Would you eat or even recognize these foods in their original forms? Chances are that you wouldn’t.

Genetically modified foods are a big source of debate these days. Some don’t want anything to do with modern GMOs, while others are all for them. However, a lot of people don’t realize that many of today’s fruits and vegetables wouldn’t exist without careful selective breeding. In fact, the original versions of these popular plants might be downright unrecognizable to the modern public.

10 Carrots

The earliest known cultivated carrots were first grown in the 10th century in Asia Minor and Persia. Before it was domesticated, the wild carrot was spread all over the world. Seeds up to 5,000 years old have been discovered in Europe.

The carrot’s original appearance was small and white. It also had more of a forked appearance like a plant root. Most likely, ancient cultures used it as a medicinal plant.^[1]

It’s thought that the carrot’s transformation into the orange, sweet, less bitter descendant so popular today took many centuries to breed. Today’s orange carrots are known as Carotene or Western carrots, while their cousins are known as Asiatic or Eastern carrots, which have purple and sometimes yellow roots.

9 Eggplants

No one can mistake a big, purple, shiny eggplant for anything other than what it is. However, eggplants actually have many varieties. The eggplant was first domesticated in what is modern-day India and Burma. Today, it’s widely cultivated in the land that stretches from northeast India and Burma to Northern Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and southwest China.

The word “eggplant” is said to come from the British occupation of India, where the plants were white and egg-shaped. Writings from as early as 300 BC describe the plant in a variety of ways—as the “blue” fruit, as the royal melon, and as having spines.^[2]

Over the centuries, the plant migrated across Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and North America. The plant in its various forms was often included in early art and literature from these regions.

8 Bananas

The fleshy yellow fruit found in so many kids’ lunchboxes was first cultivated in Papua New Guinea between 7,000 and 10,000 years ago. The banana is yet another edible plant with several varieties, most of which are found today in Asia.

The long, yellow variety, known as the Cavendish, is the result of centuries of careful breeding by diligent agriculturalists. It descends from two wild banana species: Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana. The former has flesh that isn’t very tasty when eaten raw, and the latter is a short, stubby little thing with lots of hard, pea-sized seeds in the middle.^[3]

Thousands of years ago, banana cultivators discovered that cross-pollinating these two plants sometimes produced a sweet, yellow, seedless fruit that was also rich in nutrients. As this variety is seedless, these bananas must be produced by human-assisted asexual propagation (otherwise known as cloning).

This form of reproduction makes the Cavendish much more susceptible to disease than its hardy ancestor. Since the plants are genetically uniform, a banana-killing pestilence could quickly and easily wipe out whole crops. For this reason, cultivators are careful with their output lest the world experience a banana apocalypse.

7 Tomatoes

Wild Tiny Pimp might sound like an unfortunate street name, but it’s actually the name of a tomato species. In fact, it’s the tomato species from which all other tomatoes descend. Plant scientists call it Solanum pimpinellifolium, or just “pimp.”

Today, these pea-sized tomatoes grow on scraggly vines found in northern Peru and southern Ecuador. South Americans first domesticated them during the pre-Columbian era.^[4] Then these tomatoes spread to Europe and eventually back to North America.

Today’s wide assortment of domesticated tomatoes all come from the tiny pimp and, interestingly enough, only have five percent genetic variation between them. Crossbreeding modern types with the earlier wild ones, including the pimp, produces a plant that’s hardier and less susceptible to disease.

6 Watermelons

Theories abound concerning where exactly the watermelon originated. Historians only agree that it first grew somewhere in Africa, spread to the Mediterranean, and later popped up in Europe.

Harry Paris, a horticulturalist at the Agricultural Research Organization in Israel, has concluded that the watermelon’s earliest ancestor was first cultivated in Egypt some 4,000 years ago. This ancient fruit was hard, bitter, and pale green in color—a far cry from today’s sweet, fleshy variety.

So why would the ancient Egyptians want to spend time and energy growing something like that?

