• 9 years ago
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    I was trying to figure out what those delicious midget bananas from Vietnam are called and if we should have a seperate page for them on FL when I stumbled upon this interesting bit of information, which completely blew my mind btw:

    „Bananas cannot reproduce: the ones we eat are sterile hybrids. The only way that there are more bananas is that humans take offshoots from the stems of existing banana trees, transplant them, and allow them to grow into a tree of their own. It’s basically a cheap, low-tech version of cloning.”

    “Back in the 1950s, a fungus wiped out the top selling kind of banana in the world (called Gros Michael). It was the banana your grandparents ate. You eat the Cavendish, a different variety that replaced the Gros Michael. They look and taste different from another. Just like Gros Michael, all Cavendish are exactly alike.”
    - boingboing.net

    I love the internet.
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    • rockshard PhD
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      rockshard PhD
      Editing … wait so I will never be able to taste the gros michael? I want to kill myself
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    • rockshard PhD
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      rockshard PhD
      Editing … oh and I guess this is why they started the Noah's ark seed bank project
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    • Nodley
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      Nodley
      Editing … Big Mikes are still available, just not everywhere.
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    • WoodrowShigeru
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      WoodrowShigeru
      Editing … Yup, I've read that too. If humankind goes extinct, so will the banana eventually.
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    • Nodley
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      Nodley
      Editing … How did monkeys survive before they turned into humans then?
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    • WoodrowShigeru
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      WoodrowShigeru
      Editing … Bananas are younger than humans. Monkeys must have eaten something else … maybe humans. « The banana, however, is a freakish and fragile genetic mutant; one that has survived through the centuries due to the sustained application of selective breeding by diligent humans. Indeed, the "miraculous" banana is far from being a no-strings-attached gift from nature. Its cheerful appearance hides a fatal flaw— one that threatens its proud place in the grocery basket. The banana’s problem can be summed up in a single word: sex. » http://www.damninteresting.com/the-unfortunate-sex-life-of-the-banana/
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    • Nodley
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      Nodley
      Editing … Well, nobody can ever say the internet isn't interesting. I learned some cool stuff today.
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    (≡ˆ⊝ω⊝ˆ≡ )
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      Editing … (≡ˆ⊝ω⊝ˆ≡ )
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