Understanding the deep history of agriculture Thakar hopes that her research will help people appreciate the long and complex process of plant domestication. "The vast majority of food consumed today ...

WHEN Mr. Darwin published his “ Origin of Species,” he stated it to be only the forerunner of a more complete work on the subject, in which he hoped to present the evidence on which his conclusions ...

Grapes have long played a crucial role in human society, both modern and ancient. Especially when it comes to the production of wine, grapes have proved to be a valuable and popular crop. It was so ...

"We decided to analyze the anatomy and architecture of these ancient root samples to see how they have changed over time with corn domestication. So, that was the origin. Ivan started this work in ...

The research team conducted an in-depth study of the evolution and domestication of barley (Hordeum vulgare). They focused on so-called haplotypes - sections of DNA that are inherited together and act ...

Researchers have uncovered intriguing details about the origins and spread of the bottle gourd, one of the oldest domesticated crops. Their work unveils the genetic diversification and population ...

The ancient peoples of Latin America did us all a tremendous favor by saving avocados from extinction and gradually making them tastier over thousands of years of domestication. (Credit: Markus via ...

The old, epic story of agriculture in North America had two heroes, long sung and much venerated. One was human ingenuity. The other was corn. That story went something like this. On this continent, ...

A unique confluence of archeology, molecular genetics and serendipity guided a collaboration of Mexican and Penn State researchers to a deeper understanding of how modern corn was domesticated from ...