Though corn is "all-natural" in some ways, in others it is entirely manmade. This news brief from February 2007 explains the evolutionary tools
that ancient humans used to engineer modern corn and the tools that scientists are using today to reconstruct corn's evolutionary history.
UC Museum of Paleontology
This article includes a set of discussion and extension questions for use in class. It also includes hints about related lessons that might be used in conjunction with this one. Get more tips for using Evo in the News articles in your classroom.
Correspondence to the Next Generation Science Standards is indicated in parentheses after each relevant concept. See our conceptual framework for details.
- Artificial selection provides a model for natural selection.
- People selectively breed domesticated plants and animals to produce offspring with preferred characteristics.
- Evolution results from selection acting upon genetic variation within a population. (LS4.B)
- Scientists test their ideas using multiple lines of evidence. (P6, NOS2)
- Scientists use multiple research methods (experiments, observational research, comparative research, and modeling) to collect data. (P2, P3, P4, NOS1)
- As with other scientific disciplines, evolutionary biology has applications that factor into everyday life.