Podcast appearances and mentions of Nikolai Vavilov

In this episode, Simon Parkin unravels an extraordinary tale of courage and sacrifice during World War II. His latest book, The Forbidden Garden of Leningrad: A True Story of Science and Sacrifice in a City Under Siege, chronicles the heroic botanists who risked, and in some cases, gave their lives to safeguard a priceless seed collection during the longest blockade in recorded history. They chose starvation over consuming the very seeds that could prevent future famines. Simon shares the story of visionary scientist Nikolai Vavilov and his dedicated team, who preserved the world's first seed bank under unimaginable conditions.

On this edition of Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael, award-winning journalist and author Simon Parkin joins us to discuss his latest book, The Forbidden Garden: The Botanists of Besieged Leningrad and Their Impossible Choice. This gripping true story explores the incredible sacrifice of scientists at the world's first seed bank, who risked—and even gave—their lives to protect a vast collection of plant biodiversity during the brutal Siege of Leningrad in World War II. We dive into the differing scientific views of pioneering botanist and geneticist Nikolai Vavilov and Soviet agronomist Trofim Lysenko, whose controversial theories led to disastrous agricultural policies and whose influence in the Soviet Union did Vavilov no favors. In the latter part of the conversation, Parkin shares insights from his work as a video game journalist, addressing concerns about the "Fortnite-ification" of the gaming industry—where games are increasingly developed as just monetized content rather than as artistic experiences. We also discuss his Atlantic article, "How a School Shooting Became a Video Game", which covers The Final Exam, a controversial video game designed to raise awareness about school shootings. Created by Change the Ref, an organization founded by Manuel and Patricia Oliver after their son Joaquin was killed in the 2018 Parkland shooting, the game forces players to experience the horror of a school shooting scenario—not for shock value, but to confront the grim reality of gun violence in America. Tune in for this powerful discussion on history, science, video games, and social issues—only on Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael.

In the summer of 1941, German troops surrounded the Russian city of Leningrad—now St. Petersburg—and began the longest blockade in recorded history, one that would claim the lives of three-quarters of a million people. At the center of the besieged city stood a converted palace that housed the world's largest collection of seeds, more than 250,000 samples hand-collected over two decades from all over the globe by world-famous explorers, geneticist, and dissident Nikolai Vavilov.These were not just any seeds. The botanists believed they could be bred into heartier, disease-resistant, and more productive varieties suited for harsh climates, therefore changing the future of food production, and preventing famines like those that had plagued their countrymen before. He is the author of The Forbidden Garden: The Botanists of Besieged Leningrad and Their Impossible Choice. https://www.simonparkin.com/http://www.yourlotandparcel.org

In the summer of 1941, German troops surrounded the Russian city of Leningrad—now St. Petersburg—and began the longest blockade in recorded history, one that would ultimately claim the lives of nearly three-quarters of a million people. At the center of the besieged city stood a converted palace that housed the world's largest collection of seeds — more than 250,000 samples hand-collected over two decades from all over the globe by world-famous explorer, geneticist, and dissident Nikolai Vavilov, who had recently been disappeared by the Soviet government. After attempts to evacuate the priceless collection failed and supplies dwindled amongst the three million starving citizens, the employees at the Plant Institute were left with a terrible choice. Should they save the collection? Or themselves? These were not just any seeds. The botanists believed they could be bred into heartier, disease-resistant, and more productive varieties suited for harsh climates, therefore changing the future of food production and preventing famines like those that had plagued their countrymen before. But protecting the seeds was no idle business. The scientists rescued potato samples under enemy fire, extinguished bombs landing on the seed bank's roof, and guarded the collection from scavengers, the bitter cold, and their own hunger. Then in the war's eleventh hour, Nazi plunderers presented a new threat to the collection…Today's guest is Simon Parkin, author of “The Forbidden Garden: The Botanists of Besieged Leningrad and Their Impossible Choice.” We look at the story of the botanists who held their posts at the Plant Institute during the 872-day siege and the remarkable sacrifices they made in the name of science.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week we learn how the battle between Nikolai Vavilov and Trofim Lysenko reached its crescendo when the Nazis came for the Russian seed vault and how the Zeno Brothers claimed to have "discovered" the New World first. A listener email explains how bees love to play with balls.Episode Tabs:The Heroic Story of Nikolai Vavilov and The Saviors of the Seedshttps://campfirestoriespodcast.medium.com/the-heroic-story-of-nikolai-vavilov-and-the-saviors-of-the-seeds-c46e9efb076aThe Zeno Voyagehttps://archive.org/details/voyagesofvenetia00zenorich/page/n33/mode/2up?view=theaterListener Tabs:https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/science/2022/oct/27/bumblebees-playing-wooden-balls-bees-studyEmail your closed tab submissions to: 500opentabs@gmail.comSupport us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/500OpenTabs500 Open Roads (Google Maps episode guide): https://maps.app.goo.gl/Tg9g2HcUaFAzXGbw7Continue the conversation by joining us on Discord! https://discord.gg/8px5RJHk7aSUPPORT THE SHOW and get 40% off an annual subscription to Nebula by going to nebula.tv/500opentabsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week we learn about how cartographers used to just make up stuff for fun and how Nikolai Vavilov's dream of ending famine with the world's largest seed vault put him at direct odds with soviet darling Trofim Lysenko . A listener email explains what happens to a solider after accidentally taking 30 doses of meth.Throw Me in the Bog Sweatshirt Drop: https://www.bonfire.com/bogsweater/Use Code 500OPENTABS at Kaveh's store for freebies: https://www.blacksmithfilms.com/storeEpisode Tabs:Phantom Islandhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_islandThe Tragedy of the World's First Seed Bankhttps://www.sciencehistory.org/stories/magazine/the-tragedy-of-the-worlds-first-seed-bank/Listener Tabs:https://allthatsinteresting.com/aimo-koivunenhttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Molasses_FloodEmail your closed tab submissions to: 500opentabs@gmail.comSupport us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/500OpenTabs500 Open Roads (Google Maps episode guide): https://maps.app.goo.gl/Tg9g2HcUaFAzXGbw7Continue the conversation by joining us on Discord! https://discord.gg/8px5RJHk7aSUPPORT THE SHOW and get 40% off an annual subscription to Nebula by going to nebula.tv/500opentabsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's episode, John and Patrick explore the extraordinary life and tragic fate of Nikolai Vavilov, a visionary scientist who revolutionized agricultural science in the early 20th century. Against the backdrop of revolution and war-torn Russia, Vavilov's commitment to collecting and preserving seeds from around the world, culminating in the creation of the world's first seed bank, became his enduring legacy. Yet, his dedication to science and truth led to a clash with another rising star whose pseudo-scientific theories gained Stalin's favor. Join John and Patrick as they uncover the dramatic story of Vavilov's courage, sacrifice, and enduring impact on agriculture worldwide.In Sponsorship with Cornell University: Dyson Cornell SC Johnson College of BusinessJoin the History of Fresh Produce Club (https://app.theproduceindustrypodcast.com/access/) for ad-free listening, bonus episodes, book discounts and access to an exclusive chatroom community.Instagram, TikTok, Threads:@historyoffreshproduceEmail: historyoffreshproduce@gmail.com

In today's episode, John and Patrick explore the extraordinary life and tragic fate of Nikolai Vavilov, a visionary scientist who revolutionized agricultural science in the early 20th century. Against the backdrop of revolution and war-torn Russia, Vavilov's commitment to collecting and preserving seeds from around the world, culminating in the creation of the world's first seed bank, became his enduring legacy. Yet, his dedication to science and truth led to a clash with another rising star whose pseudo-scientific theories gained Stalin's favor. Join John and Patrick as they uncover the dramatic story of Vavilov's courage, sacrifice, and enduring impact on agriculture worldwide.Join the History of Fresh Produce Club (https://app.theproduceindustrypodcast.com/access/) for ad-free listening, bonus episodes, book discounts and access to an exclusive chatroom community.Instagram, TikTok, Threads:@historyoffreshproduceEmail: historyoffreshproduce@gmail.com

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the main event. The greatest botany rivalry in history! It's Vavilov vs. Lysenko for the fate of the Soviet Union.  In the 1920s and '30s, Nikolai Vavilov was a big deal. He was studying seed genetics and learning how to prevent famines. Everyone wanted to work with him. Including a young kid named Trofim Lysenko.   Lysenko studied with Vavilov. They were friends. But years later, Lysenko turned on his mentor, and turned against science. This became a problem, because Lysenko was good buddies with Stalin. The feud would bring the Soviet Union to its knees. And it would force Vavilov to make a fateful choice: one between the truth … or his life.   * Very Special Episodes is a new podcast with a simple premise: we tell one incredible story each week. Follow us down a different rabbit hole every Wednesday. Hosted by Dana Schwartz, Zaron Burnett, Jason EnglishWritten by Lucas ReillyProduced by Josh Fisher Editing and Sound Design by Chris ChildsAdditional Editing by Jonathan WashingtonMixing and Mastering by Baheed FrazierStory Editor is Josh FisherResearch and Fact-Checking by Austin Thompson and Lucas ReillyVoice Actors: Tom Antonellis, Zaron Burnett, Josh Fisher, and Chris ChildsOriginal Music by Elise McCoyShow Logo by Lucy QuintanillaExecutive Producer is Jason English Hear Also...Noble Blood: Catherine the Great and Her Husband the MediocreNoble Blood: The Ice QueenRidiculous Crime: Dope Floats: The Uncrashable Gary Betzner And here's Peter Pringle's excellent book on Vavilov mentioned in the episode. Thanks for listening! If you're enjoying Very Special Episodes, leave us a rating and review on your favorite podcast platforms. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the main event. The greatest botany rivalry in history! It's Vavilov vs. Lysenko for the fate of the Soviet Union.  In the 1920s and '30s, Nikolai Vavilov was a big deal. He was studying seed genetics and learning how to prevent famines. Everyone wanted to work with him. Including a young kid named Trofim Lysenko.   Lysenko studied with Vavilov. They were friends. But years later, Lysenko turned on his mentor, and turned against science. This became a problem, because Lysenko was good buddies with Stalin. The feud would bring the Soviet Union to its knees. And it would force Vavilov to make a fateful choice: one between the truth … or his life.   * Very Special Episodes is a new podcast with a simple premise: we tell one incredible story each week. Follow us down a different rabbit hole every Wednesday. Hosted by Dana Schwartz, Zaron Burnett, Jason EnglishWritten by Lucas ReillyProduced by Josh Fisher Editing and Sound Design by Chris ChildsAdditional Editing by Jonathan WashingtonMixing and Mastering by Baheed FrazierStory Editor is Josh FisherResearch and Fact-Checking by Austin Thompson and Lucas ReillyVoice Actors: Tom Antonellis, Zaron Burnett, Josh Fisher, and Chris ChildsOriginal Music by Elise McCoyShow Logo by Lucy QuintanillaExecutive Producer is Jason English Hear Also...Noble Blood: Catherine the Great and Her Husband the MediocreNoble Blood: The Ice QueenRidiculous Crime: Dope Floats: The Uncrashable Gary Betzner And here's Peter Pringle's excellent book on Vavilov mentioned in the episode. Thanks for listening! If you're enjoying Very Special Episodes, leave us a rating and review on your favorite podcast platforms. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the main event. The greatest botany rivalry in history! It's Vavilov vs. Lysenko for the fate of the Soviet Union.  In the 1920s and '30s, Nikolai Vavilov was a big deal. He was studying seed genetics and learning how to prevent famines. Everyone wanted to work with him. Including a young kid named Trofim Lysenko.   Lysenko studied with Vavilov. They were friends. But years later, Lysenko turned on his mentor, and turned against science. This became a problem, because Lysenko was good buddies with Stalin. The feud would bring the Soviet Union to its knees. And it would force Vavilov to make a fateful choice: one between the truth … or his life.   * Very Special Episodes is a new podcast with a simple premise: we tell one incredible story each week. Follow us down a different rabbit hole every Wednesday. Hosted by Dana Schwartz, Zaron Burnett, Jason EnglishWritten by Lucas ReillyProduced by Josh Fisher Editing and Sound Design by Chris ChildsAdditional Editing by Jonathan WashingtonMixing and Mastering by Baheed FrazierStory Editor is Josh FisherResearch and Fact-Checking by Austin Thompson and Lucas ReillyVoice Actors: Tom Antonellis, Zaron Burnett, Josh Fisher, and Chris ChildsOriginal Music by Elise McCoyShow Logo by Lucy QuintanillaExecutive Producer is Jason English Hear Also...Noble Blood: Catherine the Great and Her Husband the MediocreNoble Blood: The Ice QueenRidiculous Crime: Dope Floats: The Uncrashable Gary Betzner And here's Peter Pringle's excellent book on Vavilov mentioned in the episode. Thanks for listening! If you're enjoying Very Special Episodes, leave us a rating and review on your favorite podcast platforms. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the main event. The greatest botany rivalry in history! It's Vavilov vs. Lysenko for the fate of the Soviet Union.  In the 1920s and '30s, Nikolai Vavilov was a big deal. He was studying seed genetics and learning how to prevent famines. Everyone wanted to work with him. Including a young kid named Trofim Lysenko.   Lysenko studied with Vavilov. They were friends. But years later, Lysenko turned on his mentor, and turned against science. This became a problem, because Lysenko was good buddies with Stalin. The feud would bring the Soviet Union to its knees. And it would force Vavilov to make a fateful choice: one between the truth … or his life.   * Very Special Episodes is a new podcast with a simple premise: we tell one incredible story each week. Follow us down a different rabbit hole every Wednesday. Hosted by Dana Schwartz, Zaron Burnett, Jason EnglishWritten by Lucas ReillyProduced by Josh Fisher Editing and Sound Design by Chris ChildsAdditional Editing by Jonathan WashingtonMixing and Mastering by Baheed FrazierStory Editor is Josh FisherResearch and Fact-Checking by Austin Thompson and Lucas ReillyVoice Actors: Tom Antonellis, Zaron Burnett, Josh Fisher, and Chris ChildsOriginal Music by Elise McCoyShow Logo by Lucy QuintanillaExecutive Producer is Jason English Hear Also...Noble Blood: Catherine the Great and Her Husband the MediocreNoble Blood: The Ice QueenRidiculous Crime: Dope Floats: The Uncrashable Gary Betzner And here's Peter Pringle's excellent book on Vavilov mentioned in the episode. Thanks for listening! If you're enjoying Very Special Episodes, leave us a rating and review on your favorite podcast platforms. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the main event. The greatest botany rivalry in history! It's Vavilov vs. Lysenko for the fate of the Soviet Union.  In the 1920s and '30s, Nikolai Vavilov was a big deal. He was studying seed genetics and learning how to prevent famines. Everyone wanted to work with him. Including a young kid named Trofim Lysenko.   Lysenko studied with Vavilov. They were friends. But years later, Lysenko turned on his mentor, and turned against science. This became a problem, because Lysenko was good buddies with Stalin. The feud would bring the Soviet Union to its knees. And it would force Vavilov to make a fateful choice: one between the truth … or his life.   * Very Special Episodes is a new podcast with a simple premise: we tell one incredible story each week. Follow us down a different rabbit hole every Wednesday. Hosted by Dana Schwartz, Zaron Burnett, Jason EnglishWritten by Lucas ReillyProduced by Josh Fisher Editing and Sound Design by Chris ChildsAdditional Editing by Jonathan WashingtonMixing and Mastering by Baheed FrazierStory Editor is Josh FisherResearch and Fact-Checking by Austin Thompson and Lucas ReillyVoice Actors: Tom Antonellis, Zaron Burnett, Josh Fisher, and Chris ChildsOriginal Music by Elise McCoyShow Logo by Lucy QuintanillaExecutive Producer is Jason English Hear Also...Noble Blood: Catherine the Great and Her Husband the MediocreNoble Blood: The Ice QueenRidiculous Crime: Dope Floats: The Uncrashable Gary Betzner And here's Peter Pringle's excellent book on Vavilov mentioned in the episode. Thanks for listening! If you're enjoying Very Special Episodes, leave us a rating and review on your favorite podcast platforms. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Reprise broadcst of our chat with author Peter Pringle on his book about Nikolai Vavilov

