Renowned cognitive neuroscientist Stanislas Dehaene explains how you can learn new things by tapping into the four pillars of learning. But first, you’ll learn about how we get seedless fruit.
Renowned cognitive neuroscientist Stanislas Dehaene explains how you can learn new things by tapping into the four pillars of learning. But first, you’ll learn about how we get seedless fruit.
How do we get seedless fruit? by Cameron Duke
Additional resources from Stanislas Dehaene:
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Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/tap-into-the-4-pillars-of-learning-w-stanislas-dehaene-and-how-we-get-seedless-fruit
CODY: Hi! You’re about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from curiosity-dot-com. I’m Cody Gough.
ASHLEY: And I’m Ashley Hamer. Today, you’ll learn about how we get seedless fruit. Then, you’ll find out how to tap into the four pillars of learning to better absorb new information, with help from cognitive neuroscientist Stanislas Dehaene [STAN-iss-LOSS dih-HAHN, like “Stefan” with a D].
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
What’s the deal with seedless fruit? I mean, plants make fruit to spread seeds. If they don’t have seeds, how do we make more of them? The answer: by making use of something plants do already.
It may surprise you to learn that plants can produce seedless fruit all on their own — the kind you buy in the store hasn’t been made seedless through any genetic modification. When a plant produces fruit without seeds in it, scientists call that parthenocarpy. Because many people seem to like seedless fruit because it’s easier to eat, farmers and scientists have spent a long time learning how to reliably trigger parthenocarpy.
One way they do that is by keeping the plant from being pollinated. See, fruit starts as a flower, which usually needs to be fertilized by pollen from a fellow plant in order to produce a fruit. Flowers can fertilize themselves with their own pollen, but many plants have genes that prevent that. Mixing DNA with other individuals helps preserve genetic diversity and keep the species healthy, after all. If these plants do self-pollinate, the fruit will grow, but these genes will act as a kill-switch for seed development. This is how navel oranges are produced.
But wait — without seeds, how do you make more oranges? By borrowing a branch or two from a fully grown tree. Farmers will take cuttings from one tree and plant them in the soil, where they’ll grow into a new tree — a process called propagation. They’ll propagate enough to cover a whole field, basically creating an orchard of orange tree clones that will produce sterile fruit when they cross-pollinate.
Parthenocarpy can also happen because of chromosomal imbalances. That means that the plant producing the fruit has too many sets of chromosomes. For example, the bananas we eat come from triploid plants. This means that instead of having a set of chromosomes from each parent, they got one set from one parent and two sets from the other. Plants like this are usually sterile, so they also have to be propagated from offshoots, just like our friend the navel orange. This method can lead to genetic diversity issues, though, because, again, they all have to be cloned. In fact, if you were born after 1950, every banana you’ve ever eaten has been genetically identical.
For watermelons, things are a little more complicated. Watermelon vines are kind of finicky, and they can’t be propagated. That means each seedless watermelon plant has to grow directly from a seed. Farmers achieve this by producing triploid plants, just like bananas. They’ll mate a plant with two sets of chromosomes with a plant that has four, which results in a sterile, triploid, seedless watermelon.
Let’s be honest: seedless fruits are genetic freaks. But they sure are tasty.
Get ready to learn how to learn, with some help from a world-renowned cognitive neuroscientist. Stanislas Dehaene [STAN-iss-LOSS dih-HAHN, like “Stefan” with a D] is the Director of the Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit in France, and author “How We Learn: Why Brains Learn Better Than Any Machine...for Now.” Yesterday he told us about some things we’ve recently learned about how humans gain knowledge, starting with tiny infants who kinda act like little scientists in certain ways. Not all learning methods are created equal, though — as in, sometimes we use strategies that aren’t super effective in helping us absorb new information. So we asked: what is it that people are doing wrong when they try to learn, and how can we fix it?
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Again, those four pillars of learning are attention, curiosity, feedback, and consolidation. And Stanislas told us that teachers really need to emphasize that “attention” element by finding ways to captivate students. Easier said than done, I know, but there’s a bonus tip for you if you’ve been responsible for educating your kids while schools are closed. I’m glad he brought up consolidation, too. I feel like we’ve told you why sleep is so important about a million times on this podcast, and I’m not gonna lie, it’s kinda nice when one of Europe’s leading cognitive neuroscientists says it’s important, too. Again, Stanislas Dehaene [STAN-iss-LOSS dih-HAHN, like “Stefan” with a D] is the author “How We Learn: Why Brains Learn Better Than Any Machine...for Now.” You can find a link to pick it up in today’s show notes.
ASHLEY: Let’s do a quick recap of what we learned today
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CODY: Today’s first story was written by Cameron Duke, and edited by Ashley Hamer, who’s the managing editor for Curiosity Daily.
ASHLEY: Today’s episode was produced and edited by Cody Gough.
CODY: Join us again tomorrow to learn something new in just a few minutes.
ASHLEY: And until then, stay curious!