Cassava’s many assets would seem to make it the ideal crop, except for one drawback: It’s highly poisonous. Human ingenuity has made cassava edible for millennia.
Dogs have lived with Indigenous Americans since before they came to the continent together 10,000 years ago. A new analysis reveals the lineage of one 1800s ‘woolly dog’ from the Pacific Northwest.
There’s been a long-standing debate over whether dingoes started out wild or domesticated. One thing is clear – they had a close relationship with First Peoples.
Octopus build cities, establish hierarchies and show social group behaviours. Domesticating will mean creating a new kind of octopus, with ecological and ethical implications.
Longfin damselfish (left) have domesticated mysid shrimps (right).
Rohan Brooker
While humans domesticate plants and animals, these relationships are surprisingly rare in other species. Our new study found a species of fish that appears to have domesticated a kind of tiny shrimp.
Archaeologists investigate an ancient habitation site in western Mongolia, seeking clues to the early history of domestic horses.
William Taylor
Archaeologists have long argued over when and how people first domesticated horses. A decade ago, new techniques appeared to have provided answers – but further discoveries change the story again.
Tomatoes’ ancestors looked very different.
Foxys Forest Manufacture/Shutterstock
Through genetic detective work, scientists have identified missing links in the tomato’s evolution from a wild blueberry-sized fruit in South America to the larger modern tomato of today.
He died so that we might eat cheese.
Vasekk/Shutterstock