Reprise broadcst of our chat with author Peter Pringle on his book about Nikolai Vavilov

Plant genetic resources describe the variability within plants that comes from human and natural selection over millennia. Their intrinsic value mainly concerns agricultural crops (crop biodiversity). According to the 1983 revised International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), plant genetic resources are defined as the entire generative and vegetative reproductive material of species with economical and or social value, especially for the agriculture of the present and the future, with special emphasis on nutritional plants. In the State of the World's Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (1998) the FAO defined Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (PGRFA) as the diversity of genetic material contained in traditional varieties and modern cultivars as well as crop wild relatives and other wild plant species that can be used now or in the future for food and agriculture. History. The first use of plant genetic resources dates to more than 10,000 years ago, when farmers selected from the genetic variation they found in wild plants to develop their crops. As human populations moved to different climates and ecosystems, taking the crops with them, the crops adapted to the new environments, developing, for example, genetic traits providing tolerance to conditions such as drought, water logging, frost and extreme heat. These traits - and the plasticity inherent in having wide genetic variability - are important properties of plant genetic resources. In recent centuries, although humans had been prolific in collecting exotic flora from all corners of the globe to fill their gardens, it wasn't until the early 20th century that the widespread and organized collection of plant genetic resources for agricultural use began in earnest. Russian geneticist Nikolai Vavilov, considered by some as the father of plant genetic resources, realized the value of genetic variability for breeding and collected thousands of seeds during his extensive travels to establish one of the first gene banks. Vavilov inspired the American Jack Harlan to collect seeds from across the globe for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). David Fairchild, another botanist at USDA, successfully introduced many important crops (for example cherries, soybeans, pistachios) into the United States. It wasn't until 1967 that the term genetic resources was coined by Otto Frankel and Erna Bennett at the historic International Conference on Crop Plant Exploration and Conservation, organized by the FAO and the International Biological Program (IBP) “The effective utilization of genetic resources requires that they are adequately classified and evaluated” was a key message from the conference. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/law-school/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/law-school/support

Increasingly, scholars in the humanities are calling for a reengagement with the natural sciences. Taking their cues from recent breakthroughs in genetics and the neurosciences, advocates of “big history” are reassessing long-held assumptions about the very definition of history, its methods, and its evidentiary base. In Scientific History: Experiments in History and Politics from the Bolshevik Revolution to the End of the Cold War (U Chicago Press, 2021), Elena Aronova maps out historians' continuous engagement with the methods, tools, values, and scale of the natural sciences by examining several waves of their experimentation that surged highest at perceived times of trouble, from the crisis-ridden decades of the early twentieth century to the ruptures of the Cold War. The book explores the intertwined trajectories of six intellectuals and the larger programs they set in motion: Henri Berr (1863–1954), Nikolai Bukharin (1888–1938), Lucien Febvre (1878–1956), Nikolai Vavilov (1887–1943), Julian Huxley (1887–1975), and John Desmond Bernal (1901–1971). Though they held different political views, spoke different languages, and pursued different goals, these thinkers are representative of a larger motley crew who joined the techniques, approaches, and values of science with the writing of history, and who created powerful institutions and networks to support their projects. In tracing these submerged stories, Aronova reveals encounters that profoundly shaped our knowledge of the past, reminding us that it is often the forgotten parts of history that are the most revealing. Lea Greenberg is a scholar of German studies with a particular focus on German Jewish and Yiddish literature and culture; critical gender studies; multilingualism; and literature of the post-Yugoslav diaspora. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Increasingly, scholars in the humanities are calling for a reengagement with the natural sciences. Taking their cues from recent breakthroughs in genetics and the neurosciences, advocates of “big history” are reassessing long-held assumptions about the very definition of history, its methods, and its evidentiary base. In Scientific History: Experiments in History and Politics from the Bolshevik Revolution to the End of the Cold War (U Chicago Press, 2021), Elena Aronova maps out historians' continuous engagement with the methods, tools, values, and scale of the natural sciences by examining several waves of their experimentation that surged highest at perceived times of trouble, from the crisis-ridden decades of the early twentieth century to the ruptures of the Cold War. The book explores the intertwined trajectories of six intellectuals and the larger programs they set in motion: Henri Berr (1863–1954), Nikolai Bukharin (1888–1938), Lucien Febvre (1878–1956), Nikolai Vavilov (1887–1943), Julian Huxley (1887–1975), and John Desmond Bernal (1901–1971). Though they held different political views, spoke different languages, and pursued different goals, these thinkers are representative of a larger motley crew who joined the techniques, approaches, and values of science with the writing of history, and who created powerful institutions and networks to support their projects. In tracing these submerged stories, Aronova reveals encounters that profoundly shaped our knowledge of the past, reminding us that it is often the forgotten parts of history that are the most revealing. Lea Greenberg is a scholar of German studies with a particular focus on German Jewish and Yiddish literature and culture; critical gender studies; multilingualism; and literature of the post-Yugoslav diaspora. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

Increasingly, scholars in the humanities are calling for a reengagement with the natural sciences. Taking their cues from recent breakthroughs in genetics and the neurosciences, advocates of “big history” are reassessing long-held assumptions about the very definition of history, its methods, and its evidentiary base. In Scientific History: Experiments in History and Politics from the Bolshevik Revolution to the End of the Cold War (U Chicago Press, 2021), Elena Aronova maps out historians' continuous engagement with the methods, tools, values, and scale of the natural sciences by examining several waves of their experimentation that surged highest at perceived times of trouble, from the crisis-ridden decades of the early twentieth century to the ruptures of the Cold War. The book explores the intertwined trajectories of six intellectuals and the larger programs they set in motion: Henri Berr (1863–1954), Nikolai Bukharin (1888–1938), Lucien Febvre (1878–1956), Nikolai Vavilov (1887–1943), Julian Huxley (1887–1975), and John Desmond Bernal (1901–1971). Though they held different political views, spoke different languages, and pursued different goals, these thinkers are representative of a larger motley crew who joined the techniques, approaches, and values of science with the writing of history, and who created powerful institutions and networks to support their projects. In tracing these submerged stories, Aronova reveals encounters that profoundly shaped our knowledge of the past, reminding us that it is often the forgotten parts of history that are the most revealing. Lea Greenberg is a scholar of German studies with a particular focus on German Jewish and Yiddish literature and culture; critical gender studies; multilingualism; and literature of the post-Yugoslav diaspora. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/intellectual-history

Increasingly, scholars in the humanities are calling for a reengagement with the natural sciences. Taking their cues from recent breakthroughs in genetics and the neurosciences, advocates of “big history” are reassessing long-held assumptions about the very definition of history, its methods, and its evidentiary base. In Scientific History: Experiments in History and Politics from the Bolshevik Revolution to the End of the Cold War (U Chicago Press, 2021), Elena Aronova maps out historians' continuous engagement with the methods, tools, values, and scale of the natural sciences by examining several waves of their experimentation that surged highest at perceived times of trouble, from the crisis-ridden decades of the early twentieth century to the ruptures of the Cold War. The book explores the intertwined trajectories of six intellectuals and the larger programs they set in motion: Henri Berr (1863–1954), Nikolai Bukharin (1888–1938), Lucien Febvre (1878–1956), Nikolai Vavilov (1887–1943), Julian Huxley (1887–1975), and John Desmond Bernal (1901–1971). Though they held different political views, spoke different languages, and pursued different goals, these thinkers are representative of a larger motley crew who joined the techniques, approaches, and values of science with the writing of history, and who created powerful institutions and networks to support their projects. In tracing these submerged stories, Aronova reveals encounters that profoundly shaped our knowledge of the past, reminding us that it is often the forgotten parts of history that are the most revealing. Lea Greenberg is a scholar of German studies with a particular focus on German Jewish and Yiddish literature and culture; critical gender studies; multilingualism; and literature of the post-Yugoslav diaspora. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/european-studies

