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Where Did Corn Come From?

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Where Did Corn Come From?

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Botanists have repeatedly crossed scientific swords over proposed answers to this question, but for the past few years all has been rather quiet and the issue seemingly resolved. Now, however, an upstart anthropologist-turned-geneticist is entering the fray, and the Corn War is heating up again. Mary Eubanks, a postdoctoral researcher at Duke University, has bred a hybrid that produces ears resembling the world’s most ancient preserved corn–two-inch cobs, at least 3,600 years old, excavated from the dust of a cave near Tehuacán, Mexico. Moreover, an analysis of the hybrid’s DNA hints that Eubanks has experimentally resurrected one of corn’s long-lost ancestors, which may hold the key to breeding hardier descendants. Some Corn War veterans are enraged, complaining that Eubanks’s work is nonsense. Other botanists flat out refuse to discuss her or her theory. And some say she just might be on to something. Why the fuss? Well, for one thing, there are more than just academic egos on the l

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Corn is the second most widely grown crop on earth today, after wheat, and in the United States it’s the largest crop. But no one in Europe knew about corn until Columbus sailed for the New World! Corn probably first grew in Central America and, by at least 2000 B.C., was cultivated by the Indians in North America. The Indians c

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Corn is a kind of seed, like peas, that comes originally from a wild plant that grows in Mexico called teosinte. It has lots of carbohydrates, but not as much protein as wheat or barley. Corn also has some vitamins, especially Vitamin B and Vitamin C. People first began to farm corn (instead of picking it wild) around 7,500 BC in Mexico. Gradually people bred the corn plants to have more and more corn – bigger ears, with more kernels, and easier to eat – and fewer leaves. By about 1 AD, the Pueblo people in North America also grew corn.

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The genetic origin of corn appears to be quite complicated. According to some, corn is an entirely man-made species that is incapable of reproducing without the intervention of man, but information gathered from reliable sources finds those beliefs to be wrong. It is generally accepted that certain species of corn were developed by Native Americans.

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