we are in the mood for pink herbs and green motors. this is salad, grown the old —fashioned way. you know, in shipping containers, under led lights, without soil, in an optimised water and nutrient mix. as farmer spock called it, good old hydroponics. in all seriousness, it's been suggested that the type of intense farming going on here at local roots in los angeles could help solve the world's food problems in years to come. transport costs can be reduced by growing plants wherever they are needed, even in areas of famine where the land and climate are too harsh. you get higher volumes and many more crop cycles during the year, too. lettuce can be grown in 30 days instead of up to 90 outdoors, and a new crop can be grown immediately. all in all, one of these containers yields the same as five acres of land over the course of a year. it's very similar to the strawberry farm that we saw in paris in the spring and in miyagi injapan in 2015, where the land had been ruined by the tsunami. but this project has much bigger ambitions and this one is also using artificial intelligence to make some quite unusual tweaks. but before we talk about the vegetables of the future, we are off to san francisco where kat hawkins has been looking at the meat of the future. i've come to this lab in the heart of silicon valley to visit impossible foods. they claim to have invented the food of the future — a completely meatless meat made entirely of plants. it's big, it's light. it's actually remarkably important to get that state of mind perspective but actually it's also useful for interpreting the colour of meat. this is where the research happens. the aim is to reverse engineer the flavour and texture of meat using only plant extracts. and as someone who very much enjoys their meat tasting like meat, i wanted to find out how they're doing it. what is it about the flavour of meat that makes it so damn delicious? why is it so agreeable, what is it that triggers your mind to say "mmm. . . bacon" or "burger"? there is a lot that goes into that and it turns out that flavour is about 75 or 80% aroma and about 20 or 25% taste. impossible foods found that the key ingredient that gives meat its characteristic irony taste is heme, a molecule found in most living things and especially in animal muscle. luckily, it's also found in plants. so this is your magic ingredient, right? this is your plant—based blood? right. and it provides the explosion of flavour you get that makes the difference between white meat chicken with a beefburger. the company has recently flipped the switch on its meatless meat—packing factory as it ramps up production. they will eventually make 4 million burgers a month, and the next aim is to move into chicken, pork and lamb. but it's one thing being a scientist who's enthralled by food tech and another to be a chef, using the ingredients produced on your carefully crafted menu. i think we eat way too much meat in general. so i think this is a way to be as close as possible to how meat looks and tastes. the impossible burger is now the only one rocco has on his menu and he sells 250 of them a week. it seems like at this stage it might be a novelty for silicon valley diners with money to spend but of course, as always, the true test is in the tasting. 0k. it's about to happen. it's really good. the texture‘s just like meat. it doesn't taste like minced beef. it tastes like mushrooms, but i know there's no mushrooms in there. ijust tasted it and it's delicious. but it doesn't taste quite like meat to me. is that something that you noticed? yes, it's a little bit leaner, as a meat. i would say like bison meat. but it looks like it — it's got that kind of umami flavour of the irony part of the blood. close enough. it tasted good as i was eating it but afterwards it left a slightly strange taste in my mouth — very strong, very irony. still, it's healthier than meat, and has zero cholesterol so maybe it's worth it. what comes across talking to rocco, though, is how important it is for his customers that the flavour is close to meat while still being ethical. but what if you could serve actual animal flesh without a single creature being harmed ? that is what several companies, including this small tech start—up in the heart of silicon valley, are working on. they plan to grow actual fish from stem cells. it might sound like an unnerving prospect but they believe is the future. fish consumption is demanding, fish demand is rising, but the production cannot go higher. 52% of all fisheries are fully exploited. 25% above that are in collapse, they are overextended. so we only have 23% of the world's fisheries left that we can use to increase production. so if we still want to eat fish at the rate that we're eating it, we have to do this. finless foods takes a small sample of cells from real fish and cultures it up. one cell can theoretically become one tonne of fish meat but they're not there yet. we'll be on the market in three years with products that are new versions of fish that people haven't had before and in five or six years we'll have steaks and filets just like the fish that you currently eat at the supermarket, just like what's inside of the fish that you'd normally see in the ocean. and they're not the only company working on what some have dubbed clean meat. just this week, hampton creek claimed they will hit the stores with their lab—grown meat by 2018. and around the corner at memphis