Wild Science Artist

She scribed the visual summary in real time during the talks. (readable-size version)

From Fong on utility-scale storage, to Forgacs (below) on modifying medical cell printers to make real meat and leather without animals, and Black on a simple retinal scan that can detect the onset of Alzheimer’s twenty years before the patient shows symptoms.

“We shall escape the absurdity of growing a whole chicken in order to eat the breast or wing, by growing these parts separately under a suitable medium.” — Winston Churchill 1932

Forgacs on synthesized meat:
We currently use 1/3 of all ice-free land for livestock. They generate 18-50% of all greenhouse gasses (ruminants are methane-producing machines). In other words, solving the meat problem would have more of a short-term impact than eliminating oil consumption altogether.

And with population growth and increased per capita consumption from wealth, meat consumption is forecast to double. With current methods, that just may not be possible, and if that many animals could somehow be grown, the greenhouse gas effect would erase all possible gains from attempts to make improvement in other sectors.

The average American eats 224 lbs of meat per year. With current antiquated production methods (growing animals for slaughter), that requires 7,000 lbs of grain, 600,000 gallons of water, 75,000 sq ft of land and 13,400 lbs of CO2-equivalent greenhouse gasses… per person, per year.

He estimates that his approach should use 98% less land, 96% less water, 96% fewer greenhouse gasses and 45% less energy.