Why are seeds such different sizes?
CrowdScience
BBC
4.8 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 30 April 2021
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
When eating a blackberry one day, CrowdScience listener Charles got a tiny seed stuck in his teeth. That got him wondering: why are seeds the size they are? Why does a blackberry have dozens of tiny pips, while a peach has one huge stone right in the middle?
Plant seeds have been around for hundreds of millions of years, so they’ve had plenty of time to shapeshift into wildly different forms: from dust-like orchid seeds to giant coconuts. This evolution has been a long and intricate dance with wind, water and animals; we ask how different kinds of seeds might respond to today’s environmental threats and rapidly changing ecosystems.
And we go in search of the world’s biggest seed, the coco de mer: native to just two remote islands in the Indian Ocean and weighing up to 18kg, how did this seed evolve to be so much bigger than any other?
With Professor Angela Moles, Dr Si-Chong Chen, Marc Jean-Baptiste, Dr Frauke Fleischer-Dogley and Dr Wolfgang Stuppy.
Presented by Marnie Chesterton Produced by Cathy Edwards for the BBC World Service
[Photo: Different sized fruit seeds. Credit: Getty Images]
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Take some time for yourself with soothing classical music from the mindful mix, the Science of |
| 0:07.0 | Happiness Podcast. |
| 0:08.0 | For the last 20 years I've dedicated my career to exploring the science of living a happier more meaningful life and I want |
| 0:14.4 | to share that science with you. |
| 0:16.1 | And just one thing, deep calm with Michael Mosley. |
| 0:19.4 | I want to help you tap in to your hidden relaxation response system and open the door to that |
| 0:25.5 | calmer place within. Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:38.6 | Do you see this nut? Yes, there's something big that looks like a bottom. So this is the Cocoa de Mad nut. |
| 0:41.0 | Welcome to Crowdscience from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:45.0 | I'm Marnie Chesterton and I'm taking a virtual trip to a remote island in the Seychelles |
| 0:51.0 | in the middle of the Indian Ocean. |
| 0:53.0 | It's home to the world's biggest seed, the double coconut or cocoa de mare. |
| 0:58.0 | With one hand I would try and push it to my knee so that I can leave it because this is very heavy. I don't want you to damage your back is doing this. |
| 1:05.0 | Okay, okay. |
| 1:08.0 | Okay, you see it. |
| 1:10.0 | Wow! |
| 1:11.0 | Oh, sorry. Wow. produces fruit that weighs I don't know about 20 kilos. |
| 1:24.6 | 20 plus. |
| 1:25.6 | In an ideal world I would be on a Paradise Island, |
| 1:30.9 | weightlifting giant seeds myself, but a virtual tour with Mark Jean Baptiste |
| 1:36.0 | is the next best thing. We'll hear more from him about this epic nut later on. |
| 1:42.1 | We're the show that takes the kernel of your questions, waters them |
... |
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