♪ amna: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. geoff bennett is away. on the "newshour" tonight. israel launches another round of heavy airstrikes in central and southern gaza, including in refugee camps. we hear from the israeli ambassador to the united states. a major caravan of migrants travels through mexico as record numbers continue to arrive at the southern border. and meat grown in laboratories moves closer to store shelves

after clearing several regulatory hurdles, potentially changing the future of the u.s. diet. >> if we're going to solve the climate problem we definitely need to move from intensive animal farming that is eating up a third of our planet today to an entirely different approach. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- ♪ >> moving our economy for 160 y ears.

bnsf, the engine that connects us. ♪ >> the walton family foundation, working for solutions to protect water during climate change so people and nature can thrive together. ♪ supported by the john d and catherine t macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from the oars like you. -- from viewers like you. thank you. amna: welcome to the newshour. israel's ground offensive in the gaza strip continues to expand,

as does the human cost. health officials say the 11 week long war already claimed the lives of more than 21,000 palestinians, most of them women and children. as israeli tanks bombard the gaza strip, the peace plan proposed by egypt and qatar seems far from reach. last night, a hamas official said they have received ceasefire proposals from multiple countries. >> the battle and the movement are always open to all initiatives that achieve a comprehensive cessation of aggression against our people and to everything that achieves the highest interests of our people. our people do not wait for temporary truces. amna: israel, meanwhile, shows no sign of slowing down its offensive. the new york times verified this video from a photographer embedded with israeli soldiers. it shows a large group of detained palestinians, stripped to their underwear. some appeared to be children or elderly. other recent videos and photos of strip searched detainees have sparked outrage.

military officials say they must search for weapons, but human rights groups say this violates international detention standards. today the turkish president went as far as comparing israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu to adolf hitler. >> is what israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is doing any less than hitler? no. as of now, hitler was not as rich as this one. this one is richer compared to hitler. he is receiving support from the west. all sorts of support comes from america. and with all this support, what did they do to more than 20,000 gazans? they killed them. amna: as the death toll rises, gazans still desperately need basics to survive. aid trucks roll in, but many palestinians are starving or without water. an israeli official claimed that united nations agencies are enabling hamas. >> unfortunately, to date, the

u.n. aid mechanism in gaza has been woefully unsuccessful, because it goes through unrwa. aid simply isn't reaching the people who need it, because hamas hijacks it and unrwa covers up for it. amna: israel announced yesterday it will now consider united nations employee visas on a case by case basis, instead of automatic admission. in corners of gaza, life - or some version of it - goes on. tareq al-nuaimi lost his teaching job and home to the war, but volunteered to hold english lessons in this shelter. >> since the beginning of the war, we see our children distressed, their faces pale, sad about the damage and destruction and pain they see, we thought of cheering them up. we suggested the idea of classes in the tents, they liked the idea and developed a passion for it. amna: islam aziz is 10 years old, and says she misses her school. >> we have the right to an education just like all the children around the world. it has been 81 days since we have been to proper schools.

amna: in this room, a glimmer of a normal childhood, while outside, a war rages on. >> please stop war! please stop war! amna: the israel-hamas war is approaching the 3 month mark. to help explain what israeli strategy and tactics are, and what the future of gaza may look like, i'm joined by the israeli ambassador to the united states , michael herzog. he is a retired brigadier general in the israel defense force. welcome to the newshour. thank you for joining us. as we mentioned, the war is now heading to the three month mark. we know the stated goal of israel is to eradicate hamas and ensure the horrors of october 7 never happen again. can you update us on where you are on meeting that goal? how much of hamas have you eliminated? amb. herzog: first, our goal is twofold. it is to defeat hamas, to remove the threat of hamas in gaza,

which means to dismantle their military infrastructure, their military capabilities, and to dismantle their government capabilities that build these military capabilities that operated them on october 7. our second goal is to release all of our hostages. we still have close to 130 hostages, including americans. we will do everything possible in order to release our hostages and bring them back home. we are advancing our military operation in gaza. we are operating both in the northern part of gaza and the southern part of gaza. our military operation is effective in the sense that we are dismantling hamas military infrastructure. hamas has deployed in five brigades and 24 battalions, it is an army of terror. it is a war which is not only underground -- not only overg

