A bunch of things are considered agricultural science, from planting crops and raising sheep for wool to food safety and developing fertilizers. This week, we’re skimming the surface of agriculture, with a little detour into animals that sort of farm too. What accidental evolutionary pressures turned weeds into popular crops? Why are seed vaults so important to humanity? And what made Big Mike basically go extinct, and are we worried about it happening with other crops? (Big Mike is a banana, by the way.)
Want to know more about our topics? Check out these links:
[Truth or Fail]
https://india.mongabay.com/2018/10/farmer-termites-bury-invaders-alive-to-protect-fungus-farms/
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10886-017-0902-4
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00040-010-0092-3
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0156847
[Fact Off]
Vavilovian mimicry:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02858881
http://labs.eeb.utoronto.ca/barrett/pdf/schb_54.pdf
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1752-4571.2010.00140.x
Leningrad seed vault:
[Ask the Science Couch]
Bananas:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/oct/25/banana-farming-danger-cavendish-crop-genetics
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2017/12/27/banana-fungus-panama-disease/#.XIgdQFNKhxw
https://www.apsnet.org/about/newsroom/releases/Pages/03Banana.aspx
https://fusariumwilt.org/index.php/en/about-fusarium-wilt/
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-44712034
[Butt One More Thing]
Night soil: