“Our global food system fails on its most profound premise to provide humanity with healthy and food-secure lives,” says Asaf Tzachor, who leads research on global food security and emerging technologies at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at the University of Cambridge.

The vulnerability of our food supplies has been thrown into focus in recent months due to the restrictions put in place to control the spread of the virus and rapid fluctuations in demand due to stockpiling. UN health and food officials have warned that the shocks these are likely to bring to the food system could potentially disrupt supplies. Faced with difficulties in importing produce, many countries are looking for alternative ways to bolster their supplies.

To fight global hunger and increase food security, the demand for crops like soybean – widely used as animal feed – is expected to increase 80% by 2050. But producing soy requires large amounts of water and is driving deforestation in South America, leading to more environmental damage. “Alternative food sources and alternative food systems are, therefore, essential to develop and deploy, at scale, if global food security is ever to be realised,” says Tzachor.

One potential alternative food source – both for humans and the animals we eat – is algae. Could the green stuff that appears on ponds and lakes after a particularly warm spell be the answer to the planet’s food security problems?

Humans have eaten macroalgae, like wakame and nori seaweed, for thousands of years. But recently attention has turned to the nutritional and environmental potential of their microscopic cousins.