round, but in the sub terrain. they built an underground complex stretching hundreds of kilometers where they host their leadership command and control centers and rockets. this is a big challenge, but we are moving ahead. i believe our military operation is effective. amna: you say it is effective, but what does your intelligence show you in terms of how far along you are in progress of dismantling hamas? how much of their senior leadership have you targeted? amb. herzog: i will not put numbers on that, but i think in all the areas we engage their battalions in the city of gaza, khan younis and elsewhere, we were successful in dismantling these battalions and i think we dealt a severe blow to them. there are still several thousand armed people in gaza and we have not touched all of them. we don't intend to run after everyone of them, but to break

hamas and away where they will no longer be able to pose a threat to the state of israel. i think there is a lot of military work to be done. they continue to this day to fire rockets. since the beginning of the war, hamas and other terror organizations in gaza fired over 11,000 rockets into israel. they are still holding kidnapped civilians. there is still a long way to go, but i think we are at the point where they understand that they will be defeated militarily. amna: i would like to ask about the video we just reported on shared yesterday. it seems to be a detention area set up by israel inside a stadium in gaza, men stripped to their underwear, detained en masse. there seemed to be children in that group. human rights groups say this in

-- say this violates international standards. is this practice sanctioned by your administration? amb. herzog: i am not sure if these pictures are from recent times. when we arrest suspects -- amna: when would these be from if not from recent times? these were reportedly shot by an israeli photographer embedded with the idf. amb. herzog: i will say we strip people of their close in order to make sure -- clothes in order to make sure there are no explosive charges or weapons. that is customary. the fact that these photos came out, i don't think this is our policy and i don't think this was sanctioned by any people with authority in our government. but i will say from our experience, you talk about children, we have 18-year-old people who are part of the hamas

military wing who carry weapons and killed our soldiers. so we make sure that none of them has explosives. i want to differentiate between the very act and the fact that these photos came out, which is not our policy. amna: if this is not your policy, why does this keep happening? these seem to be large groups of men detained en masse. there were previous videos showing men detained en masse, many stripped, blindfolded in the back of military vehicles. why was this allowed to happen? amb. herzog: they were not put out by any people with authority. there were people with mobile phones that take photos. you can't patrol all of it. it is not our policy to put out these photos. amna: i understand it is not your policy to put them out, but they are out, they have been verified. why is this practice continuing to happen? amb. herzog: because when you have a station like that, it is impossible to withdraw every

mobile phone on the ground. amna: not white is the video coming up, why are you military forces detaining men en masse, including some children? amb. herzog: we are at war, let's not forget. our soldiers get killed in gaza. let's not forget that. we are fighting for our lives in gaza. when we have suspected terrorist, we detained them. we make sure there are no weapons or explosive charges. this is war. amna: what qualifies people being suspected terrorist? we spoke to a poet who said he, even though he was on a list to evacuate with his american son, was arrested, detained at the rafah border crossing, beaten and blind folded for two days. when he was asked why he was being held, the idf soldier told him you have to prove you are not hamas. is that the policy by which your soldiers are operating? amb. herzog: we are fighting against over 30,000 terrorists in gaza. our soldiers get killed there every day.

so there are a lot of people who are terrorists and a lot of people suspected of being terrorists and they are being detained in order to investigate and see if that suspicion is right or not. if it is not, we release them. it is not our policy to target innocent civilians or to go after innocent civilians, but we are talking about the protection of our forces, who as i said are fighting a very difficult war in gaza and get killed every day. amna: that death toll among palestinians has risen over 21,0 00. women and children reportedly makeup most of the dead. we know your intelligence shows you how many people you expect to hit in each strike. according to reporting, some of those constraints have been loosened. previously you could tolerate dozens of civilians as collateral damage. that number has now risen to hundreds. is there a limit to that number of how many civilian casualties you tolerate? amb. herzog: i totally disagree

and reject that. we do not target civilians and we are capable -- we are careful about damage. you cite only hamas numbers. the u.s. cites hamas numbers. we don't know exactly how many people got killed. we do know that innocent civilians got killed. it is a tragedy for every civilian getting killed, but hamas never tells you, putting aside -- i'm not sure what the exact numbers are -- the organization is capable of putting false numbers out. we recognize civilians got killed, but they never tell you the breakdown between terrorists and innocent civilians. our forces claim that infighting gaza in battle, we killed over 8000 terrorists. you don't know the exact breakdown. you don't know how many of them are women and children and how many are terrorists. these numbers are out by hamas

