How Seed Banks Work

Looking back 300 years on, it’s easy to overgeneralize why the Salem Villagers decided to persecute (and execute) their neighbors. But as much as this story has become an American history chestnut, we still don’t understand why Salem lost its mind. Listen to this classic episode ... Show More

Get yourself ready to freak out with this year’s extra-freak Halloween freak-fest, starring the voice acting talents of Chuck and Josh. This year we feature stories from WW Jacobs and WF Harvey, both of whom, if they were alive, would love this episode.See omnystudio.com/listener ... Show More

Did a strange cryptid show up in Enfield, Illinois in 1973? Some people think so. DO YOU?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 

<p>These cryogenic storage facilities are a newfangled way to accomplish an old goal: preserving seeds for later study and use. Anney and Lauren explore the science and history behind seed banks and vaults.</p><p> </p> Learn more about your ad-choices at <a href="https://www.ihea ... Show More

Increasingly scientists are using genetic material from wild plants to make agricultural crops more resilient to climate change. To find out how, Rebecca Kesby heads to the Millennium Seed Bank for the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, in the south of England. There she meets Dr Chris C ... Show More

Increasingly scientists are using genetic material from wild plants to make agricultural crops more resilient to climate change. To find out how, Rebecca Kesby heads to the Millennium Seed Bank for the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, in the south of England. There she meets Dr Chris C ... Show More

In the Bekaa Valley region of Lebanon, there is a giant walk-in fridge housing tens of thousands of seeds. They belong to the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA). Scientists from around the world use the seeds for research. ICARDA seeds have i ... Show More

Today’s seed industry is dominated by a handful of companies. Approximately 60% of the market is controlled by just four companies. Many of the seeds planted by farmers are controlled by international property rights or patents, that limit how they can be used. Court cases have c ... Show More

During the siege of Leningrad, botanists in charge of an irreplaceable seed collection had to protect it from fire, rodents – and hunger. By Simon Parkin. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod 

Our glaciers are melting, our forests are on fire, our harvests are increasingly decimated by either floods and drought. We are in a climate emergency that threatens our very survival, and it is, frankly, incredibly depressing. But this episode, we’ve got the story of one of the ... Show More

How farmers and scientists in eastern India are using ancient rice seeds to fight flooding, increasing soil salinity and drought. The BBC’s William Kremer tells Graihagh Jackson about his visit to the Sundarbans in West Bengal, where cyclones and rising sea levels have devastated ... Show More