Increasingly, scholars in the humanities are calling for a reengagement with the natural sciences. Taking their cues from recent breakthroughs in genetics and the neurosciences, advocates of “big history” are reassessing long-held assumptions about the very definition of history, its methods, and its evidentiary base. In Scientific History: Experiments in History and Politics from the Bolshevik Revolution to the End of the Cold War (U Chicago Press, 2021), Elena Aronova maps out historians' continuous engagement with the methods, tools, values, and scale of the natural sciences by examining several waves of their experimentation that surged highest at perceived times of trouble, from the crisis-ridden decades of the early twentieth century to the ruptures of the Cold War. The book explores the intertwined trajectories of six intellectuals and the larger programs they set in motion: Henri Berr (1863–1954), Nikolai Bukharin (1888–1938), Lucien Febvre (1878–1956), Nikolai Vavilov (1887–1943), Julian Huxley (1887–1975), and John Desmond Bernal (1901–1971). Though they held different political views, spoke different languages, and pursued different goals, these thinkers are representative of a larger motley crew who joined the techniques, approaches, and values of science with the writing of history, and who created powerful institutions and networks to support their projects. In tracing these submerged stories, Aronova reveals encounters that profoundly shaped our knowledge of the past, reminding us that it is often the forgotten parts of history that are the most revealing. Lea Greenberg is a scholar of German studies with a particular focus on German Jewish and Yiddish literature and culture; critical gender studies; multilingualism; and literature of the post-Yugoslav diaspora. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello Interactors,We’re staying in Russia this week because the United States sticks with Russia. At least they used to. And boy did they need it. The famines that have swept through that region over the years have taken the lives of tens of millions of people. Even though Russia was home to the world’s leading seed expert. But the U.S. was always there to bail them out. If the U.S. fell into a food crisis, would Russia return the favor?As interactors, you’re special individuals self-selected to be a part of an evolutionary journey. You’re also members of an attentive community so I welcome your participation.Please leave your comments below or email me directly.Now let’s go…SEEDS OF CHANGE YIELDS DEEDS OF THE DERANGEDJoseph Stalin liked Trofim Lysenko. He grew up poor far away from Moscow just like him. Stalin was from Georgia and Lysenko Ukraine. Both identified as proletariats. They despised the bourgeoisie imperialistic West. Including highly educated and trained scientists. Lysenko was a horticulturist, studied agricultural, and then worked in the department of physiology at the Ukrainian Genetics Laboratory. But he wasn’t like other scientists. He devised his own homegrown, unproven experiments. He invented theories with pseudo-scientific names like “jarovization” or “vernalization” from Latin’s ‘vernum’ or spring. His claims became known as “Lysenkoism.” Other Russian scientists looked the other way. Russia’s most respected biologist, geneticist, and geographer, Nikolai Vavilov, thought Stalin’s new friend was a crackpot. It wouldn’t end well.Lysenko got lucky with ‘vernalization’. He tricked wheat seeds into blooming early by treating them with moisture in cold temperatures as a way to produce yields in the spring. The trick had already been performed by American John Hancock Klippart in 1857, but Lysenko gave it a name. He also believed the deceived seeds from these plants would magically inherit the ability to do the same on their own. His theory ran counter to empirical evidence and to the knowledge and experience of Vavilov. Vavilov worried Lysenko’s tricks, unproven theories, and over promises to Stalin and the Soviet government could lead to catastrophic errors and the worsening of the routine famines Russia was trying to escape.But Stalin embraced Lysenko’s folksy and unorthodox ways. He believed in his salt-of-the-earth intuition and grew suspicious of the world-renowned and respected science of Nikolai Vavilov. Vavilov was the winner of the Lenin Prize, one of the most prestigious awards in science, and was respected worldwide. He traveled the globe successfully identifying the geographic genetic origins of cultivated plants. He guest-lectured and rubbed elbows with those Western imperialists Stalin despised. Vavilov also spoke poorly of the former Ukrainian peasant come pseudo-scientist Stalin had grown fond of.In 1936 Stalin replaced Vavilov with Lysenko as the head of the Soviet Academy of Agriculture. Six years later, in 1941, Stalin sentenced Vavilov to execution on claims he was trying sabotage Stalin’s agricultural plans. His sentence was then reduced to a prison term. Vavilov, who grew up fearful of starvation in a village prone to crop failures and food rationing – a scientist who dedicated his life to eradicating famine – died in prison in 1943 of starvation. Famines had been ravishing Russia for a century already. The large-scale farm practices of today started in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. But missteps led to widespread famine, displacement, and environmental damage. Technological advancements allowed expansive grasslands to be converted to cropland around the world, including Russia, Australia, Argentina, South Africa, Canada, and the United States. An explosion of European immigrants to the United States in the mid 1800s, together with The Homestead Act of 1862, pushed immigrants into prairies to the West and North. Some ventured into Canada. The Civil War ended in 1865 and four years later the Transcontinental Railroad was completed. Both increased the number of agrarian colonizers to the Great Plains.But the climatic patterns in these areas played a role in the evolution of these plains. The grasslands are arid with periods of intense rainfall followed by drought. Settlers could be deceived into believing these rainfalls were routine only to witness periods of extreme drought. Farmers in the 1870s and 1880s witnessed regular rainfall only to see it disappear in the 1890s. Instead of consulting with Indigenous farmers on how they farmed the land for millennia, the colonists instead expanded area croplands and intensity to make up for short yields. Some used the land to graze cattle leading to even more elimination of the natural grasses needed to nourish and sustain the soil. The U.S. government accelerated farm expansion by altering the Homestead Act to include larger plots of land. The rain returned in the 1920s which attracted another wave of farmers. Farmland in a section of northwestern Texas and eastern New Mexico doubled in the two decades between 1900 and 1920 and tripled in just five years between 1925 and 1930.  Russia saw similar expansions of large-scale agriculture. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, groundbreaking research by soil scientist and geographer Vasilii Dokuchaev, the father of soil science, revealed for the first time the role climate and topography play in soil health. He went on to develop the world’s first soil classification system. Some farmers, including immigrant German Mennonites, adopted drought tolerant farming practices Dokuchaev recommended.Meanwhile, most of Russia, like the United States, continued large-scale overly intensive farming techniques – though Russia lagged in mechanization. Both the United States and Russia, set on expansion, growth, and domination, gambled with the climate, soil, plants, and the crops they yielded. They ignored both emerging science and age-old sustainable practice that likely would have mitigated inevitable crop failure, famine, and long-lasting and long-ranging environmental and social devastation. Destruction so severe they compounded the effects of natural disasters.Between 1921 and 1923 extreme droughts and winters led to plant disease, insect infestation, and soil erosion throughout the converted grasslands of Russia, Ukraine, and surrounding regions. Famine ensued causing millions to die of starvation. Ravaged by WWI and the Russian Civil War, the Soviet government, then under Vladimir Lenin, was forced to import food and organize relief efforts. In 1921 Lenin called on the United States to help. The American Relief Administration, headed by future President Herbert Hoover, employed 300 Americans and a 120,000 Russians to provide relief. It was an extension to European relief from WWI. They provided daily meals for over 10.5 million people while also administering medical aid to typhus sufferers – a feverish epidemic claiming even more Russian lives.GO GREENThe relief from America worked. By 1923 the Soviet government was able to stockpile enough grain to organize their own relief efforts and the U.S. stepped away. But Russia continued to be hit with episodes of drought. In 1924 another wave hit and the Soviets were once again forced to organize relief efforts. Again, they stockpiled enough to make it through 1925 and 1926 only to be hit again in 1928. Convinced traditional farming techniques were unsustainable, the Soviet government initiated programs that mimicked industrialized farming techniques in the United States.Another drought came in 1931 and 1932 and with it more famine. Joseph Stalin had risen to power amidst the Russian Revolution. Unlike Lenin, he refused support from the outside. By 1933, when food stocks began to rise again four million more people had died from famine. But the United States would have been in no position to help this time anyway. In 1930, widespread drought spread through the Great Plains stretching from Canada to Mexico. The natural grasses that once protected soil from blowing away had either been tilled for crops or consumed by cattle. The Industrial Age had given way to industrial farming. A substantial gamble with colossal consequences. The Dust Bowl, or Dirty Thirties, a natural disaster compounded by poor agricultural practices and imperialist hubris, impacted over 100 million acres. It intensified the Great Depression. If the dust storms didn’t destroy homes and farms, failed mortgages and loans did. Between 1930 and 1940 nearly 3.5 million people evacuated the lands they had only recently colonized and practically destroyed. Including their native inhabitants.Meanwhile, back in Russia, Stalin made another gamble in 1936. He bet on “Lysenkoism”. He believed it would solve the Soviet agricultural malaise sending the one man capable of potentially solving the region’s, maybe the world’s, agricultural problems to starve to death – Nikolai Vavilov. But soon came WWII and more geopolitical disruption in a Soviet Union still trying to figure itself out. And then, in 1946 and 1947, another Russian famine emerged. Again, Stalin refused aid and two million more died of starvation.But little did Stalin know, many of the scientists that worked under Vavilov had hidden his seed collection and continued to conduct experiments in private. One esteemed plant breeder, Pavel Luk’ianenko, drafted off the work of Vavilov and bred a variety of semi-dwarf wheat seeds in 1950 that would change the course of Russian agriculture forever. By the time of his death in 1972 he was credited with breeding or co-breeding 15 different varieties of regionalized winter wheat seeds.            His work was Russia’s contribution to a larger global Green Revolution, a systematic and coordinated effort in the 1950s and 1960s between genetically modified seed breeding, chemical fertilizers, land use policy, public and private capital, and mechanized technology that massively increased crop yields. The American scientist and Nobel Prize winner credited with birthing this revolution, Norman Borlaug, said in 2000 that “Had the global cereal yields of 1950 still prevailed in 1999, we would have needed nearly 1.8 billion hectares of additional land of the same quality – instead of the 600 million that was used – to equal the current global harvest".After Stalin’s death in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev rose to power. Khrushchev was Russian but had ruled Ukraine for a decade. He witnessed struggling farmers endure famine and invented what he called “agro-towns” – small villages in remote rural areas with a library and stores where farmers could live and be better supported. But during the drought of 1946, he had to beg Stalin for aid after over-estimating Ukrainian crop yields. It was a fissure that cost him his post in Ukraine. However, his dismissal led to a position in Moscow closer to Stalin that surely cemented his rise to power seven years later.One of Khrushchev’s first programs was “Virgin Lands”. He proposed the conversion of 25 million hectares of arid grasslands to croplands in Siberia and Kazakhstan. Within a year this region became a significant contributor to Soviet grain yields. But they soon diminished and in 1962 and 1963 came another drought. In an echo of the Dust Bowl, winds picked up and blew away most of the topsoil that had previously been secured by grassland. Again, a massive shortfall of wheat forced Khrushchev to seek foreign aid. Ten million tons of grain were imported from Canada and the United States. Quantities of this magnitude were likely the result of the crop yield successes of the Green Revolution. But they were also making up for the environmental failings of the Green Revolution.NUT JOBIt can be hard accepting curses that can come with blessings. Such is the damaging and delicious duality of modern agriculture. We can’t seem to live with it, and we don’t dare try to live without it. But we do have a choice over how large-scale agriculture is implemented. This is unlike the effects of climate change where we can’t live with them, and we don’t have a choice to live with out them. These historical environmental extremes that plagued the former Soviet agricultural lands continue to this day. In 2009, Russia was on course to export record amounts of grain. Then, in 2010, a wildfire brought on by severe drought turned acres of golden grain to ash. Vladimir Putin was forced to cancel exports. And like those before him, was forced to import food to stave off widespread famine.Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and other surrounding countries continue to adjust to extreme weather patterns. Still, much of that ‘Virgin Land’ once converted to cropland over the past 50-60 years has been abandoned due to soil depletion brought on by large-scale intensive factory farming. Just a small fraction of the original ‘Virgin Lands’ are farmed in Kazakhstan today. But they continue to learn and adjust…as we all must.The effects of climate change are global in scale, but differ in variety, intensity, and regularity at a regional and local level. So does the impact on people and place. As a result, responses to these effects must also differ in variety, intensity, and regularity. But intent matters. I’m convinced scientists like Vavilov, Lysenko, Luk’ianenko, and Borlaug were intent on saving people from starvation. They all witnessed firsthand real suffering of starving individuals and the loss of entire populations.But I’m less convinced of the intentions of politicians like Stalin and Putin. I’m also skeptical of the intentions of Western coalitions backed by corporations who prioritize capital, political control, and short-term quarterly earnings. They seem more intent on feeding growing GDP figures than the starving figures of the emaciated. Stuff pockets of greed over hungry mouths to feed. Let the soils blow away, so long as the board boosts my pay. Shrink operating expenditures amidst rising temperatures. Large-scale government schemes feed delusional utopian dreams. Avoid political disruption by funding criminal corruption. Intention matters.As an example, in 1947 the British Government wanted to increase peanut production to sell as oil on the world market. So, together with Unilever, then went to the East Africa territory of Tanganyika to convert the wooded plains to peanut farms. An area England had militarily occupied since 1916. No one involved in the project bothered to study the soil and topography. They had to remove Mvule trees to make way for croplands, but they didn’t account for their deep, stubborn, thirsty roots. Their tractors were ruined in the process. New tractors damaged the soil with their weight. Their engines were too weak to churn the hard soils. In two years, they had only cultivated 16% of what they had planned. By 1951 the British government called it quits. They had spent six times the value of the crops they had grown. The director of the program was a former Russian who applied techniques of his communist past. Leaders at Unilever demanded immediate results to fit their revenue goals. Both of their approaches were insensitive to local people and place leaving it ravaged as they wrote off the loss and flew away amidst the arid soil they had unearthed. They abandoned the people and place most impacted by their imperialistic Groundnut Scheme.A railroad was constructed to ship the elusive nuts to a harbor the British had built so they could float nut oil around the world. The port remains, but the rail was dismantled. The global transportation network is what allows those locally impacted by natural disasters to receive aid. Parts of Africa continue to be cut off from these networks. But it were not for these networks, millions more would have died of starvation over the past 200 years. The U.S. and Ukraine blame Russia for clogging those very networks today. Meanwhile, Putin blames the West for blocking fertilizer and grain imports into Russia. Both are true. And it’s also true that Russian wheat exports were up 80% in April over last year and rose 27% in May. They just may be the winner in Wheat sales this year, unless another drought hits and the fields turn to fire. But if Russia was hit with a famine inducing drought, would Putin ask Ukraine and the West for relief? Would America offer relief? What if America is hit with a famine inducing drought? Would China and Russia come to our aid?On June 27th, President Biden and members of the G-7 met in Austria to discuss a plan to massively invest in infrastructure throughout the developing world. They aim to thwart nonmembers like China and Russia from introducing future disruptions by controlling more infrastructure, like transportation. It’s a response to China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Biden said, “This isn’t aid or charity, it’s a chance for us to share our positive vision for the future…because when democracies demonstrate what we can do, all that we have to offer, I have no doubt that we will win the competition.” That hubris reminds me of the British Groundnut Scheme. Will the West be applying lessons learned from the devastating and deleterious effects of centuries of colonization? Are leaders any more sensitive to the needs and desires of the local people and places these schemes are sure to impact? These investments are long overdue, and China has a head start, but they must be done with the right intentions.Lack of adequate adoption of agricultural practice and needed infrastructure is what leaves regions most vulnerable to the negative agricultural effects of climate change. The way our food is produced, distributed, and sold heavily relies on transportation networks. The millions of people who were saved from starvation in the former Soviet Union is testimony to this fact. But responses also require acknowledgment, understanding, and support of local people and place…and their governments. Whether they share a common vision with the West or not.People situated in their places possess the necessary local and practical knowledge and ingenuity needed to augment the abundance of science that rests on centuries of historical successes and failures. Capital investment from the West is needed and necessary, but not sufficient or welcomed should the intent be to strengthen power, bolster profits, and exploit people and land. In other words, to repeat history. To learn the lesson, past sins must not be repeated. Instead of killing people, animals, and plants in the interest of political ideology, we should seek their engagement and invest in their ecology. In the words of Nikolai Vavilov in 1932, nine years before Stalin issued his execution sentence: “Many historical problems can be understood only because of the interaction between man, animals and plants.” This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit interplace.io

