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We need to talk about meat.
我们得聊聊肉的问题。
Unless you're a practicing vegan or vegetarian,
除非你是一个实打实的素食主义者，
you're probably getting a large percentage of your protein from livestock like cows, pigs, and chickens.
否则，你摄入的很大一部分蛋白质很可能都来源于牛、猪或鸡这些家畜。
Now I'm not here to judge your eating habits.
我并不是来评论大家的饮食习惯的。
I'm addicted to the taste of flesh myself, but our meat-heavy diets are bad for the planet.
我自己对肉的味道也很上瘾，但是我们以肉为主的饮食习惯对地球其实是不太好的。
Livestock raised for food makes up about 14-18% of our greenhouse gas emissions,
食肉用家畜排放的温室气体占到了我们温室气体排放总量的14~18%，
and the land requirements to grow their food is responsible for about 80% of all deforestation in the Amazon.
而种植这些家畜的饲料所需的土地占到了亚马逊森林砍伐总量的80%左右。
But there may be a way to have our beef-cake and eat it too,
不过，也许有一种方法可以保住我们的牛肉蛋糕，
as researchers from Harvard just announced they've developed a technique that brings realistic lab-grown meat one step closer to the dinner table.
因为哈佛大学的研究人员刚刚宣布，他们已经研发出了一种技术，可以让实验室培植的肉离餐桌更近一步。
The issue the team was trying to solve was how to grow skeletal muscle tissue in long thin fibers,
该研究小组试图解决的问题是如何在细长的纤维中培养骨骼肌组织，
like how it occurs naturally in livestock.
就像在家畜身上自然生长的一样。
If you've ever looked at the grain of a steak or at shredded pork or chicken,
如果你看到过牛排的纹理，或者看过到猪肉丝、鸡丝，
you've seen what I'm talking about.
你就能明白我这话的意思。
Mimicking that fiber structure has been a huge challenge for lab-grown meat.
模仿这种纤维结构一直是实验室肉类培养面临的一个巨大挑战。
You can't grow muscle cells like that in a petri dish all by themselves.
因为我们无法在培养皿中单独培养那样的肌肉细胞。
They need something to hold on to as they grow.
它们在生长的时候需要附着在某个东西上。
So the researchers set out to find a material they could use to grow their cells in 3D.
所以，研究人员想找一种他们可以用来在3D模式下培养肌肉细胞的材料。
The material had to be edible, something the cells could easily latch on to,
这种材料必须是可食用的，还要细胞能很容易地附着，
and cheap enough to produce to keep costs down.
还要生产起来足够便宜，以降低成本。
The scientists settled on gelatin, and they spun it into fibers using a technique inspired by cotton-candy.
科学家们最终选定了明胶，并利用一种受棉花糖启发的技术将其纺成了纤维。
The finished product is similar to the supportive extracellular matrix of natural muscle tissues.
成品类似于天然肌肉组织那种具有支持作用的细胞外基质。
With their gelatin nanofibers spun,
有了这种动物胶一样的纳米纤维，
the researchers tried growing rabbit and cow muscle cells on them.
研究人员便试着用它们来培养兔子的肌肉细胞和牛的肌肉细胞。
While the finished products did not contain as many muscle fibers as natural meat,
虽然成品还没有天然肉那么多的肌肉纤维，
they did achieve a texture that was similar to the real thing.
但它们确实达到了与真肉相似的肌理。
Now don't go thinking lab-made beef is what's for dinner.
请大家不要我说到这儿，就以为实验室培养的肉立马就能端上餐桌了。
There are a number of other hurdles scientists need to clear before more sustainable and slaughter-free meat is on store shelves.
在更可持续且免于屠宰的肉能真正上架面世之前，科学家们还有其他障碍需要跨越。
For example, scientists will have to figure out how to grow cells without using animal serum,
比如，科学家们还需要解决如何在不使用动物血清的情况下培养细胞，
the most common being Fetal Bovine Serum, or FBS.
