Status Updates From Eating to Extinction: The W...

"In the past fifty years, we have lost one-third of the diversity in our gut microbiome..."

"Because of...the absence of seeds, the navel and Valencia varieties also caught the attention of Sicilians." However, based on personal experience, I can say that Valencia oranges do have seeds.

"There's a reason monocultures do not exist in nature." Not quite. They are rare, but they do exist. One example are the stands of old-growth coast redwood in California. The redwoods at a place like Muir Woods aren't mixed in with other tree species, and it's considered a naturally-occurring monoculture.

"The port of Kobe became an entry point for beef imports from America, gaining a reputation for meat that still endures."

"[Aquaculture] is now the source of more than half of all seafood consumed by humans."

"By 25,000 years ago, Homo sapiens were not only catching and eating salmon, they were celebrating them in cave art."

"Of the original 8,000 eggs laid, just two can be expected to live long enough to complete the salmon life cycle."

"The surface of Mars has been more thoroughly mapped than the deepest parts of Earth's oceans."

I disagree with the assessment that the destruction of the bison was the greatest destruction of a wild animal in modern history. I would say that dubious distinction belongs to the destruction of the passenger pigeon, which went from flocks of billions to extinction as hunters thought the supply was endless until it was too late. Living bison still exist; living passenger pigeons do not.

This is hugely fascinating.

I'm curious as to what happened to Carolina Gold rice, and why. I'm surprised a book about crop diversity that mentioned an old variety of rice didn't say what happened to it.

I'd be interested in learning more about how the Norin 10 strain was discovered and how it got to the US.

I'm surprised the world's most widely grown crop is wheat and not rice. Maybe wheat can grow in more places than rice can, even if more rice than wheat is produced.