Mark Post, a scientist in the Netherlands, has been given €300,000 to come up with a synthetic burger. Post heads the department of vascular physiology at Maaststricht University where he is trying to grow synthetic meat from stem cells. The funding for this project comes from an anonymous donor, who is said to have been a part of similar stem cell research. The BBC reports, “If successful, the technology will transform the way we produce food. ‘We want to turn meat production from a farming process to a factory process,’ [Post] explained.”

The quest for synthetic meat has been going on for some time. The last I heard the best that scientists were able to make was something very oily and gelatinous that tasted vaguely like fish. Gross, yes, but already an improvement over a lot of Scandinavian cuisine.