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Shrinking The Watermelon
Makarand writes "Scientists who have already eliminated seeds and sweetened the watermelon
have now
miniaturized this fruit to the size of a cantaloupe. Only the outer speckled shell looks give a clue to what fruit it really is. Syngenta, a Swiss agribusinesses' North American subsidiary has brought this minimelon to the market in 30 states to satisfy
customers who favor something that is easier to store and less troublesome to prepare for consumption. No biotech or genetic engineering at work here - the company merely crossed different
breeds of watermelons to produce the minimelon."
Here
Selective breeding sounds a whole lot like genetic engineering to me.
In any case, I bet these will be popular in Japan, if the stories I have heard about watermelons and Japan are true.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
Who cares about small watermelons when you can have square watermelons?
Thoughts on stocks, markets and trading
Genetic Engineering: Creating a new organism by directly altering its genetic code (most notably by 'splicing' code from other organisms into it). Understandably, this idea freaks people out. I must say it doesn't make me particularily comfortable. Selective Breeding: Overriding the subtle hand of Natural Selection in species' evolution with human choice; ie. hand-picking which organism will breed with which. It's the origin of just about every 'domesticated' species, such as wheat, dairy cattle, and (er, I think) brewer's yeast. Selective Breeding is where Chihuahuas, Pekes and Devon Rexes come from, so it's not entirely in my good books either.
What's the big deal?? They have those small watermelons in Japan for many years (some watermelons are as small as a softball). I know this, as I worked in watermelon shipping warehouse in Japan for a while.
Excuse me, but what do you think cross-breeding is?
Crossbreeding IS genetic engineering - just because no gene splicing is involved does not change that.
www.eFax.com are spammers
This does not mean that there is less risk, 'normal' plant breeding is quite capable of producing something toxic on its own
That's the problem with the Simpsons. You never know when something is real. Of course it's not real that it would pop back to a spheroid shape. But I think even in the show it cost 10,000 Yen.
Why don't you guys have friends or journals?
Even the store clerks at Vons seemed taken with the little melons.
"Those are the cutest baby watermelons," one said on a pass through the produce section. "Aren't those like little babies?" said another.
The real news here is the shocking news that Vons employees like to eat babies. Compared to the image of grocery store checkout workers huddled around cute little baby-sized spheres, cracking them open and eating the sweet, sweet red insides, tiny watermellons just doesn't sound all that disturbing.
Of course, maybe you think tiny watermellons aren't supposed to be disturbing, but that's just because you're tiny fruit desensitized.
Narrative
I think that reducing the size of the watermelon would dramatically increase the flavour, considering it's the same amount of fruit and juice, but compressed into a smaller space. You can achieve the same effect by "super-ripening", a process whereby a melon is over-ripened. Melons which have been super-ripened have superior flavour - though this is something I read somewhere, I have yet to see such a melon should it exist.
Can anyone confirm this??
and less troublesome to prepare for consumption
I never knew it was that hard to cut a watermelon into quarters and put it on a plate.
You can't patent DNA--its GPL'd. ;)
Seriously, you can patent the _sequence_ of DNA--which is proprietary code, and subject to all IP laws and such... which is what they've done here. Or at least, I hope they did... if not, there going to be really pissed when someone sequences their Minimelon DNA and copyright's it.
I'm still waiting for the GPL'd Minimelon, which will run better and faster than all Minimelons previous.
Softball sized? much too large.
We had spherical watermelon seeds ordered from catalog in (circa) 1975. We were on the borderline of their recommended growing climate in Maine, so they grew to merely baseball to softball size by autumn. Tasty, but small -- single-serving size. Many of them fit in my windbreaker pocket, for eating after school while scoring a soccer game. Much amazment from folks who'd never seen a tiny, round watermelon.
Bill
wdr or n1vux as appropriate
I would have thought the American consumer would have wanted larger melons. That's the impression I get from The Man Show, anyway.
Actually, I remember a story on BBC news that some researchers had discovered that women prefer buying smaller melons because it makes them feel less nervous about their chest size.
Curiously, this psychological phenomenon doesn't seem to stop men buying foot-long hot dogs or subs.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
My roomate and I grew a watermellon in our backyard last summer. It was the size of a golfball. Then the slugs ate it--since one slug stayed out in the middle of the yard until midmorning and risked being eaten by the crows it must have been darn tasty. Stupid slugs.
So, um, take THAT!