Una delle più drammatiche vicende umane nella storia della scienza ebbe per protagonista, negli anni '30 del ‘900, Nikolai Vavilov, scienziato russo tra i più grandi genetisti del suo tempo, che per primo ebbe l'intuizione di costituire una banca dei semi, raccogliendo centinaia di migliaia di varietà di sementi di specie selvatiche affini a quelle da cui derivano le nostre più importanti colture come frumento, riso, mais, soia e così via.Incrocio dopo incrocio, Vavilov contava di riuscire a trasferire alcune caratteristiche desiderabili presenti nelle specie selvatiche, fino a ottenere colture più produttive e resistenti e sconfiggere la fame in Russia. Vavilov cadrà tragicamente vittima delle purghe staliniane e non riuscirà a portare a termine il suo lavoro, ma si lascerà dietro la prima banca dei semi del mondo e una linea di ricerca inesauribile, che perdura ancora oggi e che ritroviamo nel progetto di cui vi parleremo stasera a Smart City: IMPRESA, un progetto internazionale finanziato dal MIUR, coordinato dall'Università della Tuscia, che mira a sviluppare, grazie al contributo genetico si specie selvatiche, nuove varietà di grano duro più resistenti a stress quali calore, siccità e salinità. Ospite Carla Ceoloni Prof.ssa del Dip di Agricoltura e Scienze Forestali dell'Università della Tuscia

Speakers: Eric Bishop-von Wettberg (he/him), Travis Reynolds (he/him), and Dan Tobin (he/him) We are launching the Consortium on Crop Genetic Heritage, a group of researchers and practitioners who view the maintenance and promotion of crop diversity as critical to building resilient agricultural systems positioned to address climate change, increase access to culturally meaningful crops, and promote empowerment and self-determination. Through our work, we conduct basic and applied research, collaborate with domestic and international partners, build networks and capacity, facilitate convenings, offer training, train students, and publish report and peer-reviewed publications. We value diversity, equity, inclusion, participatory processes, community engagement, and action-oriented scholarship based on the principle that crop diversity must be viewed and supported as a public good. Our partners include non-profit organizations, farmer collectives, BIPOC communities, smallholder farmers, international research institutions, and seed libraries, among others. Eric Eric von Wettberg is a Gund fellow, an associate professor of Plant and Soil Science at the University of Vermont, director of UVM's Graduate Program in Food Systems, and a member of UVM's Consortium for Crop Genetic Heritage. As a conservation geneticist working to preserve the genetic diversity of legume crops, his research uses a combination of laboratory, greenhouse, and field approaches. Working in the legacy of the great crop geneticist, Nikolai Vavilov, many of Eric's recent projects have supported international crop genebanks by exploring and adding to the genetic diversity held in their collections. Travis Travis Reynolds is a Gund fellow and an assistant professor in the Department of Community Development and Applied Economics at the University of Vermont. Dr. Reynolds' has studied the relationships between farm management, economic development, and ecosystem services – with an emphasis on poverty alleviation – for the past ten years. His work has been published in top interdisciplinary and agricultural development journals including World Development, Journal of Development Studies, Journal of Agricultural Economics, and Food Security. Dan Daniel Tobin is a rural sociologist who is an assistant professor in Community Development and Applied Economics, a Gund Fellow, and graduate faculty in Food Systems. His research focuses on how small- and medium-scale farmers respond to external influences like market forces, policy mechanisms, and environmental changes. Particular interests include sociology of agriculture, development sociology, the political economy of agricultural development, crop diversity conservation, and seed systems. Eric, Travis, and Dan spoke at UVM on December 10th, 2021. Read more about their work: https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/calsfac/190 Learn more about the Gund Institute: https://www.uvm.edu/gund Explore Gund events: https://www.uvm.edu/gund/events ​​​​

1-star review shirt! and shirt raising money for Ukraine Red Cross. It's another one of those episodes all about a topic that sounds totally mundane and boring!  Where did apples come from?  Was Johnny Appleseed real?  Why does planting apple seeds lead to disappointment?  And why are some apples considered intellectual property?     Links to all the research resources are on the website. Hang out with your fellow Brainiacs.  Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter,  or Instagram.  Become a patron of the podcast arts! Patreon or Ko-Fi.  Or buy the book and a shirt. Music: Kevin MacLeod, Tabletop Audio, and Steve Oxen.  Want to start a podcast or need a better podcast host?  Get up to TWO months hosting for free from Libsyn with coupon code "moxie." Sponsor: Starfleet Leadership Academy   What's more wholesome and iconic than an apple?  In the Bible, Eve ate an apple and now half of us have to have periods and crap.  In fairness to apples, the Bible just says “fruit” and it was Milton's “Paradise Lost” that declared the fruit was an apple because the Latin word for apple, m-a-l-u-s, is also the word for evil.  There's the Greek myth of Atalanta, who would only marry the man who beat her in a footrace, so Aphrodite helped a Melanion cheat by dropping golden apples that she stopped to pick up.  An apple fell on the head of Isaac Newton, leading to the discovery of gravity – prior to that, everyone weighed a lot less.  The record label that gave the world the Beatles and one of the largest consumer electronics companies in the world use an apple as their logo.  [tiktok] Bonus fact: The Apple computer logo has a bite taken out of it so it isn't mistaken for a cherry, which I don't think would really have been so great a danger, and is *not a nod to Alan Turing, the famous mathematician who helped Britain win WWII but was hounded by that same government for being gay and took his own life with a poisoned apple.  Steve Jobs and co repeatedly said they wished it was that clever.   We say something is “as American as apple pie” and even though Ralph Waldo Emerson dubbed apples “the American fruit,” the tasty, sweet malus domestica as you're used to it is about as native to North America as white people.  That's not to say there was nothing of the genus malus in the new world; there was the crabapple, a small, hard, exceedingly tart apple, which is better used for adding the natural thickener pectin to preserves than anything.   The story of apples actually begins in Kazakhstan, in central Asia east of the Caspian Sea.  Malus sieversii is a wild apple, native to Kazakhstan's Tian Shan Mountains, where they have been growing over millions of years and where they can still be found fruiting today.  There's evidence of Paleolithic people harvesting and using native crabapples 750,000 years ago, give or take a week.  The original wild apples grew in ‘apple forests' at the foot of the snow-tipped mountains, full of different shapes,sizes and flavors, most of them bad.  Kazakhstan is hugely proud of its fruity history.  The former capital city of Almaty claimed the honor of ‘birth place of the apple' about 100 years ago.  Seems a suitable sobriquet since the name ‘Almaty' was previously recorded as ‘Alma-Ata' which translates from Kazakh as ‘Father of the Apples,' though in Latin Alma means mother or nurturer, which feels more fitting but that's beside the point.   This origin story was not without controversy, but what am I here for if not to teach the controversy?  In 1929, Russian scientist Nikolai Vavilov first traced the apple genome. He identified the primary ancestor of most cultivars of the domesticated apple to be the ancient apple tree: Malus sieversii. There used to be some controversy over this, but it has since been confirmed, through detailed DNA testing, and a full sequencing of the genome, as recently as 2010.   It was probably birds and traveling mammal species that initially transported apple seeds out of Kazakhstan long before humans started to cultivate them – by eating the apples and then pooping out the seeds.  By 1500 BC apple seeds had been carried throughout Europe by the Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans.  Bloody Romans.  What have they ever done for us?  I mean apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans really ever done for us?  Oh yeah, apples.  The Romans discovered apples growing in Syria and were central in dispersing them around the world from there, using the Silk Road as a means of transport from East to West.  Romans were a fair hand at grafting, taking a cutting from one apple variety and attaching it to a rootstock (young roots and trunk) from another tree – more on that later.  As such, the Romans started to grow apples in Europe and Britain that were bigger, sweeter, and tastier than any before.  Let's not forget variety.  There are a whopping 2,170 English cultivars of malus domestica alone.     Apples arrived in the new world first with the Spanish in the warm bits and then with English settlers in the cooler bits, which when I say it sounds like it was done on purpose.  Ask an American child how apples spread across the nascent US and they'll tell you it was Johnny Appleseed.  We tend to learn about him around the time we learn about “tall tales,” i.e. American folklore –stories like the giant lumberjack Paul Bunyan and his blue ox, or John Henry, who could hammer railroad spikes in ahead of a moving train – so it can be a little tricky to be sure if Johnny Appleseed is real or not.  Don't feel bad, a friend of mine just learned that narwhals were real the other year when she wanted to be one in a cryptid-themed burlesque show.    Johnny Appleseed, real name John Chapman, was a real person, though naturally some aspects of his life were mythologized over time.  Details are sparse on his early life, but we know that Chapman was born in Massachusetts in 1774 and planted his first apple tree trees in the Allegheny Valley in Pennsylvania in his mid-twenties.  He then began traveling west through Ohio, planting as he went.  These were frontier times.  We're talking about a good 70 years before the transcontinental railroad, so much of the area he went through did not yet have white settlers in it, but Chapman seems to have a knack for predicting where they would settle and planting nurseries in those spots.  Chapman was also a devout follower of the mystical teachings of Swedish theologian Emanuel Swedenborg, and he tried to spread Swedenborgian doctrine as well.  People were open to some parts of it, like kindness to all animals, even the unpleasant ones.   The apples that Chapman brought to the frontier were completely distinct from the apples available at any modern grocery store or farmers' market, and they weren't primarily used for eating, but for making hard apple cider.  Cider was a mainstay item for the same reason people drank beer at breakfast, because it was safer than the water supply.  This didn't actually apply as much in the not-yet-destroyed frontier as it had back in London, but old habits die hard.    I've often wondered why cider is such a staple beverage in the UK, but only resurfaced in the last 20 or so years here in the States, where we have to specify hard cider” because the word “cider” normally means a glorious, thick, flavorful unfiltered apple juice you only get in the fall.  It's thanks to the colossal failure that was that “noble experiment,” Prohibition, when some people didn't like drinking and told the rest of us we couldn't either.   "Up until Prohibition, an apple grown in America was far less likely to be eaten than to wind up in a barrel of cider," writes Michael Pollan in The Botany of Desire. "In rural areas cider took the place of not only wine and beer but of coffee and tea, juice, and even water."  The cider apples are small and unpleasant to eat, so they were really only good for cider-making.  As such, during Prohibition, cider apple trees were often chopped down by FBI agents, effectively erasing cider, along with Chapman's true history, from American life.   But Johnny “Appleseed” Chapman wouldn't know anything about all that.  Within his own lifetime, tales of his activities began to circulate.  Most of these focused on his wilderness skills and his remarkable physical endurance.  Chapman cut an eccentric figure.  He wore a sack with holes for his head and arms rather than a proper shirt and after he'd worn through multiple pairs of shoes, he gave up and went barefoot.  Perhaps his most distinct feature, the one always included in drawings, apart from a bag of apple seeds, is his soup pot, just about his only possession, which he wore on his head like a hat.   Starting in 1792, the Ohio Company of Associates made an offer of 100 acres of land to anyone willing to make a homestead on the wilderness beyond Ohio's first permanent settlement.  These homesteads had to be permanent; no pitching a tent and saying ‘where's my land?'  To prove their homesteads were the real deal, settlers were required to plant 50 apple trees and 20 peach trees in three years.  Since an average apple tree took roughly ten years to bear fruit, you wouldn't bother unless you were in it for the long haul.  He might have looked like a crazy hermit, but Chapman realized that if he could do the difficult work of planting these orchards, he could sell them for a handsome profit to incoming frontiersmen.  “On this week's episode of Frontier Flipper, Johnny plants an orchard…again.”  Wandering from Pennsylvania to Illinois, Chapman would advance just ahead of settlers, cultivating orchards that he would sell them when they arrived, and then head to more undeveloped land.     That was very clever.  What wasn't clever was Chapman growing apples from seed at all.  This is the bit about grafting, in case you were jumping around looking for it.  Statistically, at least one person was really waiting for this part.  Apple trees don't grow “true-to-type,” as WSU tree fruit breeder Kate Evans explains. That means that if you were to plant, for instance, Red Delicious seeds in your backyard, you wouldn't get Red Delicious apples, not that you'd want to, but more on that later.  Boy, what a tease.  Instead, planting and breeding means matching a scion to a rootstock.  The scion is the fruiting part of the tree – most of what you actually see. The rootstock is everything that goes in the ground, as well as the first few inches of the trunk.  Buds from one variety are attached to the rootstock of another and they grow into a tree that will produce apples. But matching up the scion and rootstock isn't enough to grow good apples. You also need a tree to act as a pollinator.  “If you don't have good pollination, you can end up with misshapen or small unattractive fruit,” says Jim McFerson, director of the Wenatchee extension. Up to ten percent of an orchard can be pollinators, and most today are crabapple trees.  Apple trees cannot normally pollinate themselves.  Unlike, say, peaches, which can and do self-pollinate, predictably producing peaches virtually identical to the parents, the viable seeds (or pips) will produce apples which don't resemble the parents.  This requirement for pollination is how there have come to be so many varieties in the world, at least 20k and that's a conservative estimate.   For context, there are only two varieties of commercial banana and just one kiwifruit.    Grafting was an established way of propagating apples and was commonly done in New England, so why didn't Chapman do that?  Apart from the fact that it's easier to travel with just seeds and planting is faster than graftering, as a member of the Swedenborgian Church, Chapman was forbidden from cutting two trees to cobble together a new tree and it was thought to make the plants suffer.  John “Johnny Appleseed” Chapman died in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1845, having planted apple trees as far west as Illinois or Iowa.   A century later, in 1948, Disney solidified his legend with an animated version of his life.  The cartoon emphasized his Christian faith, but conveniently left out all the Swedenborgian stuff. MIDROLL Speaking of varieties, as well we might, what would you guess the most popular apple variety has been for the past, say, 70 years?  The apple whose name is half-lying but unfortunately it's lying about the important half, the Red Delicious.  They are the most iconic apple across most of the world.  Don't believe me, just check emoji packs in other countries.  Their appearance is the whole reason these apples exist, with their deep, even red color and dimpled bottom that look so enticing in the produce department; it's also the reason they suck and are terrible.  They taste of wet cardboard and have the mouthfeel of resentment.  Their flavor and texture were sacrificed for botanical vanity and shippability.   Even apple growers hate them.  Mike Beck, who tends 80 acres of apples at Uncle John's Cider Mill, admits he grows some Red Delicious to add color to some of his ciders, but he won't eat them.    The Red Delicious was first called the Hawkeye, and one Jesse Hiatt found it growing as a random sapling on his Iowa farm around 1870.  The fruit that eventual tree produced was sweet and fruity, but it wasn't red, rather red and yellow-striped, like an heirloom tomato.  Of course, back then, those were just called tomatoes.   It was introduced to the market in 1874 and the rights to the Hawkeye apple were sold to the Stark Brothers Nursery, whose owner thought it was the best apple he'd ever tasted.  By 1914, Stark's renamed the variety Red Delicious, and over time, produced a fruit with less yellow and more red year over year.  It also gained its buxom top-heavy shape and five little feet nubs on the bottom.   As with any product, it took a hefty shovelful of marketing for Red Delicious to gain a following, but gain it did.  Current estimates have Red Delicious being 90% of the apple crop at one point.  That point happened in the 1950s, thanks to that force of nature, changes in buying habits.  PreWWII, people would buy food right from the farm or at farmers markets, then the modern grocery store, with its cold storage, and the refrigerated truck courtesy of Frederick Jones.  Bigger stores need to move more product and a big pyramid of shiny, sports car red apples by the front window will really bring the punters in.  Growers could sell them to packers, who in turn sold them to those grocery store chains, which also fueled a change in their taste.  Orchardists bred and crossbreed the Red Delicious to get that perfect shape and color, uniformity and resilience to handling and shipping; they just left off tiny considerations, very minor concessions really, like taste and texture.   But there's change a-foot again.  People began to realize you can have an apple in your pack lunch or the big bowl at the fancy hotel reception desk that you'd actually want to eat.  Now we're all about those Sweet Tangos, Braseburns, and Honeycrips.  Unwilling or unable to admit defeat, however, the Red Delicious is still out there.  But like a lot of has-beens, its seeing more success abroad than at home, and they're exported to the western Pacific Rim, Mexico and parts of Europe.      Apart from random saplings popping up randomly, new varieties of apples take a lot of people a lot of time and effort, to say nothing of a robust research & development budget.  Take Washington State University Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center, for example.  In 1981, now-retired horticulturist Bruce Barritt set out to create an apple bred for flavor and long storage instead of appearance, to compete with the Fuji from Japan and the Gala from New Zealand.  Like breeding animals, you start with two parents with known traits, then selectively breed for the ones you want over the course of several generations.  You have to have the patience of a Buddhist monk, since apple trees take four to five years to bear fruit and you know whether or not it worked.  Barritt needed that patience to eventually create the apple that actually made mainstream, even international, news in 2019 – the Cosmic Crisp.  These are no small potatoes, either.  There's probably a French language joke in there.  The marketing budget alone is $10 million.  A $10mil marketing budget….for an apple.     Cosmic Crisps are mostly a dark-ish red with yellowy speckles reminiscent of stars.  The website, did I mention it has its own website, says [commercial read] “The large, juicy apple has a remarkably firm and crisp texture. Some say it snaps when you bite into it!  The Cosmic Crisp® flavor profile is the perfect balance of sweet and tart, making it ideal for snacking, baking, cooking, juicing or any other way you like to enjoy apples.”  Hire me for voiceovers at moxielabouche.com for lightning-fast voiceovers because I was one time hit by lightning.   The first Cosmic Crisp seed began in 1997 with pollen from a Honeycrisp flower, applied by hand to the stigma of an Enterprise.  Racy stuff.  Honeycrisp as we know are lovely and Enterprise apples were known for disease-resistance and long storage life.  Storage life is important because an apple has to be as good in late spring as it was when it was picked in the fall, as most to all of the apples you buy are.  Yep, all apples are picked at once and sold for months to come.  Holding up in winter storage is one of malus domestica's best features.  If that bothers you on principle, though, don't look up harvesting oranges for juice – it's positively depressing.      After two years of greenhouse germination, the very first Cosmic Crisp trees were planted, and a few years later after that, fruit happened.  That was when, according to Barritt, the real work began.  He'd go through the orchard, randomly picking apples and taking a bite. “Most were terrible, but when I found one with good texture and flavor, I'd pick 10 or 20 of them. Then I put them in cold storage to see how they would hold up after a few months,” he told PopSci in 2018.  Barritt's team would compare the apples for crispness, acidity, firmness, how well it stored, and on and on anon, to determine which trees to cross with which and start the cycle all over again.  They weren't testing only Honeycrisp and Enterprise, but lots of crisp varieties – Honeycrisp is just the one that worked.  It took until 2017, a full 20 years after the first seeds went in the ground, for Cosmic Crisp trees to become available to growers, to say nothing of the fruit reaching the public.  The project actually outlived Barritt's participation, when he retired back in 2008 and turned everything over to WSU horticulture professor Kate Evans.   There's still the question of why, why spend literally hundreds of millions of dollars to create a new apple?  This wasn't about developing a product to sell and make money, it was about saving an entire region's industry.  The pacific northwest farmed Red Delicious apples like there was no tomorrow and in the 90's, tomorrow got real uncertain.  In the last three years of the decade, farmers lost around $760mil with fields full of fruit fewer and fewer folks wanted to fork over their funds for.  That was the problem that Barritt set out to solve.  They needed an apple that had it all - movie star good looks, full of flavor with a crunchy bit.  By the end of 2019, Washington farmers were growing 12,000 acres of Cosmic Crisp trees and there's talk of Cosmic Crisp's having a strong chance at taking over the market.   If you have a bit of land and want to grow your own Cosmic Crisp, you going to have to wait even longer than usual.  It's only available to grower in WA for the first ten years to give the growers an advantage.  Remember, you can't plant seeds and get a tree that gives you fruit like the one you ate to get the seeds.  Don't worry, just five more years.     But you can't, like, own a tree man.  I can but that's because I'm not a penniless hippie.  Sorry, Futurama moment, but the point still stands.  Because this is America and we've never seen a person, place, thing, or idea we didn't want to legally own and monetize.  We're talking about patents and before I go any further, do you have any idea what a pain it is to search for apple patents and *not get results about Apple the company.  According to the US Patent and Trademark Office, “a plant patent is granted …to an inventor … who has invented or discovered and asexually reproduced a distinct and new variety of plant, other than a tuber propagated plant or a plant found in an uncultivated state. The grant, which lasts for 20 years from the date of filing the application, protects the inventor's right to exclude others from asexually reproducing, selling, or using the plant so reproduced.”  So if you make a variety of plant that no one else has ever made, or at least no one has patented, you have ultra-dibs for 20 and no one else is supposed to breed, sell, or do anything else with plants of that variety.   Plant patents became a thing in the early 1930's, a fine time in American agriculture *sough*dustbowl*cough* first granted to Henry Bosenberg for a CLIMBING OR TRAILING ROSE (USPP1 P).  Since then, thousands of plant patents have been granted, and that includes apples.  Apples as intellectual property.  The beloved Honeycrisp was patented in the late 1980's by the University of Minnesota.  The Honeycrisp blossomed in popularity, pun allowed, among consumers, both grocery shoppers and growers.  Nurseries would sell the trees to anyone who called and ordered one, but since it was patented, buuuut growers would have to pay a royalty of one dollar per tree to the University of Minnesota until the patent has expired.  With an average size of 50 acres per orchard and 36 trees per acre, that only comes to $1800, which isn't too, too bad.  A much tighter rein was kept on University of Minnesota's patented MINNEISKA, which produces the SweeTango apple.  Only a small group of apple growers has been given license to grow this variety of apple and they have to pay royalties as well.  UM also has multiple trademarks registered, so anyone who tries to sell an apple under that name or a similar one may find themselves in court.  Now how about them apples?  Hey, at least I waited until the end. Sources: https://historicsites.nc.gov/all-sites/horne-creek-farm/southern-heritage-apple-orchard/apples/apple-history/origins-apples https://www.americanscientist.org/article/the-mysterious-origin-of-the-sweet-apple https://www.theorchardproject.org.uk/blog/where-do-apples-come-from/ https://www.britannica.com/story/was-johnny-appleseed-a-real-person https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/real-johnny-appleseed-brought-applesand-booze-american-frontier-180953263/ https://www.nwpb.org/2017/05/03/want-to-grow-an-apple-tree-dont-start-with-apple-seeds/ https://www.popsci.com/story/diy/cosmic-crisp-apple-guide/ https://www.huffpost.com/entry/red-delicious-apples-suck_n_5b630199e4b0b15abaa061af https://suiter.com/how-do-you-like-them-apples-enough-to-patent-them/ https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/04/30/526069512/paradise-lost-how-the-apple-became-the-forbidden-fruit https://www.businessinsider.com/cosmic-crisp-apple-washington-state-scientists-2020-11 https://suiter.com/how-do-you-like-them-apples-enough-to-patent-them/  

Nikolai Vavilov was one of the great geneticists of the 20th century whose goal was to end famine and starvation. Ironically, he would die in one of Stalin's prisons of hunger. Join me in this tribute to the man who would try to save the world.

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Vavilov Day Starts Tomorrow, published by Elizabeth on January 25, 2022 on LessWrong. Content note: discussion of fasting. Three weeks ago, I announced a plan to fast from the 25th to the 27th, in honor of Nikolai Vavilov and the staff of his botany institute, several of whom starved to death in the service of ending famine (and were partially successful, although far from the sole contributors). The goal was to test/improve my own ability to do hard things in the service of worthy projects. I had wanted to put much more research in the original post than I did, but decided it was more important to get the announcement out quickly and I should save something for the day-of post anyway. Since then, a lot has happened. Over three weeks I had 3 or 4 urgent demands around the size of “my furnace is maybe poison and my landlord is being difficult about it”. Everything is fine now, but it was a lot of effort to get it that way. I also had some emergency work drop in my lap for an extremely worthy project. I'm glad I got the opportunity to contribute and I'd make the same decision again but it ate up all of the slack I had left. And then my cell phone broke. The immediate impact of this is there's I'm not writing the highly researched post on Vavilov I wanted to. The internet is full of articles of the quality I could produce in the time I have available, there's no reason to add to them. But the more important impact is that I said I wanted to test my ability to do hard things, and then I did that, before the fast even started. My capacity was not as high as I wanted but more than I feared, and my capacity to respond to my limits gracefully instead of failing explosively exceeded my hopes. So in a lot of ways the purpose of the fast has already been served. I thought about letting myself out of it, but there are a few dimensions this month hasn't tested and I still want to play with those. However in light of the fact that I am starting from a place of much lower slack and much higher time value than anticipated, I will be removing some of the rules, such as “I have to work a normal workday” and “I have to do at least one physical activity”. Those rules were for someone who didn't expend all her reserves doing intense cognitive work on no notice while angry people made horrible noises banging on her furnace for three days straight. As of writing this (Monday night) I haven't made up my mind on relaxing the calorie restriction to allow for ketone esters, which for me are a small source of calories that greatly reduce the cognitive and emotional costs of fasting. Tomorrow (the 26th) is the 69th anniversary of Nikolai Vavilov's death. The day after is the 68th anniversary of the end of the siege of Leningrad, which meant the institute staff no longer needed to starve themselves to protect their seed bank. I will be fasting from 10PM tonight (the 25th) to 10AM on the 27th, but no promises on doing more than that. And if that high-value project needs more no-notice immediate-turnaround work from me and the ketone esters aren't enough, I don't even promise to keep fasting. Because this was never about pain for pain's sake, it was about testing and increasing my ability to follow through on my own principles, and one of those principles is “don't pointlessly incapacitate yourself when high impact time-sensitive work is waiting”. unknown Vavilov Institute scientist “.it was hard to wake up, it was hard to get on your feet and put on your clothes in the morning, but no, it was not hard to protect the seeds once you had your wits about you. Saving those seeds for future generations and helping the world recover after war was more important than a single person's comfort.” Thanks for listening. To help us out with The Nonlinear Library or to learn more, please visit nonlinear.org.

Link to original articleWelcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Vavilov Day Starts Tomorrow, published by Elizabeth on January 25, 2022 on LessWrong. Content note: discussion of fasting. Three weeks ago, I announced a plan to fast from the 25th to the 27th, in honor of Nikolai Vavilov and the staff of his botany institute, several of whom starved to death in the service of ending famine (and were partially successful, although far from the sole contributors). The goal was to test/improve my own ability to do hard things in the service of worthy projects. I had wanted to put much more research in the original post than I did, but decided it was more important to get the announcement out quickly and I should save something for the day-of post anyway. Since then, a lot has happened. Over three weeks I had 3 or 4 urgent demands around the size of “my furnace is maybe poison and my landlord is being difficult about it”. Everything is fine now, but it was a lot of effort to get it that way. I also had some emergency work drop in my lap for an extremely worthy project. I'm glad I got the opportunity to contribute and I'd make the same decision again but it ate up all of the slack I had left. And then my cell phone broke. The immediate impact of this is there's I'm not writing the highly researched post on Vavilov I wanted to. The internet is full of articles of the quality I could produce in the time I have available, there's no reason to add to them. But the more important impact is that I said I wanted to test my ability to do hard things, and then I did that, before the fast even started. My capacity was not as high as I wanted but more than I feared, and my capacity to respond to my limits gracefully instead of failing explosively exceeded my hopes. So in a lot of ways the purpose of the fast has already been served. I thought about letting myself out of it, but there are a few dimensions this month hasn't tested and I still want to play with those. However in light of the fact that I am starting from a place of much lower slack and much higher time value than anticipated, I will be removing some of the rules, such as “I have to work a normal workday” and “I have to do at least one physical activity”. Those rules were for someone who didn't expend all her reserves doing intense cognitive work on no notice while angry people made horrible noises banging on her furnace for three days straight. As of writing this (Monday night) I haven't made up my mind on relaxing the calorie restriction to allow for ketone esters, which for me are a small source of calories that greatly reduce the cognitive and emotional costs of fasting. Tomorrow (the 26th) is the 69th anniversary of Nikolai Vavilov's death. The day after is the 68th anniversary of the end of the siege of Leningrad, which meant the institute staff no longer needed to starve themselves to protect their seed bank. I will be fasting from 10PM tonight (the 25th) to 10AM on the 27th, but no promises on doing more than that. And if that high-value project needs more no-notice immediate-turnaround work from me and the ketone esters aren't enough, I don't even promise to keep fasting. Because this was never about pain for pain's sake, it was about testing and increasing my ability to follow through on my own principles, and one of those principles is “don't pointlessly incapacitate yourself when high impact time-sensitive work is waiting”. unknown Vavilov Institute scientist “.it was hard to wake up, it was hard to get on your feet and put on your clothes in the morning, but no, it was not hard to protect the seeds once you had your wits about you. Saving those seeds for future generations and helping the world recover after war was more important than a single person's comfort.” Thanks for listening. To help us out with The Nonlinear Library or to learn more, please visit nonlinear.org.

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: An Observation of Vavilov Day, published by Elizabeth on January 3, 2022 on LessWrong. I aspire to be a person who does good things, and who is capable of doing hard things in service of that. This is a plan to test that capacity. I haven't been in a battle, but if you gave me the choice between dying in battle and slowly starving to death, I would immediately choose battle. Battles are scary but they are short and then they are over. If you gave me a chance to starve to death to generate some sufficiently good outcome, like saving millions of people from starvation, I think I would do it, and I would be glad to have the opportunity. It would hurt, but only for a few weeks, and in that time I could comfort myself with the warm glow of how good this was for other people. If you gave me a chance to save millions of people by starving, and then put food in front of me, I don't think I could do it. I would do okay for a few days, maybe a week, but I worry that eventually hunger would incapacitate the part of my brain that allows me to make moral trade-offs at my own expense, and I would wake up to find I'd eaten half the food. I want to think I'd manage it, but if the thought experiment gods didn't let me skip the hard part with more proactive measures, I'm not confident I could. During the siege of Leningrad, scientists and other staff of the Institute of Plant Study faced the above choice, and to the best of our knowledge, all of them chose hunger. 12 of them died for it, the rest merely got close (English language sources list 9 deaths, which is the number of scientists who died in service of the seed bank but not the total number of people). They couldn't kill themselves because they were needed to protect the food from rats and starving citizens. Those survival odds are better than the certain death of my hypothetical, but they didn't have the same certainty of impact either, so I think it balances out. That's heroism enough, but a fraction of what's present in this story. Those scientists worked at an institute founded by Nikolai Vavilov, a Soviet botanist who has the misfortune to be right on issues inconvenient to Joseph Stalin. Vavilov's (correct) insistence that his theories could feed Russians and those of Stalin's favored scientist couldn't got him arrested, tortured, and sent to a gulag, where he eventually starved to death. The seeds Vavilov and his staff protected now cover 80% of the cropland of Russia. Credit for scientific revolutions is hard to apportion, but as I reckon it Valilov is responsible for, at a minimum, tens of millions people living when they would have starved or never born, and the number could be closer to a billion. Nikolai Vavilov is my hero. In honor of Nikolai Vavilov, I'm doing a ~36 hour calorie fast from dinner on 1/25 (the day before Vavilov died in the gulag) to breakfast on 1/27 (the end of the siege of Leningrad). Those of you who know me know this is an extremely big deal for me, I do not handle being hungry well, and 36 hours is a long time. This might be one of the hardest things I could do while still being physically possible. Moreover, I'm not going to allow myself to just lie in bed for this: I'm committing to at least one physical activity that day (default is outdoor elliptical, unless it's raining), and attempting to work a normal schedule. I expect this to be very hard. But I need to demonstrate to myself that I can do things that are at least this hard, before I'm called on to do so for something that matters. If this story strikes a chord with you to the point you also want to observe Valilov + associates' sacrifice, I'd enjoy hearing how. I have enough interest locally (bay area California) that there's likely to be a kick-off dinner + reading the night of the 25th. It would also be traditional for a fasting hol...

Link to original articleWelcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: An Observation of Vavilov Day, published by Elizabeth on January 3, 2022 on LessWrong. I aspire to be a person who does good things, and who is capable of doing hard things in service of that. This is a plan to test that capacity. I haven't been in a battle, but if you gave me the choice between dying in battle and slowly starving to death, I would immediately choose battle. Battles are scary but they are short and then they are over. If you gave me a chance to starve to death to generate some sufficiently good outcome, like saving millions of people from starvation, I think I would do it, and I would be glad to have the opportunity. It would hurt, but only for a few weeks, and in that time I could comfort myself with the warm glow of how good this was for other people. If you gave me a chance to save millions of people by starving, and then put food in front of me, I don't think I could do it. I would do okay for a few days, maybe a week, but I worry that eventually hunger would incapacitate the part of my brain that allows me to make moral trade-offs at my own expense, and I would wake up to find I'd eaten half the food. I want to think I'd manage it, but if the thought experiment gods didn't let me skip the hard part with more proactive measures, I'm not confident I could. During the siege of Leningrad, scientists and other staff of the Institute of Plant Study faced the above choice, and to the best of our knowledge, all of them chose hunger. 12 of them died for it, the rest merely got close (English language sources list 9 deaths, which is the number of scientists who died in service of the seed bank but not the total number of people). They couldn't kill themselves because they were needed to protect the food from rats and starving citizens. Those survival odds are better than the certain death of my hypothetical, but they didn't have the same certainty of impact either, so I think it balances out. That's heroism enough, but a fraction of what's present in this story. Those scientists worked at an institute founded by Nikolai Vavilov, a Soviet botanist who has the misfortune to be right on issues inconvenient to Joseph Stalin. Vavilov's (correct) insistence that his theories could feed Russians and those of Stalin's favored scientist couldn't got him arrested, tortured, and sent to a gulag, where he eventually starved to death. The seeds Vavilov and his staff protected now cover 80% of the cropland of Russia. Credit for scientific revolutions is hard to apportion, but as I reckon it Valilov is responsible for, at a minimum, tens of millions people living when they would have starved or never born, and the number could be closer to a billion. Nikolai Vavilov is my hero. In honor of Nikolai Vavilov, I'm doing a ~36 hour calorie fast from dinner on 1/25 (the day before Vavilov died in the gulag) to breakfast on 1/27 (the end of the siege of Leningrad). Those of you who know me know this is an extremely big deal for me, I do not handle being hungry well, and 36 hours is a long time. This might be one of the hardest things I could do while still being physically possible. Moreover, I'm not going to allow myself to just lie in bed for this: I'm committing to at least one physical activity that day (default is outdoor elliptical, unless it's raining), and attempting to work a normal schedule. I expect this to be very hard. But I need to demonstrate to myself that I can do things that are at least this hard, before I'm called on to do so for something that matters. If this story strikes a chord with you to the point you also want to observe Valilov + associates' sacrifice, I'd enjoy hearing how. I have enough interest locally (bay area California) that there's likely to be a kick-off dinner + reading the night of the 25th. It would also be traditional for a fasting hol...

This episode continues the story of Nikolai Vavilov and his efforts to protect plant diversity and the field of genetics against Josef Stalin and the pseudoscientist Trofim Lysenko. Hear how Vavilov's bravery led to tremendous acts of heroism during the siege of Leningrad, and, ultimately, his recognition as one of the greatest biological thinkers of the 20th Century.

Nikolai Vavilov was one of the greatest botanists, geneticists, and plant hunters of the 20th Century. Despite making incredible discoveries, his story is not widely known. In this episode, we follow Vavilov as he travels the globe searching for unique local varieties of crops to add to his seed bank collections and improve agriculture for all people.

“Varietal Timelines and Leadership Challenges Affecting the Legacy of Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov” with Dr. Joel Cohen Nikolai Vavilov was an agronomist and seed collector whose life spanned the regimes of Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin. These were years plagued by extreme famine, especially in the Ukraine. Vavilov strove to follow Mendelian science and practices to improve plant breeding programs, seed conservation, and food security. He travelled to and collected seed from over 50 countries in his lifetime and was the founder of one of the world’s oldest seed banks; however, he died defamed and imprisoned, with his name struck from the history books. This episode, in honor of seed week, Dr. Joel Cohen joins us to discuss Vavilov’s work, the ongoing work to restore his reputation, and why his legacy matters today. Tune in to learn: What the four phases of Vavilov’s life were What challenges he faced during his lifetime The fate of several of his colleagues during the siege of Leningrad How Vavilov has been honored and rehabilitated since his death If you would like more information about this topic, this episode’s paper is available here: https://doi.org/10.1002/csc2.20425 It will be freely available from 22 March to 5 April, 2021. This podcast is part of the Societies Seed Week, which will be running from March 22-26, 2021. Check out the Seed Week link below, where you’ll find links to papers, k-12 activities, videos, news stories, blogs, and more. If you would like to find transcripts for this episode or sign up for our newsletter, please visit our website: http://fieldlabearth.libsyn.com/ Contact us at podcast@sciencesocieties.org or on Twitter @FieldLabEarth if you have comments, questions, or suggestions for show topics, and if you want more content like this don’t forget to subscribe. If you would like to reach out to Joel, you can find him here: joel.cohen@duke.edu https://www.linkedin.com/in/joelicohen/ https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Joel_Cohen7 https://joelcohen.org/ Resources CEU Quiz: https://www.certifiedcropadviser.org/education/classroom/classes/973 Societies’ Seed Week Home Page: https://www.crops.org/seed-week The Origin, Variation, Immunity and Breeding of Cultivated Plants. N. I. Vavilov; trans. from the Russian by K. Starr Chester: https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/ShopBasket?ac=a&ik=30857465553&ir&clickid=2HWT61U0NxyLULpwUx0Mo387UkEQZsQVzWTs1I0&cm_mmc=aff-_-ir-_-59145-_-212653&ref=imprad59145&afn_sr=impact Where Our Food Comes From by Gary Nabhan: https://islandpress.org/books/where-our-food-comes#:~:text=In%20Where%20Our%20Food%20Comes,the%20cultures%20that%20tend%20them   The Murder of Nikolai Vavilov by Peter Pringle: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-murder-of-nikolai-vavilov-peter-pringle/1116788664   Commemorating Nikolai I. Vavilov, ROSSICA, Journal of the Rossica Society of Russian Philately. Spring 2019, No. 172: 119-125: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333563079_Commemorating_Nikolai_I_Vavilov_-_A_Personal_Study_of_Philatelics_History_and_Science_- Cohen, J.I. and I. Loskutov. Exploring the nature of science through courage and purpose: a case study of Nikolai Vavilov.      SpringerPlus: http://paperity.org/p/77356267/exploring-the-nature-of-science-through-courage-and-purpose-a-case-study-of-nikolai The rise, fall and resurrection of Russian seed bank pioneer Nikolai Vavilov. Genetic Literacy Project July 17th, 2020: https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2019/07/17/the-rise-fall-and-resurrection-of-russian-seed-pioneer-nikolai-vavilov/ Biodiversity International: https://www.bioversityinternational.org/ Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture: http://www.fao.org/cgrfa/topics/plants/en/          Sponsored by METER Group. METER sensors deliver real-time, plant, soil, and atmospheric data that fuels environmental research. Find world class webinars about the science behind environmental measurements at www.metergroup.com/fieldlabearth. Sponsored by Gasmet Technologies. Gasmet Technologies range of portable analyzers are used for environmental research measuring CO2, CH4, N2O, NH3 & H2O gas fluxes simultaneously at sub-ppm levels. Check out www.gasmet.com for more information and to request a quotation. Field, Lab, Earth is copyrighted to the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America.

Nikolai Vavilov dedicated his life to improving Soviet agriculture and eradicating famine, but his allegiance to science would ultimately lead to his downfall.

Today we celebrate the Russian botanist who sought to end world hunger and created a seed bank. We'll also learn about a Landscape Architect known for her delicate illustrations and her love of realistic sculpture. We’ll hear some thoughts on growing bulbs in pots by one of my favorite gardeners. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that proves anyone can draw botanical illustrations - even me. And then we’ll wrap things up with a National Seed Swap Day the Pandemic Way.   Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart To listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to “Play the latest episode of The Daily Gardener Podcast.” And she will. It's just that easy.   The Daily Gardener Friday Newsletter Sign up for the FREE Friday Newsletter featuring: A personal update from me Garden-related items for your calendar The Grow That Garden Library™ featured books for the week Gardener gift ideas Garden-inspired recipes Exclusive updates regarding the show Plus, each week, one lucky subscriber wins a book from the Grow That Garden Library™ bookshelf.   Gardener Greetings Send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes, and so forth to Jennifer@theDailyGardener.org   Curated News 5 Front-Yard Landscaping Secrets | Better Homes & Gardens    Facebook Group If you'd like to check out my curated news articles and original blog posts for yourself, you're in luck. I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. So, there’s no need to take notes or search for links. The next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community where you’d search for a friend... and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group.   Important Events January 26, 1943 Today is the anniversary of the tragic death of the Russian botanist and plant geneticist Nikolai Vavilov. Regarded as one of the giants of plant science, Nikolai established over 400 research institutes, and he brought Russian plant explorers on expeditions to more than 50 countries around the globe. Worried about genetic erosion and destruction, Nikolai marshaled his resources toward preserving plant genetic diversity at every turn. To that end, Nikolai hoped that seed banking and his St. Petersburg seed vault would prove invaluable. The goal of ending hunger drove Nikolai, and to that end, he worked to collect specimens and run experiments in order to increase crop yields. After concluding that genetic diversity was the key to his mission, Nikoli realized that most of the world's agriculture came from eight specific regions - places with ancient roots where plants were first cultivated. Nikolai got caught up in the politics of communism when a fanatical Soviet agronomist and geneticist, Trofim Lysenko, denounced Nikolai’s work as anti-communist. After being arrested in 1940, Nikolai was sent to a concentration camp at Saratov, where he eventually died of starvation on this day in 1943. He was 55 years old. Meanwhile, Nikolai’s loyal team of seed collectors also faced starvation - and some starved to death  - as they held up in the Russian seed bank. Despite being surrounded by many edible seeds, these valiant botanists successfully protected seeds from all over the world during the 900-day siege of St. Petersburg by German and Finish forces. Today this seed genebank is known as the Vavilov Institute of Plant Genetic Resources.   January 26, 1905 Today is the birthday of the Connecticut landscape architect Eloise Ray. In Ruth Harley’s book Pest-Proofing Your Garden, we get a little glimpse into Eloise’s approach to gardening: “Eloise confesses that she long ago gave up her battle with the local groundhog. Over the years, she determined which plants appeal to him.  Now she limits her crops to the plants the groundhog doesn’t eat — tomatoes, eggplants, red and green peppers, chives, all kinds of onions and, perhaps, parsley.” As a Landscape Architect, Eloise often worked with her husband, Jo Ray, who was also a Landscape Architect. Eloise was a marvelous artist, and she was known for her delicate illustrations, and she was exceptionally fond of realistic sculpture. Eloise is remembered through her gardens and estate work throughout Fairfield County, Connecticut. In 1978, the New York Times featured an interview with a 60-year-old Eloise at her Westport Home. Eloise reflected on her career, “[I started] in the heyday of the large estates of the late ‘20s, when we would put in gatehouses, decorative brick walls, dramatic driveways, servants’ driveways, formal gardens, walks, greenhouses, and shrubs designed for intricate topiary. We would estimate the need for at least eight full‐time gardeners for most of our estates.”   Unearthed Words I shall never desert the bulbs, though, and last winter, I think I got more pleasure from a pot of February Gold daffodils than from anything else I raised unless it was my pots of freesias. February Gold, which is a medium-small, all-yellow narcissus of the cyclamen type, for me proved to be January Gold; it opened its first flowers on New Year’s Day. That was the miracle. There is no trick to growing it in pots if one has a cool cellar, and Wayside Gardens, where I got my bulbs, says it can also be grown in bowls, like the paper-whites. — Katharine S. White, gardener and garden writer, Onward and Upward in the Garden   Grow That Garden Library The Joy of Botanical Drawing by Wendy Hollender This book came out in 2020, and the subtitle is A Step-by-Step Guide to Drawing and Painting Flowers, Leaves, Fruit, and More. In this book, Wendy shows you how to, “achieve amazingly realistic and vibrant botanical illustrations, from flowers so dazzling you feel as if you might be able to smell them, to tomatoes that look as if they've just been picked from the garden.” Known for her incredible botanical illustrations, Wendy shares her honed techniques through little lessons that build as your skills grow. Using colored pencils and watercolor pencils, Wendy specifically shows you how to draw a spiraling pine cone, a spiky chestnut, a fuchsia-tined radish, a graceful morning glory, and many more. Wendy writes, “I first learned botanical-illustration techniques twenty years ago.  The moment I understood these techniques, a door opened for me, and I immediately fell in love with the practice of botanical drawing. Since that day, it feels like the plants are leading me along a path that I steadily follow.” This book is 192 pages of inspiring botanical illustration how-to from an artist that practices with botanical subjects every single day. You can get a copy of The Joy of Botanical Drawing by Wendy Hollender and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $17   Today’s Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart Today is National Seed Swap Day - the first one we've had during a global pandemic. This year, instead of a traditional in-person seed swap, many of us will need to consider sending seeds in the mail or dropping them on the porch of a garden friend. Earlier this summer, I saw an excellent idea. A woman transformed her Little Free Book Library into a place where you can swap out seeds - a Little Seed Library.   This year, if you have leftover seed after planting or when your flowers are producing seed, you can always share them in a Little Seed Library, or with a garden friend - or you can even share them with people you don't know thanks to neighborhood apps like NextDoor. And, if you feel so inclined, consider building a Little Seed Library for your front yard. I think it's such a sweet idea. I love the idea of Little Seed Libraries popping up all over the country.   Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

The 20th century was plagued with conflict, disease, and terror, but at the same time, the 20th century flourished with growth. Whether it was the vast increase in population, the development of vaccines and antibiotics, the overthrowal of fascism and communism, or the acceleration to space, the 20th century experienced a level of growth unheard of in previous centuries. Almost all of this growth can be attributed to the sciences, as new discoveries and advancements in the scientific and technological worlds allowed for the growth the 20th century was known by to have flourished. As we continue on in the 21st century, another century in which growth shall dominate our experiences, we mustn't forget the scientists who fought the conflict, disease, terror, and most of all, authoritarianism in their pursuit of knowledge and discovery. We mustn't forget the scientists who stood by their science even when Joseph Stalin threatened their execution, even continuing on in the pursuit of scientific advancement until Stalin purposefully and slowly starved them to death, who pushed hard against the very nuclear weapons he designed while two tyrannical governments fought against one another for the most warheads. In this episode, we will discuss two scientists, Nikolai Vavilov, J Robert Oppenheimer two of the many scientists who fought against war and authoritarianism while pursuing knowledge from which all humans could benefit. If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or corrections, please email me using the address provided: learningbywilliam@gmail.com

Come gather around the campfire and let me tell you about a small group of Russian scientists who gave everything to protect the future of humanity's food supply during the brutal 900-day Siege of Leningrad. Hear about the life of their fearless leader, world-famous botanist and geneticist Nikolai Vavilov who established the first seed bank in history and dedicated his life to ending famine. It took the fall of Imperial Russia, the rise of Stalin and the Soviet Union, and two world wars to finally separate Vavilov from his work. This man really loved his plants. And if you ate something today, Vavilov's work probably had a hand in it. Come find out why. Also check out our YouTube channel Campfire Stories: Astonishing History and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. This episode includes sensitive content (CW: war, starvation). Listener discretion is advised. A LOT of the information for this episode came from the book "Cosmos, Possible Worlds" by Ann Dryuyan. Give it a read if you can! Also I apologize once again to the Russian people for butchering every Russian name in this story. Support the show at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/CampfireStories and make sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode! Contact me at campfirestoriesbusiness@gmail.com.Other Sources: https://www.rbth.com/blogs/2014/05/12/the_men_who_starved_to_death_to_save_the_worlds_seeds_35135#:~:text=During%20the%20siege%20of%20Leningrad,for%20a%20post%2Dapocalyptic%20world.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavlovsk_Experimental_Stationhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Vavilovhttps://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1992-05-13-9202080144-story.htmlhttps://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129499099https://www.amusingplanet.com/2018/08/the-scientists-who-starved-to-death.htmlhttps://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21328502-000-lost-treasures-the-soviet-seed-bank/https://compcytogen.pensoft.net/article/54511/Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/CampfireStories)

The Online Conference:  Learn how to compost, grow earthworms and soooo much more at the Regen Earth Backyard Regen Conference regen@regenearth.net   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Vavilov https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trofim_Lysenko https://www.croptrust.org/our-work/svalbard-global-seed-vault/

The Online Conference:  Learn how to compost, grow earthworms and soooo much more at the Regen Earth Backyard Regen Conference regen@regenearth.net   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Vavilov https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trofim_Lysenko https://www.croptrust.org/our-work/svalbard-global-seed-vault/

This week on Let's Talk About Chef we tell the story of famine, starvation, war, destruction, death, and also the history one of man who decided not too long ago that he never wanted another human being to go hungry again. This episode contains some upsetting subject matter but also contains one of the most inspirational stories of sacrifice you will ever hear, so pros and cons. Lets Talk About Chef is written and hosted by Brian Clarke with new episodes airing every ThursdayLet's Talk About Chef is available on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, TuneIn, Google Play, IHeart Radio and anywhere else you can think of to get your podcasts.If you want to write to the show you can email us at letstalkaboutchef@gmail.com or you can follow Brian on instagram @chefbrianclarkeHave a great service, and have a great week.