Paris believes that they were cultivated simply for their water. During the dry season, watermelons stored well and the Egyptians could pound them to a pulp and extract their water content. He also believes that the Egyptians were the ones who began the selective breeding process that ultimately led to watermelon as we know it.^[5]

5 Corn

It’s hard to imagine a world without this most essential staple crop. Corn was one of the first food plants cultivated at the start of human agriculture some 10,000 years ago in the area that is modern-day Mexico. At one time, ears of corn were very small and gradually became bigger over time thanks to artificial selection.

If we go back even further, we find that corn’s ancient ancestor is a wild grass plant called teosinte. It looks very little like corn, though they both produce kernels. On a genetic level, though, the two plants are quite similar.^[6]

Geneticist George Beadle found in his experiments that there were only five chromosomes responsible for the most noticeable differences between the two plants. Teosinte underwent small genetic changes over time that eventually resulted in the appearance of maize.

4 Peaches

The peach has quite a long history. In fact, peach pit fossils have been discovered in China that are 2.5 million years old. These peaches were smaller than today’s variety. They more closely resembled small cherries and had very little flesh.^[7]

It took about 3,000 years for the peach to reach its modern appearance. Unsurprisingly, peaches have an important part in Chinese culture. They symbolize long life and are commonly found in markets throughout the country.

3 Avocados

The fleshy fruit responsible for the tastiness of guacamole was originally a snack for prehistoric giant mammals 65.5 million years ago. In fact, these animals were the avocados’ sole mode of transportation since they would eat the fruit whole and then poop out the seed later in another location.^[8]

The original avocado had a bigger pit (if you can imagine that) and much less flesh than today’s Hass avocados. Sometime after the large mammals died out, humans took to cultivating the fruit so that it became fleshier and more appealing over time.

2 Papayas

Though papaya is eaten around the world today, it originated in the tropical climate of Latin America. The modern commercial papaya descends from the wild papaya, and they both have very different appearances.

The wild papaya is round and about the size of a plum.^[9] Some species even closely resemble a cacao pod. The ancient Maya were the first to cultivate papaya about 4,000 years ago. Growing the fruit is a complicated process because the grower doesn’t know which seeds will produce fruit-bearing plants until after they’ve begun to grow.

1 Pumpkins

The original word for “pumpkin” came from the Greek word pepon, which means “large melon.” Over time, the word was morphed into what we now know it as. Pumpkins and squash are believed to have originated in the early Americas. The earliest pumpkins were the size of a softball, tasted bitter, and were toxic when raw.

Only large prehistoric mammals could eat them, so these creatures alone were responsible for spreading the seeds around. When these mammals died out, the pumpkin could have gone with them if it weren’t for human cultivation.^[10]

Humans would go on to find various uses for hollowed-out pumpkins and gourds, such as containers for water. Eventually, they began eating pumpkins and saving the seeds of the tastier types for replanting. It kind of makes you appreciate pumpkin spice lattes a bit more.

Tiffany is a freelance writer hailing from Southern California. She’s a fan of pop science and considers herself a human repository of random facts.

Facial recognition technology can trace its roots as far back as the 1960s. The ability to implement it large scale and ubiquitously only really came into being in the modern computer age, of course, and in the present it seems to be nearly everywhere, with fears that it will become even more widespread in the future. But many of us are unaware of just what is already being done with the technology in terms of both strengths and limitations.

10. We Have Facial Recognition For Cats

Is any technology even worth your time if it can’t be used for the benefit of cats and dogs? Facial recognition luckily fits the bill here as the technology has been implemented towards the end of reuniting lost pets with owners. 

The concept is as simple as you might expect. There’s an app which allows you to upload photos of a lost pet. Once the pics are in the database if someone finds your pet, the animal can be matched with facial recognition to your fur friend and you can be reunited.