而他们最常使用的动物血清就是胎牛血清(FBS)。
FBS is harvested from the fetuses of slaughtered pregnant cows.
FBS是提取自被屠宰的怀孕母牛的胎儿的一种血清。
It's very expensive, and most lab-grown meat techniques rely on large quantities of it.
这种血清非常昂贵，而大多数实验室培育肉类的技术都需要使用大量的FBS。
So any product that relies on FBS isn't helping much to cut down on greenhouse gasses, cost, or cruelty.
如此一来，任何依赖于FBS的（培养肉）产品对我们减少温室气体排放、食肉成本及食肉的残酷程度等问题其实都是起不了多大作用的。
There's also the matter of taste.
还有味道的问题。
Meat is more than muscle; its flavor and juiciness also comes from fat.
肉的美味不仅在于它的肌肉；还有它那来自于脂肪的味道和汁水。
Growing fat cells in a lab that mesh with muscle and recreate the texture of steak has proven to be a challenge.
事实证明，在实验室培养与肌肉相连并创造了牛排的口感的脂肪细胞一直是一大难题。
And to get cells to reach maturity, we're searching for better sources of stem cells.
要让细胞达到应有的成熟度，我们就要寻找更好的干细胞来源。
But even if these technical hurdles are all solved,
但即便上面提到的这些技术难题都被攻克了，
the finished product may be only slightly less damaging to the environment than raising livestock.
最后得出的产品也很有可能在破坏环境问题上只比饲养家畜稍微好那么一点点。
Because of the energy lab-grown meat takes to manufacture,
因为实验室培养的肉加工起来也需要消耗不少的能量，
growing all our steaks and burgers in a dish may cut greenhouse gas emissions from beef by as little 7%,
就算是一道菜里的牛排和汉堡需要的所有肉都用培养肉，也只能减少7%的温室气体排放量，
and actually produce about 4-5 times more greenhouse gasses than chicken or pork.
实际产生的温室气体排放量依然是鸡肉或猪肉的4~5倍左右。
So, lab-made meat is still a work in progress.
所以，实验室培养肉依然还在继续研究之中。
And even if it's eventually appetizing, cheap, and eco-friendly,
即便这种肉最终真的实现了色香味诱人、便宜，环保等目标，
it may still face challenges from the powerful livestock industries that have a beef with competition.
可能还是会面临来自强大的，与竞争历来就不和的畜牧业的挑战。
They're already pushing lawmakers to pass laws that forbid calling it “meat,”
该行业已经在推动立法部门通过法律，禁止称这种产品为“肉”了，
or they may come up with some other marketing campaign to turn public opinion against it.
届时他们可能还会想其他的营销办法来让公众舆论反对这种产品。
Then again, they may see the potential upsides of lab-grown meat,
之后，他们可能将再次看到实验室培养肉的潜在好处，
like some large meat processing companies have, and invest in projects developing alternative proteins.
就像一些大型肉类加工公司一样，然后投资开发替代蛋白质的项目。
But even with money pouring into research and progress being made by scientists like the ones at Harvard,
问题是，即便是大规模投资类似哈佛大学的科学家们开展的研究项目，
lab-made meat that's tasty, slaughter-free and environmentally friendly is still a long ways away.
实验室培养肉要实现美味、免屠宰和环保也仍然还有很长的路要走。
Say they perfect lab-made meat and create a burger patty that was indistinguishable from ground beef.
假如他们真的研制出了完美的实验室培养肉，制作出能与用碎牛肉做成的汉堡肉饼不相上下的肉饼。
Would you eat it?
你会吃吗？
Why or why not?
为什么会吃，又为什么不会吃？
Let us know in the comments.
快来评论中告诉我们吧。
Make sure to subscribe to Seeker and thanks for watching.
记得订阅，感谢大家的收看。