meats, they've already produced fried chicken and meatballs from stem cells. but at $18,000 for a pound of beef, there's a long way to go. scaling up will mean finding a new medium to help grow the stem cells. currently, the blood of calf foetuses is used, which is extensive and of course, if you don't want to hurt animals, pretty self—defeating. when i come into a room at a conference, i can see in people's eyes that this is the next big thing, a big evil corporation going to put things in my food that i don't understand. and i think that is justified, in a way. i mean, people have been fooled. people have been given things into their food supply without being asked. people have a right to be wary of us. we need to talk to people and really make them understand that we are people, we are environmentalists. and we are on the same team. we are all trying to do this together. with the population due to increase to 9.7 billion by 2050, many people feel current approaches to food production are unsustainable. cultured meat promises to reduce environmental impacts and meat looks set to be the latest thing to be given the silicon valley overhaul. much like we expect from our phones, from our cars, that it will be better, cheaper, faster, safer, year by year, we should expect the same thing from ourfood. but once you start thinking about food, a cow, as a pure piece of technology, and you apply those same technological insights we use elsewhere in our lives, you can start really thinking about what food should be, what food could be. that was kat. i think i'll stick to the salad for the moment. which is lucky, because i'm surrounded by the stuff. the thing that really hits you inside one of these containers is the smell. it's just lovely, all this concentrated fresh lettuce. and you don't even get this, i don't think, in an open—airfield. because it all blows away. but in here — wow, it's lovely. everything looks lovely and fresh. i'm inside what is called a food computer, where every aspect of the plant's growth cycle — the temperature, nutrient mix, humidity and light is monitored and controlled. this kind of computer—controlled hydroponics is allowing food scientists to not just replicate but improve on mother nature's recipes. so every plant that we grow has a finely—tuned growing algorithm to optimise its growth, its yield and its flavour profiles and nutrient characteristics. and that doesn'tjust mean more or bigger plants, but that experts in artificial intelligence can tweak plants in ways nature can't. we are not changing the genetic make up of the plant. this is like non—gmo gmo. ai is a way to do that. up in san francisco, this man has been using al to analyse data from mit. and he has worked out how to improve the herb basil. during a certain period of growth, if we show them a spectrum of light 21w, then the volatiles for taste in the plant will go up. did a chef really come and say that he wants his battle to be more peppery? we had a couple of chefs come in and sample basil raised under blue light. and it increases the spiciness, blue light applied to basil. so you can say, what kind of basil would you like to buy, and how spicy would you like it to be? is exciting to ask these questions that even a 30—year veteran of the culinary industry has not been asked before. not only does each variety get its own unique growing conditions but artificial intelligence and computer vision are monitoring the plants, looking out for and treating any problems as soon as they're spotted. local roots hopes to place between 20 and 50 of its so—called ‘terrafarms‘ right next to supermarkets‘ local distribution centres. it means the veg won't have to travel so far and it will be fresher when it hits the shelf. i've always needed a dressing on my salad because i thought it tasted quite bland without it, but this is really full of flavour. because it is so fresh. i could even eat an entire bowl of this without any dressing. but some researchers don't like the idea of individual companies doing research by themselves. putting life in a box is incredibly complex. it requires biology as much as chemistry, as much as plant physiology and biochemistry. it requires all disciplines. and so right now it's being tackled by a lot of start—ups and it's hard for those start—ups to have such a multidisciplinary approach. this is why all of our work is open sourced — the hardware, software — so we can get people thinking on the issues and we can ask them for advice. and we are not stymied by intellectual property. at mit's media lab, the open agricultural initiative, or 0penag, wants to create a worldwide collection of food hackers. one of the things that we've invented here we call the personal food computer and it's like a hacker kit for plants. what we've done is distributed all the plans, all the materials, all the tutorials, open source. and it exploded. we now have a community of over a0 countries, over 1000 people. the great thing is that their experiences are being recorded by sensors. because to use any of our advanced tools, like machine learning or ai, we need trillions of data points. artificial intelligence can look for patterns among these data points which are the results of thousands of experiments and the more wide—ranging those experiments, the better. we might learn inside of a food computer what set of climate attributes causes the best expression of protein in a snow pea. now we might