and nobody can verify them. let me give you an example. hamas immediately put out that 407 people got killed in that attack on a hospital. when the whole world got to the conclusion that it was an error by islamic jihad rocket, the numbers dropped dramatically to dozens. did anybody ask,, where are the -- ask hamas, where are the 407 people you claim it were killed? do you still count them or not? let's be careful about the numbers. i am not here to claim innocent civilians did not get killed. this is more and it is tragic. hamas embedded itself in the civilian population in the sub terrain and over the ground and use them as human shields. this is tragic. but no one really knows the exact numbers, and the breakdown between terrorists and

civilians. we are fighting over 30,000 people in gaza. amna: i will clarify these numbers come from the united nations office for coronation of humanitarian affairs -- for coordination of humanitarian affairs. amb. herzog: cite the hamas numbers, they don't have numbers of their own. amna: ambassador, michael herzog, we thank you for joining us. please do join us again sometime soon. thank you for your time. amb. herzog: thank you very much. thank you. ♪ in the days other headlines, former president trump will stay on the primary ballot in michigan. the state's supreme court won't hear an appeal from voters seeking to disqualify him because of his role on january 6th. the justices wrote in a statement "we are not persuaded that the questions presented

should be reviewed by this court." that comes days after colorado's supreme court deemed mr. trump ineligible to run for president in their state. wintry weather has blanketed parts of colorado and south dakota in more than a foot of snow. nebraska and wyoming weren't too far behind with about 11 inches. meanwhile, strong winds continued to gust across the southern and central plains. the massive storm is expected to bring snow and rain to the northeast later this week. officials in kyiv say russia fired nearly 50 drones at ukraine overnight, and shelled a train station as people were trying to evacuate. the ukrainian air force claims it shot down most of the drones, which were iranian-made. still, the attacks killed at least six people, destroyed buildings, and knocked out power to most of the southern city of kherson. protests erupted in congo today , demanding a re-do of last week's presidential election. demonstrators took to the streets of kinshasa, denouncing

what they say was a flawed vote. police fired tear gas and threw rocks to break up the crowds. one of the main opposition candidates also accused police of firing live bullets. protesters refused to give up. >> the people are resisting. marching is our constitutional right, and it is not over because they need to take responsibility for this chaotic election. we won't back down. amna: international observers and rights groups have also questioned the election's integrity. they cited polls that never opened or opened late, and many illegible voter cards. final election results are expected in the coming days. back in this country, the new york times filed a federal lawsuit today against microsoft and openai for using millions of its stories to train chatbots. "the times" says it's never granted anyone permission to use its content for artificial intelligence purposes. it isn't seeking a specific amount in damages, but said the copyright infringements could be worth "billions of dollars."

on wall street today, stocks managed modest gains. average climbed 111 points -- the dow jones industrial average climbed 111 points to close at 37,656. the nasdaq rose 24 points. the s&p 500 added 7. and two passings to note tonight. comedian tom smothers has died at his home in california after battling cancer. he and his brother dick hosted the trailblazing "smothers brothers comedy hour" in the late 1960s. it mixed humor, music and controversial topics, often at odds with network censors. smothers won an honorary emmy for his work on the show nearly 40 years after it was canceled. tom smothers was 86 years old. and south korean actor lee sun-kyun known for his role in the film "parasite" was found dead today in seoul in an apparent suicide. he had been under investigation for alleged drug use. lee played the father of a wealthy family in "parasite", which won the oscar for best

picture in 2020. he also appeared in several popular south korean tv dramas. lee sun-kyun was 48 years old. still to come on the newshour, the u.s. special envoy for hostage affairs discusses efforts to free americans detained abroad. thousands of congregations leave the united methodist church amid disagreements over theology. interest in immersive exhibitions skyrockets as the way people consume art evolves. plus much more. ♪ >> this is the pbs newshour from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. amna: while the united states was able to negotiate the release of detained americans in venezuela, tre are at least four americans in russia, and approximately seven held in gaza by hamas and potentially other

militant groups. the u.s. government's point person working to get them all home is roger carstens, the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs. welcome back. i want to begin in gaza and what i know is a multi agency effort to bring home those americans held in gaza. i understand qatar was instrumental in previous successful efforts to release many of the hostages. things have been at a standstill for a while. where is the holdup? obviously hamas, but are the u.s. and israel on the same page? amb. carstens: as you might imagine i can't get into the details of negotiation. at times you can after the fact, but right now it does not benefit the hostages to get into the nitty-gritty of it. what i can say is that connor is playing -- qatar is playing an important role as an intermediary. there are times where the united states does not have entree into meeting groups. this is where qatar has been able to bring its gravitas in the region to bear. it is a tough fight.

