ekylo:

cinnabees:

thespectacularspider-girl:

jiggly-jello-squid:

art-angelsz:

nunyabizni:

trashcanbees:

asapscience:

Fruits and vegetables, before and after human intervention. 

Source

We did a pretty good fucking job, Jesus Christ

Remember this the next time you want to complain about GMO’s, we may not have done it in a lab but they still are that.

Bananas looked like lemons wtf

Isn’t this more of a combination of selective breeding and GMOs? Not just GMOs?

Yes.  But people talk about how GMO’s are “unnatural”, yet for centuries humanity has been exploiting mutations in animals and plants to produce food for themselves.

GMO’s are simply the process of inducing these mutations reliably.

People hear “Lettuce being modified with scorpion DNA” and think that we’re now eating scorpions.  But, in reality, they’re taking a tiny bit of scorpion DNA and splicing it into the plant.  Why?  So the plant will produce poison that is not harmful to humans but will deter insects, reducing the use of pesticide, which CAN be harmful to humans and the environment.

GMOs are producing rice that can survive flooding, which makes rice more reliable yields and will prevent food shortages in poor nations that rely on said crops for staple food.

GMOs are also creating spider-goat hybrids.  Why? So we can splice web production into the goat’s udders.  We’ll be able to spin huge quantities of spider silk, enough to reliably create spider silk cables and ropes, which have more tensile strength than steel.

i had to pause at that last one there

that last comment is good, a bit ill informed. the first thing to point out is that ONLY gmo plants have been approved by the FDA (in the USA). and it’s only 8 different kinds of crops (sugar beets, corn, soy, etc. lettuce and tomatoes are NOT on this list). The FDA is very hesitant to approve GMO animals.

plus, the VAST majority of GMO crops are genetically altered using lines of genes from OTHER PLANTS. a scorpion-lettuce probably wouldn’t happen.

but yes the good points you made are that GMO plants are an extremely controlled product. they are made far more accurately than traditional selective breeding, and with less waste, pesticides, and water than “organic” crops.

but yea GMO fear mongering is bad and listening to that bullshit costs us all more money