say, hey, where in the world are these collections of attributes naturally occurring? and then we should plant that genetics, those snow peas in that place. so not only might food computers improve on nature but they could also teach us more about how to get the best out of the earth that we have. hello, welcome to the week in tech. it has been a week when suspicions were raised a global cyber attack may have been caused by accou nta ncy software. security researchers suspect that a corrupted update to some ukrainian accountancy software may have been the cause of the global infection, although the company behind the software denies these claims. plus: a team at mit has created drones that can drive and fly. although these drones are diminutive, one day they could be the foundation for technology which facilitates flying cars. and it was the week that researchers at a university in madrid revealed they have been teaching a robot to iron clothes. teo's designers hope that eventually it will be able to perform a whole host of different household chores. hopefully a bit quicker than this, though. famously, they say dedication is what you need if you want to be a record—breaker. it is also what you need if you want to recreate that teaser trailer for the next star wars film, the lastjedi, on a 30—year—old apple computer. that is exactly what new york artist wahyu ichwandardi has done, hand—drawing each frame with an old—school touch tablet, saving them all on 48 floppy disks — remember them? — and then transferring them to a contemporary computer for final post—production. the force is strong with this guy. despite our quest for new ways of creating more food, we do actually have a huge issue with food waste. in the uk alone, in 2015, consumers threw away £13 billion worth of food that could have been eaten. but we are getting more creative with ways to solve the problem. this community fridge in london's brixton allows businesses — or, indeed, anyone — to drop off or help themselves to food that is fresh to eat. but big companies like sainsbury‘s are taking on the challenge as well. this week, various stores are trialling some new packaging for their ham. with 1.9 million slices thrown away each day, the supermarket want to find a way of being able to reassure customers once they are at home and they have opened the product. because sometimes people throw it away, not remembering when they opened it, so they don't know whether it is fresh or not. but the underneath of this piece of smart plastic is sensitive to air and temperature, so it will start to react as soon as the package has been opened. it will turn from yellow round to purple when it is telling you the meat is not good to eat anymore. some other companies have focused on preserving food longer. edipeel is an invisible, natural, plant—based coating that aims to reduce oxidation and water loss. it has recently been trialled by some farmers in the us. this is also this fresh filter paper, which aims to limit the gas that causes some fruit to ripen. it has progressed to consumer packaging in supply chains and is now even being used in restaurants. of course, for eateries, buying the exact amount of produce needed is nigh impossible. so, while it won't help for financial loss, there are some apps to save the food being wasted. it is late afternoon in the office, and i am feeling a bit peckish, so i sneaked out to get something to eat. i am not quite sure what i fancy. too good to go will put restaurant leftovers to good use, while also giving you takeaway for as little as £2. what could i go for now, mid—afternoon? ajuice. ajuice looks good. the one issue here is that you can't actually be fussy about what you want to eat. you don't know what you are going to be getting. so going forjuice — well, in my view, it can't really go that wrong. ok, i get it may not be easy to see the bargain factor with a juice, but some places do offer full meals. hi there. i am just here to collect myjuice, please. thank you. but, of course, it is notjust restaurants who can end up with more than they need. if you have food in your house that you want to avoid wasting or you want to claim some from the neighbours, i have found an app that could help. 0lio searches your local area to find food being given away, and you can post what you have to offer. ok, i get that this isn't everybody‘s cup of tea, but this location—based app will show you everyone around you who is trying to donate unwanted food. so, on my way home from work, there is some hummus, salad, and milk available. that seems to be left over from a shop, actually. somebody is offering a frozen banana, which does kind of seem like a joke. and of course, in true sharing—economy fashion, you get a rating. the most important factor here is that we learn to change our habits. but of course, the easier that is made for us to do, the more likely we are to do so. perfect. that was lara. so, throughout the programme, we have been looking at technology that creates food. but how about food that creates technology? sounds crazy, i know, but dan simmons has been to holland to cook up something very special. this is a small twist on a classical dutch dish. i have put a sausage on the side. yes, this year's dutch masterchef winner has baked a car. —— yes, this year's dutch fasterchef winner has baked a car. this is a sports steering wheel, firm suspension on the seats? is it right to say that nobody has