The Tiny Heroes of Seed Dispersal

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!

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[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/

https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1267/