logo
episode-header-image
Mar 2024
28m 10s

Laboratory-Grown Meat

Bbc Radio 4
About this episode

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.

Up next
Aug 21
The surprising culture of the animal kingdom
We discuss the incredible science of the animal kingdom, focusing on the latest fascinating research into animal culture, society and communication.Victoria Gill is joined by a panel of experts in front of a live audience at the Hay Festival to hear about their research all over ... Show More
27m 52s
Aug 14
How can we keep our homes cool in a changing climate?
After three UK heatwaves, we turn to science for solutions that could keep us safer, and cooler, in our homes. Professor of Zero Carbon Design at the University of Bath, David Coley, explains how our houses could be better designed to handle climate change.This week the UK Space ... Show More
28m 11s
Aug 7
How can we reduce the impact of plastic on the environment?
Next month world leaders will again gather to focus on dealing with our global plastic problem. So this week we’re looking for solutions. Marnie Chesterton hears from Professor of Sustainable Chemical Engineering at the University of Sheffield, Rachael Rothman on how we can engin ... Show More
28m 14s
Recommended Episodes
Jul 2023
Where's the Beef? Lab-Grown Meat is Finally on the Menu
Can we really have our burger, eat it—and never need to kill a cow? Growing meat outside of animals—in a lab or, these days, in shiny steel bioreactors—promises to deliver a future in which we can enjoy sausages and sushi without guilt, and maybe even without sending our planet u ... Show More
54m 51s
Dec 2024
The New Conservationists: AI is Making Meaning from the Sounds and Visuals of Wildlife (Part 2)
Ashleigh Papp, an animal scientist turned storyteller, takes us on into the field. Conservationists and animal behaviorists were once restricted to wildlife data gathered manually. Now new technologies are expanding the amount of passively collected data—and machine learning is h ... Show More
17m 55s
Jan 2025
Titans of Science: Marc Abrahams
Dr Chris Smith and the Naked Scientist team present the latest science news, analysis and breakthroughs.Including the news that the US has recorded their first human death from bird flu, and should we be concerned? Plus a new drug to treat drug resistant prostate cancer, and new ... Show More
51m 30s
Aug 2024
The not-so-secret life of plants
From the perspective of Western science, plants have long been considered unaware, passive life forms; essentially, rocks that happen to grow. But there’s something in the air in the world of plant science. New research suggests that plants are aware of the world around them to a ... Show More
35m 49s
Feb 2024
Whale songs, fake fossils and "Forever Chemicals"
Dr Chris Smith and the Naked Scientist team present the latest science news, analysis and breakthroughs, In this week's episode...scientists unveil prehistoric cases of Down’s syndrome, but how did they find them? How whales really produce whale songs and the famous fake fossil t ... Show More
52m 41s
Jun 2023
Rewilding, Allergy Season, Sharing Science Rejections. June 2, 2023, Part 1
Could Restoring Animal Populations Store More Carbon? Did you know that land and ocean ecosystems absorb about half of the carbon dioxide we emit each year? But what if the earth had the capacity to absorb even more? With the help of some furry, scaly, and leathery critters, mayb ... Show More
47m 3s
Aug 7
Should we be eating more ‘forgotten foods’?
At least 30,000 of the 350,000 known plant species on our planet are edible, according to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization, but only 170 species of plant are cultivated for food on a large scale. As climate change affects plant yields and disease threatens so ... Show More
14m 42s