alt Hacker NewsHow Potatoes Evolved
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This week’s episode of the BBC podcast The Infinite Monkey Cage was 42 minutes of Science Comedy dedicated to the spud, featuring the same expert as the OP.
Most interesting fact I learned was the effort going toward making potato seeds (not seed potatoes).
> There are around 140 species of wild potato in South America, growing from Mexico in the north all the way down to Argentina and Chile in the south.
Super nit, but do authors think Mexico is in South America?
> There are around 140 species of wild potato in South America, growing from Mexico in the north all the way down to Argentina and Chile in the south.
This one always bothers me. Mexico is in North America.
Not wanting to be completely petty, isn't this true of all viable hybrids? Some acquisition of genes from both sides is demanded to make a distinction worthy of speciation.
Not that I don't love spuds.
The actual paper in question: https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(25)00736-6
Funded by Chinese and US government agencies and agricultural research programs.
Nightshades are problematic for stressed and old people because the plants have mild poisons. Old people and addicts tend to not be able to handle the poisons in tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants and chilis.
But for people that are nightshade-tolerant potatoes are an excellent food crop.
IIRC, someone was annoyed that do-gooders wanted to remove potatoes from the food stamp programs, because the potato is actually an almost-complete food. This has morphed into The Potato Diet, which calls for eating potatoes and only potatoes for a short period of time.
From the start of October through November in 2010,
Voigt consumed only spuds, a few basic seasonings
and small amounts of oil for cooking. His endeavor
drew attention from NBC’s Today Show, CBS News, Fox,
NPR and the UK’s Daily Telegraph.
Voigt documented his journey through a blog
( 20potatoesaday.com ). Tired of potatoes
getting a bad rap as being nothing but fattening
starch and carbs, he wanted to make a statement
that proved potatoes were very nutritious.
There are more than 4000 varieties of potatoes available in shops around the world.
You say tomato, I say potato.
I dislike potatoes because they are not trve roots but are instead tubers. Beetroot and radishes are where the real stuff is happening. The potato is a vegetable of stupefaction, radishes make you hyper-intelligent.
Off-topic but I have to say that potatoes are incredibly easy to grow, and doing so is very worthwhile.
I have a small planter on my balcony at the moment which is thriving with leaves, and in a few weeks I'll dig out the harvest to see what I got. People grow them in very poor soil, and even in literal bags of compost, or buckets. They're easy-going and almost trouble-free.
Growing chillis, tomatoes, or herbs on window-sills is kinda fun and rewarding, but growing a "proper crop" feels even more rewarding. And surprising because you have to wait until you dig things up to see how well you did!