a lot of things in newspaper are accurately portray -- are accurately portraying where we are. we want everyone to get back. we will work to get all the hostages back and we are done when everyone is accounted for. amna: have you been able to confirm, at least among the americans that are held, that they are still alive? amb. carstens: the information remains sketchy. we believe one of the hostages have passed. we have more information on some, less on others. have to keep puui returning everyone, to include those who do pass away. one gentleman that is assessed as being deceased, we have a responsibility to bring his or main's back so that families can have closure. amna: the nature of your work is high-stakes, but things come together at the last minute. i want to ask about the recent deal you were able to bring home 10 americans in venezuela in

exchange for an ally of president maduro. how fragile are these deals for they are done? when was this one final before they came home on wednesday? amb. carstens: to answer directly, they are always very fragile. even though we try to give families a sense of what is happening during the discussions, there comes a time where we told the families we just can't talk about it anymore because it seems to get to that point where everything hangs on a thread, and that if there is one leak, the other side may collapse the negotiation. on this one we had details to work out. a lot of good work was done by the united states, particularly by the white house and state department. i think we got to the point where we had to find tune a few things. on the 20th we spent about four or five hours on a hot airplane tarmac. you can picture six airplanes with their engines continually running. and just going back and forth

between these very loud planes with that heat coming off the tarmac, trying to ensure that everything was wrapped up so we can begin the switch between the americans they were holding and the person we were holding. at the end of the day, we were able to pull it off. i think a lot of people put the work into it. if i may, it is not just the people who negotiated or at the white house, but there are congressman, senators, nonprofits, individuals like the richardson foundation, jonathan franks, senators, their staffs, allies of the united states that put themselves into this. the people that bear the most weight on their back, the families. they hold us accountable, sometimes come up with a winning strategy. they are doing it to bring their loved ones back. i would say the people in these prisons remain strong and they pretty much never lose faith in their country. they know we will get them one day. amna: i want to ask about the

americans still in russia. tomorrow does mark five years since paul whelan's wrongful detention in russia. you put out a statement this evening saying not a day goes by without intense u.s. government efforts to bring him home. he recently told reporters he feels betrayed, that he has been left behind. there have been previous deals that did not include him. will he be the priority in any potential next russian swamp? amb. carstens: a lot depends on the russians. we want to bring paul and evan back at the same time. evan, the wall street journal reporter. we are working hard. it is a tough thing to tell people that you are working hard because the belief might be that you are not. at the end of the day we probably talked to his family members daily. w talke to the wall street journal on a weekly basis. but paul whelan is front and center at all times. i probably talk to him once every two weeks. my case officer talks to paul

pretty much weekly. this is something we work on every day. not just throwing those words out there. every day we work to bring paul home. amna: we have seen a rise in foreign governments detaining innocent americans abroad. the criticism you get is the more new you go sheet -- the mo re you negotiate with people, the more you see billions in funds unfrozen, that it may incentivize more hostagetaking. how is that not the case? amb. carstens: if i were to lay all the facts out, i might say my case numbers are going down right now. i think we are in a new field. 10 years from now when we had a chance to run all the we can come up -- all the numbers we can come up with the conclusion but right now my numbers are not going up. they are going down. gaza of course with 10 hostages, 12 hostages, down to eight that

are still unaccounted for, that skews the numbers. at the end of the day, people don't get back unless you are willing to make these deals. president biden has shown great courage in making the hard decisions that bring americans home. unless you make that deal, that person will remain in prison. there is no way to bring them back other than to make a hard decision. amna: u.s. presidential envoy for hostage affairs. good to see you. the biden administration is closing out 2023 in much the same way it began, with headlines about a migrant crisis on the u.s. southern border. border patrol agents encountering a record number of people entering the country. a caravan heading toward the border. and american cities struggling to keep up with asylum seekers. as stephanie sy reports, its with that backdrop that president biden dispatched three

