What's The Most "Vegetable" Vegetable?

Botanically speaking, there is no such thing as a vegetable, so what exactly is sitting on your dinner plate? And if our culinary world is built on biological lies, which plant is actually the most vegetable like? Professor Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens tackle a chaotic intersection of linguistics, plant taxonomy, and nutrition, dismantling the arbitrary categories we use to organise our food, revealing that our supermarket aisles are a scientifically lawless wasteland. It is a strangely profound look at how human language struggles to categorise the natural world, proving that the things we eat every day are far weirder than we think with biological definitions that turn cucumbers and eggplants into fruits, and the nutritional benchmarks we use to invent the concept of a "vegetable" from scratch. ------------------- For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit ⁠⁠https://cancerresearchuk.org/restisscience⁠⁠ Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). A company limited by guarantee. Registered company in England and Wales (4325234) and the Isle of Man (5713F). Registered address: 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ. ------------------- Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠⁠clicking here.⁠⁠ ------------------- Video Producer: Adam Thornton + Oli OakleyVideo & Social: Bex TyrrellResearcher: Hannah Dodd-VastiauAssistant Producer: Imee MarriottSenior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-CarterHead Of Digital: Samuel OakleyExec Producer: Neil Fearn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Episoder(78)

The Science of Putting Sunglasses on The Sun

Why does the cartoon Sun always wear sunglasses? And how big would a real pair need to be? Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens investigate space mirrors, Reflect Orbital and solar eclipses to find out. ...

9 Aug 1h

Why Is It A Colour Wheel & Not A Line?

Colour wheel or colour line? Light itself runs in a straight line from red to violet, yet every colour theory chart bends that spectrum into a circle and the reason has nothing to do with physics. ...

5 Aug 47min

Why Lithium Batteries SUCK

Can Hannah convince Michael that the lithium-ion battery is one of our most overrated inventions to ever happen? Hannah makes her case using a surprising energy source hidden in your fridge, a bell i...

2 Aug 54min

What Happens Inside Earth's Forbidden Zones?

What grows in the spaces humans are forced to abandon?Hannah brings Michael an actual piece of barbed wire from the Korean Demilitarised Zone, one of the most heavily fortified and forbidden borders o...

29 Jul 45min

It Wasn't A Hoax After All

Did the world really end in 2012? Not with fire, meteors or an ancient Mayan prophecy, but Professor Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens ask whether something just as profound took place instead. To...

26 Jul 59min

Hack Dog Vision To Keep Your Bones Safe

Can you hide your skeleton from a dog? Would you want to know the day you’ll die? Has evolution ever come close to producing a real fire breather? Michael and Hannah test a T-shirt with a secret on...

22 Jul 45min

The Hole In Your Brain That Makes You Doomscroll

Why can't you leave a sealed envelope unopened? Professor Hannah Fry begins by refusing to allow Michael Stevens to open a mystery envelope addressed to him. A small act of torture that turns out t...

19 Jul 49min

A Man-Eating Tiger Found In London

It begins with a discovery in a loft: a full man eating tiger skin, brought back from a village in northern India where Professor Hannah Fry's ex-mother in law grew up. That find sends Hannah and Mic...

15 Jul 41min