How and when did early humans domesticate the plants that we use today? Did these ancient farmers purposefully select traits, or did they domesticate unconsciously? In the future, can breeders and farmers grow more nutritious and robust food using genomics?
In this episode, we talk to Michael Purugganan, an evolutionary biologist at NYU, about some of our favorite foods, where they came from, and what to do to ensure we will still have them in the future.
We also talk about rice, an essential staple crop for the world. Michael describes his genomic work with rice to make it more robust and resilient, especially in the face of climate change and a growing human population. His research is part of a global effort to make a Green Super Rice, a rice variety suitable for the diverse challenges of the future.
Cover art: Keating Shahmehri
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bigbiology/supportEp 24: Mental Smoke Detectors
Ep 23: Beauty of the Beasts
Season 2 Preview
Ep 22: Whale Aware
Ep 21: Replaying the MP3 of Life
Ep 20: Ask Us Anything
Ep 19: Microbial Garden of Eden
Ep 18: Bug in the system
Ep 17: 1000 ways to make a baby
Ep 16: Rules of Life
Ep 15: Climate change: should they stay or should they go?
Ep 14: Plasticity? Sounds fishy.
Ep 13: Unraveling Genetic Knots
Ep 12: Containing Cancer with Squirrel Ecology
Ep 11: The Vagina Research Institute (Full Conversation)
Ep 11: The Vagina Research Institute
Ep 10: Tangling the Tree of Life
Ep 9: Information, Aliens, and the Origin of Life (Full Conversation)
Ep 9: Information, Aliens, and the Origin of Life
Ep 8: Immune System: Make Love not War (Full Conversation)
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