Blamblog - Brett Lamb's Blog



	About happycreature[at]gmail[dot[com] [ BLAMBLOG ] Ed Locke's Grandpa Happy Creature Ms. Johnson PIX www.flickr.com This is a Flickr badge showing public photos from blamb. Make your own badge here. [ PILOTS! ] Bill Doskoch 72hrchik BlogTO Dead Robot democraticSPACE Enter the Chapel estrojenn Finn's Space Fred the Blog John Gushue Patrick Byck Rick Mercer Rocketboom Simple Splendor Squiddity Confessions of a Monkey [ A-TEAM ] AllThingsChristie & BWE Circadian Shift Daily Dose Davezilla Dooce Jett Superior Kitty Bukkake Sugarmama Tony Pierce [ TORONTO ROCKS ] Accordion Guy Alan Hunt Andrew Spicer Angie McKaig armchair garbageman Bacon and Eh's Bored Astronaut Cellar Dweller Chip Tijuana Chromewaves Clara* Consolation Champs Biker Chick Dave Howard Day in the Life Digifox Easternblog freckle stof Help! Ice Queen indigoblog JBWarehouse Liz Vang Luminescent Lunerose Maria Marmalade moot point Nug Photojunkie Pony Pshaw Radio Weisblogg Raymi Riri's Braindump RobotJohnny Rusty Robot Sally McKay Sarah Pengelly Secret Storm ShanghaiM Ultrablog United Bingdom wainbows Warren Kinsella Zoilus [ ALL IN THE FAMILY ] Merv! Dad! Gillian Kevin! [ ORGANIZIZED ] GTA Bloggers TorontoComic Jam [ BEACHCOMBERS ] Good, Matthew Good, Jennifer Ian King Jeff Merritt [ GOTHAM CITY ] Explananda Lindsayism My Blog is Poop Yoon! [ ST. ELSEWHERE ] Blogebrity blogumentary Brett Lamb: Oz Bunny McIntosh Dust My Broom elanamatic Go Fug Yourself Grrrl Meets World James Bow Little Lioness SKSmith Shelly Skillzy Tom Tomorrow [ 6 O'CLOCK NEWS ] boing boing Cursor Drawn! Fark Garlicster Metafilter Plastic The Register SciFi Daily Sexblogs Slashdot Space.com The Smoking Gun Zeropaid [ CARTOONS ] Corrigan Children of the Atom Fiona Smyth Maakies MacKay MNFTIU.cc Secret Lair Smell of Steve [ VARIETY HOUR ] B3TA Hoogerbrugge Milk & Cookies Mumbleboy Onion Rathergood XE [ RERUNS ] [ 2005 ] JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL MAY JUNE JULY AUGUST [ 2004 ] MAY JUNE JULY AUGUST SEPTEMBER OCTOBER NOVEMBER DECEMBER [ 2002 ] [ 2003 ]	Wednesday, August 17, 2005 Bananas Face "Extinction" Amber just sent me this NYT article. Bananas face extinction .. and it's not the first time: No, Seriously. Save the Bananas. By PAUL B. BROWN Published: August 13, 2005 A two-pronged frantic race is under way to save the banana. It's no joke, as Popular Science reports in a fascinating account this month. The Cavendish, the version of the banana that rests on top of American breakfast cereals, is "on a crash course toward extinction." A fungus dangerous to the Cavendish was discovered in Asia 13 years ago and has since "wiped out plantations in Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia and Taiwan and is now spreading through much of Southeast Asia," Don Koeppel writes. It is inevitable, the experts say, that the fungus will eventually wipe out Cavendish bananas worldwide. That would be a devastating loss of billions of dollars annually for growers, shippers and retailers. Each American consumes 26.2 pounds of bananas a year, making it by far the most popular fruit. (Apples are a distant second at 16.7 pounds.) To save the banana, two strategies are being employed. Scientists, primarily in Europe, are trying to genetically alter the Cavendish, to make it able to resist the fungus. The problem, of course, is many consumers are leery of genetically altered food. Option 2 is to develop another variety that consumers would find acceptable. As the article points out, growers in Central America are "trying to create a replacement that looks and tastes so similar to the Cavendish that consumers won't notice the difference." That strategy worked before. Up until the 1960's, Americans ate Gros Michel bananas, "a banana that was larger and, by all accounts, tastier than the fruit we now eat." Those plants were killed off by a different fungus, and the Cavendish replaced them. 10:20 AM , # , \|