In my younger days, when I had a little more time, I was a bit of a science fiction fan.

Today, I am constantly amazed by how technology that was science fiction only ten or twenty years ago is rapidly becoming science fact.

When I was about twenty or so, I ran across a sci-fi novel entitled Marathon. It was one of the best reads in that genre I have ever run across (it's long out of print now, but the author's name is David Alexander Smith – you may be able to find a used copy in a second-hand bookstore, and I highly recommend it). I won't give the plot away, but one of the more interesting pieces of technology described in the story was a method by which actual, edible, nutritious meat for the ship's crew was grown in a laboratory (using a controlled biological mechanism similar to that of cancer cells – which after all, are just living cells that don't know how to stop growing.)

Anyway, you can imagine my surprise the other day when I ran across this little tidbit:

                                    "The lab production of meat without the need of slaughtering animals is no longer science fiction and could be producing 'green' hamburgers in less than ten years according to the list of Time Magazine fifty main inventions of the year."  (Merco Press, 1 May 2010)

Apparently, scientists in the Netherlands have been able to actually able to create artificial pork in a lab, using cloning techniques and stem cells from a pig. The result was described as "soggy" – like a pig who's had its muscles atrophy – but it was a start. (Right now, they're working on ways to "exercise" that muscle tissue as it grows.)

The company that's exploring this new technology – which could revolutionize food production and make high protein meat and poultry more available to people in poor regions of the world who need it the most – is called New Harvest. It's a non-profit organization that has gotten funding from PETA -  People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals. This is not a contradiction – the idea of raising meat without caging and slaughtering cows, sheep and pigs is right in line with their goals.

Furthermore, the implications for the planet's environment are awesome. As you know, it takes about seven times the amount of resources to raise meat as it does to raise fruits, vegetables and grains. A lot of forest land in South America is being destroyed in order to make room for cattle ranches (which primarily raises beef for U.S. fast-food chains). Furthermore, beef cattle are a significant source of methane, CO2 and other greenhouse gases that are released into the air.

Growing artificial meat in labs would change all of that.

"Frankenfoods"?

Yeah, I know...a lot of people with their concerns about GMO crops and processed foods are going to have a lot of suspicions about this – and  understandably so. But Jason Metheny, who works at New Harvest, says that there is nothing to suggest  "lab meats" would have any harmful effects on human health. After all, it's stem cells – which are the same cells that create a living animal.

Arguably, there are a few bugs to be worked out; we're not going to be seeing these artifical lab meats on grocery shelves for a few years, and right now, the process is very expensive. Nonetheless, when I read about stuff like this, it does my heart good...and makes me think that humanity may survive after all.

Heck, we might even thrive.