Serving Up the Origins of the Chicken and Chili Pepper
17:24 minutes
Chickens and chili peppers are staples of the modern-day menu. Scientists are now combining genetics and linguistics to find out how these animals and plants were transformed to their current form. Evolutionary biologist Greger Larson and plant scientist Paul Gepts discuss the domestication process.
Segment Guests
Greger Larson
Greger Larson is director of the Palaeogenomics and Bio-Archaeology Research Network and a professor of Archaeology at the University of Oxford in Oxford, England.
Paul Gepts
Paul Gepts is a professor and plant scientist at the University of California, Davis in Davis, California.
Related Links
- Chickens to Chili Peppers: Scientists Search for the First Genetic Engineers
- Current perspectives and the future of domestication studies
- More questions than answers as mystery of domestication deepens
- Establishing the validity of domestication genes using DNA from ancient chickens
- Wild Vs Domestic: Wild Animals Interbred With Domesticated Ones Until Quite Recently
- How the Chicken Conquered the World
- Chili Say What? Linguistics Help Pinpoint Pepper’s Origins
- What’s So Hot About Chili Peppers?
Meet the Producer
About Alexa Lim
@AlexaLim22Alexa Lim was a senior producer for Science Friday. Her favorite stories involve space, sound, and strange animal discoveries.