top advisers to mexico in search of solutions. stephanie: secretary of state antony blinken arrived in mexico city today, greeted by u.s. ambassador ken salazar. blinken, along with homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas and other top u.s. officials met with mexico's since october to address the migrant crisis. in u.s. is asking lopes obrador to make it harder for migrants to move through mexico and to do more to stop migrants when they try to enter mexico from guatemala. in exchange, mexico wants the u.s. to commit more aid to the migrants' countries of origin and ease sanctions on venezuela and cuba. the talks come as record numbers of people try to enter the u. s. from the southern border. at times, last week, customs and border protection stopped more than 10,000 people a day, adding

to the more than 240,000 migrants that officials encountered in november. the numbers have stretched border patrol to its limits, with agents struggling to process the influx as thousands gathered in eagle pass, texas, in recent weeks. u.s. customs and border protection closed other ports of entry in arizona and california in the last month in order to re-deploy officers to help with migrant processing. underlining the pressure on u.s. officials, a caravan of migrants is steadily making its way to the water. -- to the border. an estimated 6000 people from central america, venezuela, cuba and elsewhere have been waiting for months in southern mexico. on christmas eve, they began their march northwards under the beating sun. they make up the largest caravan in more than a year. many young and exhausted families are among the masses, including jose's. >> my daughter can't walk anymore.

i carry her in my arms because she needs to rest, she's only three years old. and she's not healthy, she's ill. stephanie: rosa journeyed from el salvador. >> i demand politicians to touch their hearts because many of us are tired, without eating, and with blisters on our feet. stephanie: while u.s. leaders seek solutions that would control those coming into the u.s., the migrants seek rest and compassion. amna: for a closer look at the situation on the southern border, i'm joined by elliot spagat, immigration reporter with the associated press. thanks so much for joining the newshour. what is the goal of the meeting between top biden administration officials and the mexican president today? elliot: the west officials have not made any public asks, but we can infer from what has been happening over the last few weeks the numbers are astronomical, they are unprecedented to use the word of the cbp acting commissioner,

above 10,000 arrests for illegal crossings in december. they want to get a handle on the numbers. this is not happening in a political vacuum. there are negotiations in congress with aid to ukraine in the balance. the u.s. officials want to get a better handle on the numbers and to give one specific example, the real crossings in eagle pass, texas and el paso were closed for five days. that caused a lot of economic losses. what was happening was people were coming up on the trains through mexico. the u.s. wants mexico to do more to stop that. law enforcement is what the u.s. is looking for. amna: you visited the arizona side of the border with mexico recently. what did you see for yourself about the situation and specifically about the efficacy of the border wall? elliot: i was in lukeville, arizona, one of the hotspots right now. about 3000 people are crossing a

day in that general area, much of it through lukeville, a border crossing that is closed right now because of the need to focus resources on processing migrants. it is a duty-free shop and a restaurant. there is very few agents around but lots of people, probably more from senegal than any other country, lots from guinea, mexico of course, guatemala. they are sawing through the walls, the smugglers are, on the mexican side. they are using construction great tools. these are columns built during the final days of the trump administration. they cut through and swing the columns back and forth so people can just walk through. young people, toddlers, it is very easy to get through. they walk for hours looking for border patrol agents who are nowhere to be found. this could probably be stopped by border patrol agent's but they just don't have enough there.

they are busy processing. commissioner miller said he wants mexico to step up. there were hundreds of breaches, that they had been welded shut. the dates were marked on where they had been fixed and hundreds of them over a 30 mile stretch. commissioner miller said we need mexico to step up to do more to stop people from breaching the wall on the mexican side. amna: you have been reporting on the underlying causes of increased migration, from climate change to poverty, but you've also emphasized in your cent reporting the role of technology in smuggling operations. i wonder if you would talk a little bit more about what you found out about how that contributes to the increasing flow of migrants. elliot: it vastly increases global mobility. we did a story on mauritanians, who very few were crossing, then by march of this year there were crossing by

several thousand a month. they ply about 4000 chinese -- fly about 4000 chinese a month, mostly through san diego. i mentioned the senegalese, from uzbekistan, thousands from countries ever month. there are travel agencies, many of them really are travel agencies, they arrange flights and communicate virtually over social media. every migrant has a smartphone. they use tiktok and facebook and youtube and other apps to get instructions. so the smugglers are often not with them physically, they are just giving them instructions, cross here, walk until you see a border patrol agent. that is a change from years ago. amna: how would you describe how immigration politics have shifted in the last year?

