat

Mar 21, 2024

Meaty rice and synthetic meat, the advancements and doubts in lab-grown meat production. Intriguingly pregnant stingray raises questions. Unusual asteroid entering Earth’s atmosphere sparks curiosity. Personal encounters with nature: adopting goats, swimming with octopus, and more.

28:10

Creator website

Episode guests

AI Summary

AI Chapters

Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Lab-grown meat technology aims to replicate conventional meat, requiring specific stem cells and addressing challenges like high costs and scaling up.

Lab-grown meat offers a sustainable solution to reduce carbon emissions and meet increasing meat demand, despite consumer acceptance issues.

Deep dives

Lab-Grown Meat Advancements

Scientists are making progress in the advancement of lab-grown meat, with the creation of a laboratory-grown burger over a decade ago costing more than £200,000. By using stem cells specific to muscle and fat, researchers grow meat that closely resembles conventional meat. While challenges like high costs and scaling up remain, the potential for producing more complex meat products like steak or chicken drumsticks is within reach.

Introduction

2min

The Future of Lab-Grown Meat

13min

The Mystery of Stingray Pregnancy

8min

Exploration of a Rare and Special White Meteorite

2min

Intimate Encounters with Nature

3min

Professor Ben Garrod guest presents.

As a new 'meaty rice' is created and Fortnum & Mason launch a scotch egg made with cultivated meat that they hope to have on sale as early as next year, we investigate the world of laboratory-grown meat.

Mark Post made the first ever synthetic meat in 2012 to the tune of £200,000. He tells us how these lab-grown meats are made and how, he thinks, they could play an important role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and feeding a growing population. Jenny Kleeman, author of Sex, Robots and Vegan Meat, is more sceptical, citing concerns over food security and if the public really want to eat this stuff.

A stingray called Charlotte has become pregnant, despite there being no other stingrays in her tank at the Aquarium & Shark Lab in North Carolina. Marine biologist Dr Helen Scales considers how this may have happened.

And cosmic minerologist Sara Russell from the Natural History Museum tells us how astronomers tracked and found a particularly unusual asteroid entering Earth’s atmosphere and what we might learn from it. 

Presenter: Professor Ben Garrod Producers: Hannah Robins, Florian Bohr, Alice Lipscombe-Southwell and Jonathan Blackwell Editor: Martin Smith Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth 

BBC Inside Science is produced in collaboration with the Open University.

Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts

Save insights instantly, chat with episodes, and build lasting knowledge - all powered by AI.

BBC Inside Science

Laboratory-Grown Meat

Episode guests

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Deep dives

Lab-Grown Meat Advancements

Lab-Grown Meat vs. Plant-Based Alternatives

Implications of Lab-Grown Meat Development

Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts