the grains will mature to provide seeds for the following year. Harvesting an entire field of grain on the same day,
however, favors grains that are almost ripe at the time. Grains that are over-ripe or under-ripe will be less viable if sown
as seeds the following year. The effect is to reduce the variation in ripening time from one year to the next, so that eventually
the entire field ripens at the same time. This is bad from the plant’s point of view, since it means the entire crop can potentially
fail. But it is far more con ve nient for human farmers.
In the case of rice, human intervention helped to propagate desirable properties such as taller and larger plants to aid harvesting,
and more secondary branches and larger grains to increase yield. But domestication also made wheat and rice more dependent
on human intervention. Rice lost its natural ability to survive in flood waters, for example, as it was pampered by human
farmers. And both wheat and rice were less able to reproduce by themselves because of the human-selected shatterproof rachis.
The domestication of wheat, rice, and maize, the three main cereal grains, and of their lesser siblings barley, rye, oats,
and millet, were all variations on the same familiar genetic theme: more convenient food, less resilient plant.
The same trade-off occurred as humans domesticated animals for the purpose of providing food, starting with sheep and goats
in the Near East around 8000 B.C. and followed by cattle and pigs soon afterward. (Pigs were independently domesticated in
China at roughly the same time, and the chicken was domesticated in southeast Asia around 6000 B.C.) Most domesticated animals
have smaller brains and less acute eyesight and hearing than their wild ancestors. This reduces their ability to survive in
the wild but makes them more docile, which suits human farmers.
Humans became dependent on their new creations, and vice versa. By providing a more dependable and plentiful food supply,
farming provided the basis for new lifestyles and far more complex societies. These cultures relied on a range of foods, but
the most important were the cereals: wheat and barley in the Near East, rice and millet in Asia, and maize in the Americas.
The civilizations that subsequently arose on these edible foundations, including our own, owe their existence to these ancient
products of genetic engineering.
The centers of origin for domesticated maize, wheat, and rice .
PRESENT AT THE CREATION
This debt is acknowledged in many myths and legends in which the creation of the world, and the emergence of civilization
after a long period of barbarism, are closely bound up with these vital crops. The Aztecs of Mexico, for example, believed
men were created five times, each generation being an improvement over the last. Teosinte was said to have been man’s principal
food in the third and fourth creations. Finally, in the fifth creation, man nourished himself with maize. Only then did he
prosper, and his descendants populated the world.
The creation story of the Maya of southern Mexico, recounted in the Popul Vuh (or “sacred book”), also involves repeated attempts
to create mankind. At first the gods fashioned men out of mud, but the resulting creatures could barely see, could not move
at all, and were soon washed away. So the gods tried again, this time making men out of wood. These creatures could walk on
all fours and speak, but they lacked blood and souls, and they failed to honor the gods. The gods destroyed these men, too,
so that all that remained of them were a few tree-dwelling monkeys. Finally, after much discussion about the appropriate choice
of ingredients, the gods made a third generation of men from white and yellow ears of maize: “Of yellow maize and of white
maize they made their flesh; of corn-meal dough they made the arms and the legs of man. Only dough of corn-meal went into
the flesh of our first
however, favors grains that are almost ripe at the time. Grains that are over-ripe or under-ripe will be less viable if sown
as seeds the following year. The effect is to reduce the variation in ripening time from one year to the next, so that eventually
the entire field ripens at the same time. This is bad from the plant’s point of view, since it means the entire crop can potentially
fail. But it is far more con ve nient for human farmers.
In the case of rice, human intervention helped to propagate desirable properties such as taller and larger plants to aid harvesting,
and more secondary branches and larger grains to increase yield. But domestication also made wheat and rice more dependent
on human intervention. Rice lost its natural ability to survive in flood waters, for example, as it was pampered by human
farmers. And both wheat and rice were less able to reproduce by themselves because of the human-selected shatterproof rachis.
The domestication of wheat, rice, and maize, the three main cereal grains, and of their lesser siblings barley, rye, oats,
and millet, were all variations on the same familiar genetic theme: more convenient food, less resilient plant.
The same trade-off occurred as humans domesticated animals for the purpose of providing food, starting with sheep and goats
in the Near East around 8000 B.C. and followed by cattle and pigs soon afterward. (Pigs were independently domesticated in
China at roughly the same time, and the chicken was domesticated in southeast Asia around 6000 B.C.) Most domesticated animals
have smaller brains and less acute eyesight and hearing than their wild ancestors. This reduces their ability to survive in
the wild but makes them more docile, which suits human farmers.
Humans became dependent on their new creations, and vice versa. By providing a more dependable and plentiful food supply,
farming provided the basis for new lifestyles and far more complex societies. These cultures relied on a range of foods, but
the most important were the cereals: wheat and barley in the Near East, rice and millet in Asia, and maize in the Americas.
The civilizations that subsequently arose on these edible foundations, including our own, owe their existence to these ancient
products of genetic engineering.
The centers of origin for domesticated maize, wheat, and rice .
PRESENT AT THE CREATION
This debt is acknowledged in many myths and legends in which the creation of the world, and the emergence of civilization
after a long period of barbarism, are closely bound up with these vital crops. The Aztecs of Mexico, for example, believed
men were created five times, each generation being an improvement over the last. Teosinte was said to have been man’s principal
food in the third and fourth creations. Finally, in the fifth creation, man nourished himself with maize. Only then did he
prosper, and his descendants populated the world.
The creation story of the Maya of southern Mexico, recounted in the Popul Vuh (or “sacred book”), also involves repeated attempts
to create mankind. At first the gods fashioned men out of mud, but the resulting creatures could barely see, could not move
at all, and were soon washed away. So the gods tried again, this time making men out of wood. These creatures could walk on
all fours and speak, but they lacked blood and souls, and they failed to honor the gods. The gods destroyed these men, too,
so that all that remained of them were a few tree-dwelling monkeys. Finally, after much discussion about the appropriate choice
of ingredients, the gods made a third generation of men from white and yellow ears of maize: “Of yellow maize and of white
maize they made their flesh; of corn-meal dough they made the arms and the legs of man. Only dough of corn-meal went into
the flesh of our first
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