elliot: to the right, for sure. one big development has been the large influx of migrants from venezuela and other countries to new york, chicago, denver, other democrat run cities. we are seeing with negotiations in congress includes aid to israel and ukraine as well as border security measures, is a lot of democrats saying -- like john fetterman of pennsylvania, even dick durbin, the official champion of the dreamer legislation, saying we need to do something. the progressive wing of the democratic party is very much opposed to those changes. they want to keep the asylum system going. the republicans are split too. overall there seems to be a growing consensus that something needs to be done and more on the

enforcement side. amna: thanks so much for joining us with your insights. elliot: thank you. ♪ amna: nearly 90% of americans eat meat as a part of their diet. but earlier this year the agriculture department approved the production of what's known as "cultivated meat" that is chicken grown in a lab. that approval clears the way for companies to begin selling poultry produced from animal cells rather than animals bred in factory farms and killed. william brangham gives us a taste of what the future could hold. william -- >> we put a glaise on it, give it a little color and flavor on the outside. william: at the good meet plant in california, this chef is

putting the touches on a dish that is out of science fiction. >> there is a tendency to back away because they don't know what it is, but once they understand what it is, that it is just chicken and it is delicious, it will be easy for everyone to get on board. william: getting people operable with the idea of cultivated chicken is at the heart of operations here at good meat, one of two companies federally approved to make it. >> we want to slice it in front of you. we want to see what you will get on the plate. william: sliced and served with heirloom beans and a sweet potato puree. if you had said nothing about this i would just think this is a lovely meal. >> thank you. william: it tastes, as the saying goes, like chicken. >> it's like chicken. william: and delicious. >> thank you. william: long before i enjoyed it for lunch today, that chicken meat that could only be seen here inside this bioprocessing lab as tiny microscopic stem cells.

they are all taken from real chickens, without harming them. the sales are then constantly stirred, kept warm and nourished so they will multiply inside these massive bio reactors. it is all part of a lengthy process designed to mirror how actual animals grow. cultivated meat has been talked about for over 100 years. josh is the cofounder and ceo of eat just, which operates good meat. what is the rationale for cultivated meat? >> first and foremost, we have to accept that people love meat and it is really difficult to get people to stop eating meat and choose some other plant-based source which would be better for them. so how do you get at that? i think the answer is you make real meat and exactly the same taste and texture that people are used to, but make it in a way that does not require billions of dollars.

you cannot feed the world without billions of animals because each animal has to be slaughtered. william: local food production is responsible for one third of the greenhouse gases dangerously heating the planet. meat production is the major driver of that impact, with the majority of the world's croplands and forests being used to grow food for the animals we then eat. >> if we are going to solve the climate problem, we have to move from fossil fuels and we definitely need to move from intensive animal farming that is eating up one third of our planet today, to an entirely different approach. william: but not everyone is sold on this new approach. >> we cannot just take it as a that cultures meet is good for the environment. william: ned is an associate professor at the university of california davis who studies the links between food and the environment. he says while no animals are being slaughtered, a recent

report he co-authored about cultures meet indicates -- cultured meat indicates it is not as green as many would hope. >> along the lines of energy use, we find cultivated meat might have more of an impact than the conventional agriculture. william: and how is that possible? william: the major driver is that these are still animal cells, so they still need to eat food. just as a cow needs to eat grass or corn to grow, we need to feed the cells glucose for energy and amino acids to build proteins. it takes a lot of resources to make the food to grow these cells to create the cultivated meat. william: but he argues that as the technology improves, cultivated meat has the potential to pollute much less and consume far less land and water than conventional meat. and he argues our current approach, from its cruelty to

animals to its environmental impacts, has to change. >> we are eating food every day that no one would be proud of if they actually engaged with it. william: several companies have come to market with plant-based meat substitutes like beyond meat or impossible burgers, but cultivated meat will likely be a tougher sell. a recent poll from the associated press found half of adults in the u.s. say they would be unlikely to try it, with many exciting that it sounded weird -- citing that it sounded weird. >> we found the most effective way to move someone from "this is kind of weird" to "i'm done with it" is to put it on a plate and have them eat the chicken. and about midway through they are like, this is just chicken. >> we marinate it overnight. william: so far only a few restaurants in the u.s. have actually served cultivated chicken, including one in

washington dc. >> don't be afraid to get a little messy. no worries. >> that is delicious. william: it is owned by a world-famous chef. here, the head chef prepares it as traditional peruvian street food. when jose first said we would like to try cooking with this unique type of chicken, what was your reaction? >> at first i was super excited and curious. once i tried it, i was super surprised and i actually liked it. william: but getting cultivated meat both into more restaurants and eventually into grocery stores won't be easy. good meat is reportedly looking for ways to cut searching production costs. the company had aimed to eventually produce up to 30 million pounds of meat annually. >> we are nowhere near the scale to make a dent in this problem. that was the same way for solar energy years ago.