driven this car before? nobody outside of me. i will take good care of it, i will take good care of it. go easy, all right? most of lina is organic, including these almost—edible panels made from sugar beet, sandwiched between coatings of natural flax, mixed with bioplastic. yum. so we are just going to reverse this back down the track. i have got my foot fully to the floor now. it is limited a lot. it is about four times more efficient with its energy than a bmw i3. i knew there was a reason to pick this car. we cooked up the flax ourselves, and then we just started trialling. and we had to do a lot of tests, fresh material, find the boundaries and the limits to the material, and eventually we came up with — well, our perfect composition. and that is what we have used in lina. it's 0—60...eventually. what do you mean? does it get to 60? no, around 50—55 mph. in fairness, it is a different kind of performance that lina offers. the team says cooking this car uses about 20% of the energy that of the energy that aluminium or carbon fibre panels take to produce, and this week, lina passed a road safety test. she is expected out on public roads by the end ofjuly. so i would not make a statement that currently the automotive industry is thinking about the portfolio of making biodegradable cars, but i'm sure they are thinking about the circular economy. they are thinking about how can they take apart the current cars and the future cars, and to reuse them to build new cars, so to really make a circular, green economy. to make lina a lean machine, the team have taken a sort of pared—back approach. 0k, we don't have the modern day luxuries like maybe a glove compartment or somewhere to place my coffee. but look — this is beautiful wood. i won't knock that too much. so i can't wind down the windows in this model? so we will wait for the next model. yes, yes. got the washer. there we go. and the key advantage of it is notjust in driving, but when you park it for the last time, a lot of this car will simply biodegrade. now, the electric engine, batteries and suspension are not organic, but the team hope lina will inspire car makers to think beyond electric, to make our cars even more eco—friendly. that was dan, in the netherlands, and that is it from my little lettuce farm. you can follow us on twitter, @bbcclick. thanks for watching, and we will see you soon. hello once again. sunday is shaping up to be a half decent day for many parts of the british isles, save for parts of scotland, where your impression will be slightly twisted by the fact they will see showers. not a cold start wherever you may begin the day, temperatures possibly in single figures in the glens of eastern scotland. once we got rid of the last of saturday's rains in the south—east, a lot of england and wales enjoys a super day. more cloud for northern ireland, more in the way of showers for scotland. a quick look at some of the detail, not quite unbroken sunshine but much improved for the far west of wales. the far south—west of england and tending into saturday, we had all the cloud and a bit of rain as well. a dry day in prospect here for the greater part of england and wales. although, as we drift back across the irish sea towards northern ireland, more cloud here, possibly a passing spot of rain. there will be a lot more about the showers and longer spells of rain once we come to the heart of central and western scotland. the wind will eventually ease down from that gale force across the northern isles with the wind an ever—present feature for much of scotland for much of the day. come the evening and the first part of the night, some of the showers in the north could turn just a wee bit thundery. through monday, we just drag this weather front down and across the british isles. in fact, it will link up as a band of cloud back to something brewing in the atlantic. in its western portion, it has something about it to be producing some cloud, rain and drizzle. thankfully, in the south—east, wimbledon gets off to a cloudy start but as the day goes on, we may find just the chance of a shower as things, perversely, brighten up later on in the day. for many of you, however, if you do happen to see a shower away from the south—western quarter where there will be more cloud, more bits and pieces of rain, those showers will be fleeting. some will stay dry right throughout the day on monday. temperatures not bad for the time of year but nothing warranting a postcard home. on tuesday, we will push this area of cloud right through the heart of the british isles. it does keep moving such that by wednesday, we will build a ridge of high pressure from the atlantic to try and settle things down in many areas. while that little runner is around, as we call those areas of low pressure, it will bring some wet weather to some parts of northern ireland, the borders of scotland, the north of england, the north of wales. to the far north it is a cool, fresh look with a scattering of showers. a dry enough day in the far south. wednesday, a mix of sunny spells with a couple of sharp showers thrown into the mix. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is lebo diseko. our top stories: iraqi forces say they've taken control of the main base of the so—called islamic state in mosul. we report from the frontline. the remaining is militants have been driven from here, but at what cost? 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