Sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) are becoming more and more popular: Whether in soup or as fries, they increasingly compete with "regular" potatoes which, surprisingly, are only distantly related. Although economically not ...
Ecology
Dec 2, 2019
0
58
Scientific analysis of dental calculus—plaque build-up—of the Famine's victims found evidence of corn (maize), oats, potato, wheat and milk foodstuffs.
Archaeology
Sep 9, 2019
0
1199
A team of researchers from Germany, Peru, the U.K. and Spain has sequenced a large number of potato varieties to learn more about the history of the modern European potato. In their paper published in the journal Nature Ecology ...
From elongated oblongs to near-perfect spheres, vegetables come in almost every size and shape. But what differentiates a fingerling potato from a russet or a Roma tomato from a beefsteak? Researchers at the University of ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 12, 2018
0
175
Evidence reported in the journal Current Biology on April 12 shows that sweet potatoes arose before there were any humans around to eat them. The findings also suggest that the sweet potato crossed the ocean from America ...
Biotechnology
Apr 12, 2018
3
177
The Colorado potato beetle is notorious for its role in starting the pesticide industry - and for its ability to resist the insecticides developed to stop it.
Plants & Animals
Jan 31, 2018
0
25
The comfort food we know and love today as the potato was domesticated between 8,000 and 10,000 years ago from a wild species native to the Andes Mountains in southern Peru. During the 16th century, Spanish conquistadors ...
Biotechnology
Dec 13, 2017
1
250
The humble potato—drought-resistant, able to thrive in diverse soils, and enjoyed fried, steamed or baked—brought centuries of relative calm and prosperity to Europe after its introduction in the 16th century, a new study ...
Social Sciences
Dec 10, 2017
12
347
The old adage of looking to the past to understand the future certainly applies to improving potatoes.
Biotechnology
Oct 30, 2017
1
91
The town of Escalante in southern Utah is no small potatoes when it comes to scientific discovery; a new archaeological finding within its borders may rewrite the story of tuber domestication.
Biotechnology
Jul 3, 2017
2
356
