Who needs whole animals when you can grow burgers and sausages from their cells alone, in the lab - and do your bit for the environment too

FIRST we hunted animals for their meat. Then we developed ways to raise them on farms. Now we are on the verge of the next breakthrough. Within months labs could be growing synthetic meat for the table - and not just the usual steaks and burgers either. Meat from exotic animals could one day widen our culinary choices, for those adventurous enough to try.

This week, researchers met in Gothenburg, Sweden, to plot out a path towards meat without slaughter. The idea of pain-free meat has been bandied about in the past decade, but several false dawns later one fact remains unchanged. "No one has produced in vitro meat yet," says Julie Gold ...