This week I welcome author and journalist Carolyn Fry onto the show. Didn’t think you could listen to 45 minutes talking about seeds? Think again! Here are the questions I asked Carolyn with a few tangents true to form as well:   What sparked the thought that this book needed to be in the world?   Were you always personally interested in nature and seeds growing up or was it something born from an experience at some point - an aha?   When you look at early human history, in the book you talk about how we 'walked to a better diet' - can you share a little about what you mean there?   How did shifting from hunter gatherer to seed-sowing cause a population boom?  (BIG tangent here too that’s fascinating!)  And what did cooking our food do for us in the early days?   How did seeds transform the way we feed ourselves?   How are some of the ways that seeds spread?   How have we changed seeds since we started cultivating them?   What is so important about seed conservation, classification and 'banking'?   Tell us the story of the first seed scientist Nikolai Vavilov. He saw in seeds so much more than anyone saw at the time - a true pioneer.   Now you talk about a lot of different seeds and types of seeds in the book and while they say no child is a favourite - do you have a favourite seed or two from all your research, and what is it / why?  Does it make you sad to see how seeds are being manipulated these days in the name of 'progress'?   Carolyn has authored 6 books on natural history, conservation and science and is the former editor of Geographical, the magazine of the Royal Geographical Society. It is such a pleasure taking a look at how seeds have evolved and how we’ve evolved because of them and I hope you enjoy the show. As usual, our show notes, new PATREON club and sponsor offer are available over at lowtoxlife.com/podcast 

Hola Gente Buen día! Hoy conmemoramos la vida de Anthony Bourdain y hablamos del legado de Nikolai Vavilov en otros bancos de semilla en todo el mundo. El articulo de hoy: http://www.wbur.org/endlessthread/2018/01/26/the-vault https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard_Global_Seed_Vault://www.wbur.org/endlessthread/2018/01/26/the-vault La musica de hoy: Don't You (Forget About Me) de Simple Minds Nuestro Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MananasConLeo/

Hola Gente Buen día! Hoy les cuento el sacrificio de un genetista Ruso el cual dio su vida por una de las causas más nobles del siglo XX. El articulo de hoy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Vavilov https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-vault/ La musica de hoy: Dancing in the Dark de Bruce Springsteen Nuestro Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MananasConLeo/

   Nikolai Vavilov was a Russian scientist in the early 1900’s.  He was known for his characterization of plants, understanding crop domestication, and the centers of origin for many species. He traveled the world with [...]

The Hoary Hosts of Patreon backer Elias Helfer command the opening of the Gaming Hut! Therein we shall describe ways to portray weird and magnficent landscapes like those seen in the Doctor Strange movie in roleplaying sessions! Backer Alex Johnston penetrates the vaunted infosec of the Tradecraft Hut to demand our dossier on Nikolai Vavilov […]

  During the siege of Leningrad in World War II, a heroic group of Russian botanists fought cold, hunger, and German attacks to keep alive a storehouse of crops that held the future of Soviet agriculture. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll tell the story of the Vavilov Institute, whose scientists literally starved to death protecting tons of treasured food. We'll also follow a wayward sailor and puzzle over how to improve the safety of tanks. Intro: Tippi Hedren, star of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, shared her home with a 400-pound lion. In 2009, a California consumer sued PepsiCo for implying that crunchberries are a fruit. Sources for our feature on Nikolai Vavilov: S.M. Alexanyan and V.I. Krivchenko, "Vavilov Institute Scientists Heroically Preserve World Plant Genetic Resources Collections During World War II Siege of Leningrad," Diversity 7:4 (1991), 10-13. James F. Crow, “N. I. Vavilov, Martyr to Genetic Truth,” Genetics 134:4 (May 1993). Olga Elina, Susanne Heim, and Nils Roll-Hansen, "Plant Breeding on the Front: Imperialism, War, and Exploitation," Osiris 20 (2005), 161-179. Peter Pringle, The Murder of Nikolai Vavilov, 2008. Boyce Rensberger, "Soviet Botanists Starved, Saving Seeds for Future," Washington Post, May 12, 1992. Michael Woods, “Soviet Union's Fall Threatens 'Gene Bank' for Food Crops,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 26, 1993. Joel I. Cohen and Igor G. Loskutov, “Exploring the Nature of Science Through Courage and Purpose,” SpringerPlus 5:1159 (2016). Listener mail: Peter Nichols, A Voyage for Madmen, 2001. Nicholas Tomalin and Ron Hall, The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst, 1970. Ed Caesar, "Drama on the Waves: The Life and Death of Donald Crowhurst," Independent, Oct. 27, 2006. This week's lateral thinking puzzle was contributed by listener Tommy Honton, who cites this source (warning: this link spoils the puzzle). You can listen using the player above, download this episode directly, or subscribe on iTunes or Google Play Music or via the RSS feed at http://feedpress.me/futilitycloset. Please consider becoming a patron of Futility Closet -- on our Patreon page you can pledge any amount per episode, and all contributions are greatly appreciated. You can change or cancel your pledge at any time, and we've set up some rewards to help thank you for your support. You can also make a one-time donation on the Support Us page of the Futility Closet website. Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode. If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at podcast@futilitycloset.com. Thanks for listening!

In 2007, Frederik van Oudenhoven travelled to the Pamir mountains in Central Asia to document what remained of the region’s rich agricultural biodiversity. Almost 100 years before, the great Russian botanist Nikolai Vavilov became convinced that this was where “the original evolution of many cultivated plants took place.” Soft club wheat, with its short ears, rye, barley, oil plants, grain legumes like chickpeas and lentils, melons and many fruits and vegetables; all showed the kind of diversity that Vavilov said pointed to the places where they were first domesticated. As he wrote, “it is still possible to observe the almost imperceptible transition from wild to cultivated forms within the area.” What van Oudenhoven found was bewildering; incomprehensible diversity in the fields and unspeakably dull food on his plate. It only started to make sense when he began to talk to Pamiri people, and especially the older women, about their food and culture. The result was a book – With Our Own Hands: a celebration of food and life in the Pamir Mountains of Tajikistan and Afghanistan – by van Oudenhoven and his co-author Jamila Haider, which documents a culture that remains in danger of disappearing. That book recently won the Gourmand International award for Best Cookbook of 2015, which is why I am now repeating the conversation I had with Frederik van Oudenhoven in July of last year. Notes With Our Own Hands is published by LM Publishers and is available from them and other booksellers. For other notes, see the original episode notes. There are plans to make a documentary about the people and their culture. Watch a trailer here.

#20 - Low-carb beats low-fat in a meta-analysis of 17 clinical trials. Obese and overweight adults on low-carb diets lost more weight and had lower atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk.   #19 - What Kojima And Andrew House Were REALLY Saying In Their Announcement   #18 - Donald Trump loses Scottish windfarm appeal   #17 - Now THAT'S a selfie   #16 - Rand Paul rips Chris Christie: 'If you're in favor of World War III, you have your candidate'   #15 - TIL that when Cristiano Ronaldo was asked to donate his cleats for a charity auction benefitting 10-year old Erik Ortiz Cruz, who had a brain disorder that can cause 30 seizures a day, he instead paid the whole $83K for his surgery.   #14(1) - Congress creates a bill that will give NASA a great budget for 2016. Also hides the entirety of CISA in the bill.   #13(5) - Octopus makes a rolling armoured home out of a coconut.   #12 - They covered real brick with fake brick.   #11 - My friend's cat had surgery and now he has no pants   #10 - New Earth like planet spotted just 14 light years away: Wolf 1061c   #9 - Amazing Rendering   #8 - Sikh store-owner called terrorist and shot in the face in Michigan #7 - Digging peanuts   #6 - TIL in 1941 the world's largest seed bank (created by botanist Nikolai Vavilov) was housed in Leningrad. As the Germans surrounded the city forcing mass starvation, Vavilov's scientists refused to eat from the collection, slowly dying of hunger as they maintained 16 rooms of edible plants.   #5 - Octopus carrying around a coconut for portable protection xpost /r/interestingasfuck   #4 - "'When I stand across from King Hussein of Jordan, I say to him you have a friend sir who will stand with you to fight this fight,' Christie said during Tuesday's Republican primary debate. Only problem is that Hussein has been dead since 1999."   #3 - So this happened..   #2 - NASA gets $19.285B in the FY16 budget, nearly $750M above request, includes $1.2438B for Commercial Crew, the exact amount requested.   #1 - Lawmakers Have Snuck CISA Into a Bill That Is Guaranteed to Become a Law     Show contact E-mail: feedback.ireadit@gmail.com Twitter: @ireaditcast Phone: (508)-738-2278 Michael Schwan: @schwahnmichael

The Pamir Mountains of Central Asia hold a fascinating diversity of food crops. Exploring the area in the early years of the 20th century the great Russian botanist Nikolai Vavilov became convinced that this was where “the original evolution of many cultivated plants took place.” Soft club wheat, with its short ears, rye, barley, oil plants, grain legumes like chick peas and lentils, melons and many fruits and vegetables; all showed the kind of diversity that Vavilov said pointed to the places where they were first domesticated. As he wrote, “it is still possible to observe the almost imperceptible transition from wild to cultivated forms within the area.” Frederik van Oudenhoven first travelled to the Pamirs in 2007 to document what remained of that rich agricultural biodiversity. What he found was bewildering, until he began to talk to Pamiri people, and especially the older women, about their food and culture. The result is With Our Own Hands: a celebration of food and life in the Pamir Mountains of Tajikistan and Afghanistan, a new book by van Oudenhoven and his co-author Jamila Haider, that documents a culture that remains in danger of disappearing. Notes With Our Own Hands is published by LM Publishers, who say it will be available from tomorrow, 7 July. If you think you might want a copy, order without delay; until tomorrow the price is reduced to €34.50 from €54.50. You can get a taste here. There are also a couple of scholarly articles online. Imagining alternative futures through the lens of food in the Afghan and Tajik Pamir mountains and Food as a method in development practice. Photos by Frederik van Oudenhoven. The banner shows an Afghan settlement in Darvaz, along the Panj River, in autumn, with yellow mulberrry trees and red apricots. the other picture is Frederik and his co-author Jamila Haider.

John de Graaf is an environmental filmmaker and activist who has had a significant focus on agriculture for many years. 2015 is the 170th anniversary of the Irish potato famine, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to talk about the history of one of my personal heroes, John Niederhauser, who worked on the development of blight-resistant potatoes in Mexico, and his encounter with genetic giant Nikolai Vavilov in the 1930’s. In addition to potatoes and genetics, we get to talk a little bit about baseball, and John’s current work as executive director of Take Back Your Time, an organization challenging overwork and over-scheduling – and John’s analysis of over-work’s impact on farmers and their customers.

Agriculture tends to favour the best food varieties but this is often a trade off with beneficial traits such as resistance to disease or tolerance to drought. During the 1920s the Russian botanist Nikolai Vavilov, having witnessed famine on a large scale, became increasingly concerned about the potential loss of locally adapted varieties and spent his life studying crop plants in their wild habitats. Professor Kathy Willis examines Vavilov's pioneering work and his search for pools of genetic variability - so called "centres of origin" amongst the wild relatives of our domesticated crops that could help sustain future plant breeding for human use. Vavilov's story has a tragic end but, as we hear, his legacy lives on in seedbanks such as Kew's Millennium Seedbank at Wakehurst Place whose Crop Wild Relatives Project is collecting and assessing new potential amongst the original progenitors of our domestic crops. With contributions from archaeobotanist Dorian Fuller, Kew's curator of economic botany Mark Nesbitt, Crop Wild Relatives Project coordinator Ruth Eastwood, and head of the Millennium Seedbank Paul Smith. Producer Adrian Washbourne.

Nikolai Vavilov traveled to 64 countries gathering seeds and plants and established the first seed bank. Stalin had the botanist sentenced to death, but his seed bank endured: Other scientists guarded the stores from rats, starving Russians and the Nazis. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers

Peter Pringle talks about his book, The Murder of Nikolai Vavilov, a sordid tale of politics triumphing over science

Peter Pringle talks about his book, The Murder of Nikolai Vavilov, a sordid tale of politics triumphing over science