did you know that? this sh*t is BANANAS

ok, so i used to be obsessed with Bill Nye the Science Guy when i was young. i mean WHO WASN'T? (ok probably most normal children, but you don't grow up to become a molecular biologist without a few early warning signs).

but anyway, i used to love this little segment he would have on his show called "Did You Know That" where you would be told some awesome little fact and then informed that "Now You Know!" so i was thinking that in my quest to try and make this blog a little more true to who i am as a person (which is multifaceted layers of awesome a giant nerd) that i would start a new recurring post wherein i share some awesome little fact or tidbit that i have acquired in the last week. think of all the interesting cocktail party conversations you will have!

so i'll start off today with BANANAS. did you know that you have essentially eaten the same banana your whole life? unless you are lucky enough to live somewhere where there are lovely local banana varieties (apparently the best tasting ones are in the Philippines) you have been eating the exact same clone of the Cavendish banana your whole life (this means each banana is genetically identical). and this is a GLOBAL phenomenon. a person over in China is eating the same banana twin as a person in Brazil and its identical to what i threw in my smoothie this morning here in the US.

this in itself kind of blew my mind. then i went on to learn that our beloved banana is now threatened by killer unstoppable banana fungus. sadly this is not such a happy tale and actually could threaten the future of our bananas. crazy enough, this actually happened before about 50 years ago and wiped out the type of banana our grandparents used to love. so be nice to your bananas, appreciate them. and lets hope some cool scientists can come along and save them soon!

oh and i'm totally not a banana expert. to learn more go check out Dan Koeppel's book Banana: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World and listen to his interview on Fresh Air

photo source (1 / 2 via 3)