we are in the same position as that was 20 years ago. if you ultimately shift the system, best to start now because it will be many decade-long, very hard, uncertain problem to solve. william: it is a problem now being tested and tasted in labs like this one. william brangham in alameda, california. ♪ amna: one of the dominant christian denominations in the u.s., the united methodist church, is experiencing a major split. since 2019, more than 7000 congregations across the country have received approval to leave the united methodist church. that's about a quarter of all methodist churches in the u. -- in the u.s. and nearly three quarters of those departures happened this year. united methodist leaders gave

congregations until december 31 to decide to leave. factions within the denomination split over disagreements in theology, namely how the church considers lgbtq+ ministers and congregants. in oklahoma, where the united methodist church was one of the most practiced beliefs in the state, more than 120 congregations voted to leave the church. adam kemp is one of our communities correspondents. he's based in oklahoma city. and joins us now. give us the background we need to understand on this split. how did we get here? >> we are basically seeing the conclusion of decades worth of debate and discussion in the united methodist church over sexuality. it has been a long time coming, and what experts are saying is the largest denominational split since the civil war basically. it is focused on lgbtq inclusion, whether or not the umc wants to have lgbtq pastors or congregants or same-sex

marriages. there has been a continuing push, despite that the fact that the church is been committed to their stance that homosexuality is not incongruence with their teachings, that push though for more inclusion has made more conservative groups in the denomination uncomfortable. ultimately with them asking to be let out of the church. so in 2019, a general conference was held in st. louis, where they decided to let individual congregations vote to leave the united methodist church, to diss affiliate. flash forward to now, more than a quarter of all those churches have voted to leave the church. amna: more than 7000 congregations since 2019, getting approval to leave. what has been the result of those churches leaving? adam: beyond the huge loss of the number of churches and

congregants, it has also given rise to the global methodist church in the united states, which is a more conservative branch of the methodist church. they say they will adherent to more wesley and roots in their theology, which would mean no lgbtq ministers, no same-sex marriages within those churches. but also interestingly, many churches left the umc to go nondenominational, to choose their own path. experts have said that for five decades straight now has been a choice millions are making in what they are seeing is becoming one of the larger church denominations, non-denominations within the u.s.. amna: you have been talking to people who grew up in the church. how are they grappling with this change? adam: i spoke with a local pastor here who grew up in the united methodist church. he followed in his father's footsteps to become a umc pastor.

just what that process was like. he know himself is no longer united methodist pastor and led a church through the dis- affiliation process. >> it has been hard. there has been a lot of grief. while there was a day, october 31st, when i was no longer a united methodist pastor. i had been in my heart making that decision over the slow process of four years. so it was 35 years in the making of a connection has kind of been four years slowly drifting away from seeing myself as a united methodist, what we call elder in the church. amna: we mentioned that december 31 deadline for congregations to decide whether they want to leave or not. what happens next? adam: it is time for analysis for the united methodist church in a lot of ways. they might have a better understanding of what comes next at their next general conference this spring, where they will, experts say, have another push

for lgbtq inclusion, including possibly changing the rules to allow for same-sex marriages within the church. but experts say the effects of this could be longtail and the church might have soul-searching to do as they have to analyze whether they can keep the number of employees they have, as well as seminaries across the u.s., and ultimately whether they can keep the number of churches they do have. amna: that is our communities correspondent based in oklahoma city. thank you for your reporting. good to see you. adam: thanks. ♪ amna: in recent years, immersive art exhibitions have become a hot ticket. they put viewers in the midst of the art, often through computer-generated lights and sounds. our special correspondent recently visited an immersive arts space in portland as part

