When Ancient Weeds Fooled Us

To try everything Brilliant has to offer, visit https://brilliant.org/eons Ancient weeds began mimicking early crops again and again over the course of the agricultural revolution, as ancient farmers made similar mistakes in different places at different times.And it turns out, some of our closest plant friends today actually started out as uninvited guests that hid their true identity. From a certain evolutionary point of view, these plants tricked us into domesticating them. But this mimicry came with a dark side – along with some accidental plant friends emerged an accidental plant enemy, too. ***** PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to http://to.pbs.org/DonateEons ***** Eons is a production of Complexly for PBS Digital Studios. Super special thanks to the following Patreon patrons for helping make Eons possible: Nate Chisholm, Yibrán Arumir, Sara Lance, Aaditya Mehta, John H. Austin, Jr., Stephen A Muth III, tara thara, AllPizzasArePersonal, John Hildebrandt, Mary Sammartino , Alex Hackman, Gizmo, Melodie Chen-Glasser, Karen Farrell, Casey Hague, Jason Rostoker, Susan Freund, William Sunderland, Mary Tevington, Kerry Conneely, Irene Wood, Derek Helling, Nicholas Arger, Lycoperdon perlatum, Brian Clubb, CalamityBangs, Beth K, Lea Nisay, Nomi Alchin, Duane Westhoff, Eric Younge, Elyssa, Yu Mei, A.B. Heckert, Annemiek Arkema, Hillary Ryde-Collins, Willie, Albert Folsom, John D Elias, Beth-Ann Cheney, Dan Caffee, Stephanie Schlea, Nick Ryhajlo, lyric1981, Betsy Radley, IAmHere, SKS PHD, Nquiztor, raus , Steven Kern, Ruth Orr, Eric Edwards, Steve Hill, Collin Dutrow, Lianne Lairmore, Christopher Samuel, Douglas B, Jennifer Courtemanche, Eric Franklin, Kevin Lacson, Sarah Grunow-Mau, John Celio, Walter Ray-Dulany, Deanna Hernandez, Nathan Paskett, Jeff Graham If you'd like to support the channel, head over to http://patreon.com/eons and pledge for some cool rewards! Want to follow Eons elsewhere on the internet? Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/eonsshow Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/eonsshow/ Bluesky - https://bsky.app/profile/pbseons.bsky.social #Eons References: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ByWzIGKtwJQll3TH_b64twYnXnWDK637KCPa42ifwzs/edit?usp=sharing