饮食

人造肉类养活全世界

    试管肉，培养肉，或者其他任何名称，不管怎么叫，我们都得习惯它。因为，实验室通过动物细胞培养出来的食用肉将成为人类未来的营养食品。

    研究试管肉（包括鸡肉！）的科学家们指出，我们一方面要满足人类对蛋白质日益增长的需求，同时还要降低猪肉生产所造成的用地需求、二氧化碳排放等环境影响，要想实现这些目的，这种方法至关重要。

    当下，全球仅有大约30名科学家正在研究人工培养肉；他们一致认为，人工培养肉上市还需要一段时间。虽然有非传统型渠道为这项研究提供资金，但研究经费不足仍是人造肉实现商业化的最大障碍（当然，“令人恶心”也是另一个显而易见的障碍）。荷兰的一位科学家获得了30万欧元的匿名捐赠，用于生产实验室汉堡。另外，善待动物组织（PETA）将出资100万美元，用于资助能在2012年6月前生产和销售人工培养鸡肉的科学家。

    ——贝斯•考维特

Food

Lab-grown meat feeds the world

    Petri meat, in vitro meat, cultured meat. Call it whatever you like, but get used to the name. Meat produced in a lab (and grown from animal cells) could be the future of nutrition.

    The scientists who are developing test-tube meat (and chicken!) say it is an important way to keep up with the world's growing appetite for protein while simultaneously reducing meat production's environmental impact like land requirements and CO2 emissions.

    There are only about 30 people working on cultured meat globally, and they agree the stuff will take a while to get to grocers' shelves. The biggest hurdle to commercialization (besides the obvious "ick" factor) is lack of funding for research -- though money is trickling in from unconventional sources. A scientist in the Netherlands received 300,000 euros from an anonymous donor to produce a lab burger. And PETA is offering $1 million to the scientist who can make and sell cultured chicken by June 2012.

    --Beth Kowitt