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How protein 'made from air' could save our food supply

Farming is being threatened by environmental changes - and agriculture itself is sometimes part of the problem, with trees being cut down to make way for cash crops, and methane-producing animals being turned into protein for human consumption.

Finnish scientists have come up with a new solution. They have produced a protein from "thin air" - soil bacteria fed on hydrogen split from water by electricity - which they say will compete with soya on price within the decade.

Writer and environmental campaigner George Monbiot has tried a pancake made from the yellow powder and explains how innovations such as this could tackle global food shortages in the future.

Image: Solein powder on a glass plate. Credit: Solar Foods / Mikael Kuitunen

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3 minutes