James Schnable « Biofortified

Views on Science in High Places

by James Schnable on 27 December 2010

“[Mr. X] told the assembled groups that science itself is subjective, and that he could have three different groups bring him three different supposedly scientific opinions.”

Any guesses on the identity of Mr. X? Could he be a creationist arguing for the inclusion of intelligent design alongside science in the classroom? A new-age radical arguing that alternative medicines are just as scientifically effective was … well medicine? Maybe the most likely bet would be a sceptic of global warming, they’ve been in the press a lot lately, what with temperatures falling across the northern hemisphere (it’s apparently winter you see).

Unfortunately the person in question is (according to an article posted in the wall street journal), US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.

Woodland Strawberry Genome Published (For Real This Time)

by James Schnable on 26 December 2010

Hi all, hope you’re enjoying the holiday break. I’m back with news of a new plant genome publication!

Today’s plant is the woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca). Now these aren’t the strawberries you probably see at your local grocery store, those are garden strawberries (Fragaria x ananassa). Woodland strawberries were the predominant strawberries grown throughout europe until around 250 years ago when they were displaced by the new garden strawberries — created when a strawberry species brought from north america crossed with another species from chile when they were grown next to each other in france. The new hybrid species bore larger fruit than the woodland strawberry.

Wild strawberry (left) and domesticated strawberry (right). I'm not sure which species these are, downside of having to hunt down public domain photos.

Where the superpowers of superweeds come from

by James Schnable on 14 May 2010

Superman had the yellow sun of earth, spiderman had a radioactive spider-bite, but what about superweeds, where does their super power (surviving application of Round-up/glyphosate) come from? To understand how superweeds survive, we first have to understand why normal weeds (the Jimmy Olsens and Lois Lanes of the plant world) die. <– last superhero reference of this post I promise.

Why popcorn pops

by James Schnable on 5 April 2010

Popped corn Photo: D3 San Francisco, flickr (click to see photo in original context

Popping corn, or anything else, all comes down to pressure. Pop-corn has a particularly impermeable pericarp (the corn kernel’s shell), so as it is heated, the water inside the kernel vaporizes into steam and the starch turns into something close to a liquid. Eventually the heat creates enough pressure to split the pericarp and the starch of the corn kernel bursts out, resolidifying into the distinctive shape of popcorn. If there is even the smallest hole in the pericarp, the steam can escape from the kernel as it’s generated so the pressure never builds up enough to explode the pericarp — the reason some kernels will fail to pop in every batch. The explosive build up of steam is also the reason tea kettles need to be able to release steam while they’re used to boil water. The alternative would be exploding tea kettles which are a lot more dangerous (and a lot less tasty) than exploding corn kernels.

Un-popped popcorn photo: MissTessmacher, flickr (click to see photo in its original context)

It was this reason (along with my discovery of the website on April 1st) that I was so suspicious of the idea of popped sorghum a few days ago. Thanks to Party Cactus and Jeremy, I now know that sorghum does indeed pop like corn (there’s even a variety called “Tarahumara Popping”) and, in fact, thanks to the link Jeremy provided, I’ve discovered that most grains and even some other things (including cowpeas!) can be popped using the proper equipment.