of our arts and culture series, canvas. >> in one room, colorful graffiti painted virtually on walls. in another, 7000 led lights precisely choreographed to an otherworldly soundtrack. these are some of the high-tech experiences, along with technology free installations, that are part of hopscotch, an immersive gallery space in portland that opened in june. >> we are an experience that is driven by art. >> nicole jensen is the co-founder of hopscotch, which has another location in san antonio, texas that opened in 2020. >> we just felt like as consumers, it's hard to find permanent immersive art experiences, or large-scale art experiences that were not at a festival. while you might see an interactive art piece at a traditional gallery or in an airport or in a city park, you might not see it next to 14 other similar types of art. >> in portland, those 14

commissioned installations, which come from a mix of local, national and international artists, are displayed in a former hardware store that jensen and her team transformed into a sleek, modern space. where play is encouraged. so tell me about this room. >> we are heading into quantum trampoline. the artist is from russia, we support them, they believe in making art, not war. >> jensen and i created some art together. this interactive installation is from a team of artists called kuflex. >> we are basically becoming part of the art. you are a particle of light in the infinite cosmos. >> the ability to work with people internationally and remotely is behind a lot of these types of things. that just opens up a whole new world. >> while fun is a focus, there are more serious aspects to some of the art as well. in "rainbow cave," new york artist barbara syrenka uses 86,000 upcycled plastic bags to highlight the number used around the world about every five

seconds. ♪ "gaze" is a collaboration with the human rights campaign. >> we take their message and bring it to life through 34 different panels that are empowering. >> a national nonprofit which advocates for lgbtq+ rights. jensen is on the organization's board of governors. >> it just was really important for me as a queer person, when you're a business owner, you know, you can create the spaces you want to be in and you want others to feel comfortable in. >> in other rooms, visitors are transported to different realms. >> this is unknown atmospheres, it was created in collaboration with parallel studio. we were looking to match light and sound behavior. >> seth nehil is a portland sound designer and electric musician who worked on two of the installations. he spent six months composing this five minute soundtrack. >> sound can really act in an

unconscious level and affect people's mood or their perception of other senses in a way that they're not necessarily thinking about. >> while numerous studies have found connections between the arts and human well-being, more research is now underway looking at the specific impacts of immersive art experiences. one study last year by researchers at the university of pennsylvania found higher levels of immersion were associated with heightened emotions such as happiness, awe and feeling relaxed. that mini vacation for the heart and mind may be some of the factors leading to the surge of interest in immersive art. co-founder jensen says hopscotch tickets, which are limited to about 1,000 a day and cost $24 dollars for adults and $15 for children over the age of three, have sold out most days since they opened. >> are you trying to attract people who may not have gone to a traditional art gallery before

or been interested in traditional art? >> absolutely. my favorite guests are the that ones are drug here by someone. and they have been told through society that they aren't creative or they are not interested in art or maybe they didn't feel comfortable, frankly, in artistic spaces. and then they have an amazing time. so it's about making people connect. >> on a recent afternoon, those connections were being made by visitors of all ages and backgrounds. >> i feel like this is a bucket list for portland. >> suri johnson and ashley stiles, who learned about hopscotch from tiktok, drove down to seattle. >> it sparks conversations and emotions. we talked about how art has the power to change your perspective and how you view something that may have happened, and this definitely leaves you feeling some thing different. >> while immersive art has its share of critics, including

those who feel it is to the detriment of the art francisco , morales doesn't see it that way. >> i think the line between art and entertainment is oftentimes blurred. i don't necessarily see that as like a positive or a negative thing. >> morales -- whose mural depicting predatory advertisements that target latin american communities --says he's not bothered that some may miss his message. >> as an artist, i would rather folks engage with my art at whatever capacity, whether it be with a critical lens or on more of like a superficial kind of like, oh, it's aesthetically pleasing. i think that there's validity in both of those things and like everything in between that spectrum. >> hopscotch's portland lease goes until 2033 and jensen says they plan to change out installations roughly every two years. they are hoping to open two new locations, including a waterfront property in south los angeles, over the next several years.

for the pbs newshour, i'm cat wise in portland, oregon. amna: and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm amna nawaz. on behalf of the entire newshour team, thank you for joining us. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the newshour, including jim and nancy build there and kathy and paul anderson. >> consumer cellular, how may i help you? this is a pocket dial. well, somebody's pocket, thought i would let you know that with consumer cellular you get nationwide coverage with no contract. that is kind of our thing. have a nice day. >> these are people who are trying to change the world. startups have this energy that energizes me. i am thriving by helping others every day. people who know, know bdo.

♪ >> the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. ♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪

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