The knowledge of our couch of finely-honed scientific minds didn't pop out of the ground fully-formed - it had to be planted, tended, and grown lovingly over a long period of time to flower into the beautiful curiosity tree it is today. But like so much of life, it started as just a tiny, humble seed - which is super convenient for the topic of this episode!
SciShow Tangents is on YouTube! Go to www.youtube.com/scishowtangents to check out this episode with the added bonus of seeing our faces!
Head to www.patreon.com/SciShowTangents to find out how you can help support SciShow Tangents, and see all the cool perks you’ll get in return, like bonus episodes and a monthly newsletter! A big thank you to Patreon subscriber Garth Riley for helping to make the show possible!
And go to https://store.dftba.com/collections/scishow-tangents to buy some great Tangents merch!
Follow us on Twitter @SciShowTangents, where we’ll tweet out topics for upcoming episodes and you can ask the science couch questions!
While you're at it, check out the Tangents crew on Twitter: Ceri: @ceriley Sam: @im_sam_schultz Hank: @hankgreen
[Definition]
https://www.nybg.org/planttalk/what-is-a-seed/
https://kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frym.2020.00027
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/biochemistry-genetics-and-molecular-biology/female-gametophyte
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/biochemistry-genetics-and-molecular-biology/male-gametophyte
[This or That: Seed Numbers]
25: seed weight or germination time
2000: preserved species or oldest germinated seed
385 million: individual Amazonian trees or oldest seed-producing fossilized plant
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1155/2012/687832
https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/science/12/chap5.htm
https://www.seedvault.no/about/the-seeds/
https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.1153600
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/708279
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3309767/
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1102491
https://web.archive.org/web/20130608110356/http://sura.ots.ac.cr/local/florula3/docs/Hura.pdf
https://www.britannica.com/story/can-apple-seeds-kill-you
[Trivia Question]
2024 record for smallest creature to disperse ingested seeds
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1042977
https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ppp3.10519
https://bantam.earth/common-rough-woodlouse-porcellio-scaber/
[Fact Off]
HybriBots are a cyborg way to plant seeds, made from wild oats and human-made capsules
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/adma.202313906 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34506974/
Video of wild oat fruits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlUparIDfzE
Human urine does not protect acorns against predation by the wood mouse
[Ask the Science Couch]
Heirloom seeds and non-recently-hybridized plant cultivars (vs. hybrids vs. genetic modifications)
https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/heirloom-vegetables/
https://extension.illinois.edu/sites/default/files/dkk-mg-seed-swap-hybrid-heirloom.pdf
https://ag.umass.edu/home-lawn-garden/fact-sheets/heirloom-vegetable-varieties
https://extension.illinois.edu/node/21430
https://hles.unl.edu/translating-language-seed-packets-hybrid-heirloom-non-gmo-and-more
https://www.fda.gov/food/agricultural-biotechnology/gmo-crops-animal-food-and-beyond
Patreon bonus: How seeds germinate and seeds that grow better after being digested
https://www.mdpi.com/2311-7524/9/4/462
https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2435.2005.00973.x
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1433831904700104
https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/eap.1667
[Butt One More Thing]
Mysterious tomato plant on the volcanic island Surtsey came from a seed in human poop
https://www.icelandreview.com/news/dirty-secret-uncovered-doing-business-surtsey/