That’s not the only use, either. There’s a cat feeder that makes use of facial recognition to monitor the eating habits of your pets. This could range from alerting you that one cat isn’t eating enough to preventing another cat from stealing everyone’s food by shutting off the supply when it recognizes the same hungry boy coming back for seconds. 

9. The FBI Spent $1B on Facial Recognition That Could Only Match Photos to Photos

Law enforcement obviously has a vested interest in facial recognition and while there is a ton to be said about the various legal implications, privacy concerns, nefarious prospects and more of that whole can of worms, there’s also something more basic and fundamental to discuss and that’s just how well it works in the first place. 

Now, in the present, the technology has definitely improved and there are examples of it performing very well. But if we go back to when the FBI first invested in it, things get a little uglier. The Bureau spent about $1 billion on software that couldn’t actually recognize faces unless they were matched to quality photos. 

You needed to take one good quality, front-facing, clear photo of a person and the computer could match it to another photo that met the same requirements. You might recognize this as something a human could also do. The computer’s only advantage might be the ability to do it quickly.

If the computer doesn’t have a second, quality photo to match it to, then there is no match. This was discovered in Boston after the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013. 

The FBI had access to photos of the two suspects and they were there, caught on video, but the facial recognition software couldn’t match them because the surveillance footage wasn’t high quality, thus making it most useless. 

According to one FBI source, the billion dollar software was only good for matching “driver’s license and passport photos to other driver’s license and passport photos.”

The FBI had access to photos of the two suspects and they were there, caught on video, but the facial recognition software couldn’t match them because the surveillance footage wasn’t high quality, thus making it most useless at the time. According to one FBI source, the billion dollar software was only good for matching “driver’s license and passport photos to other driver’s license and passport photos.”

8. Juggalo Makeup Defies Some Kinds of Facial Recognition Technology

If you’re looking to trick facial recognition for some kind of lawful and non-nefarious reasons, look into becoming a fan of the Insane Clown Posse. The makeup worn by the band and their fans, who you may know by the more colorful name of “Juggalos” has proven to be something facial recognition has a tough time with.

Facial recognition relies on contrast for a lot of the ways it differentiates faces to identify them. Juggalo makeup uses a white base with black bands and other shapes to create a sort of monochromatic clown motif. Because it creates stark but fake contrast, facial recognition can’t tell who it’s looking at.

This revelation came to light when LiveNation and Ticketmaster bought military facial recognition to use at concert entry points. Juggalo makeup, especially contrasting black and white around the mouth and chin, confuses facial recognition by obscuring your jawline which is one of the major areas the technology focuses on.

Of course, there are kinds of technology that work differently and don’t focus on contrast which would render Juggalo makeup useless, but at least you’d still be visibly supporting the Insane Clown Posse. 

7. Eyebrows Are Vital to Facial Recognition

For some people, having nice eyebrows is a big deal. For others, having fuzzy caterpillars shading their eyes is just fine. For facial recognition, eyebrows are of the utmost importance. While eyebrows may not seem like they would play a key role in facial recognition when compared to things like eyes, noses, lips and overall face shape, that’s not the case.

Biologically speaking, eyebrows are vital for identifying faces. The presence of hair, otherwise missing from most human faces, provides a major point of contrast to someone looking at you. Even person to person, eyebrows are key for understanding another face. It makes sense that software also takes this into account.

While eyebrows haven’t always been used as a key identifier in various softwares, the Covid-19 pandemic made some researchers tweak the way their software worked since many people were wearing masks which eliminated things like mouths, jawlines and noses as identifying features. 

According to some research, eye color and shape, lip thickness and eyebrow thickness are vital for identifying a face and the importance of the eyebrows can’t be overstated. 

6. Taylor Swift Used Facial Recognition to Identify Stalkers at Concerts

We already saw that concerts use facial recognition, and it’s more than just for Juggalos. Taylopr Swift, one of the biggest artists in the world right now, has been using it to identify potential stalkers. 

Back in 2018, Swift had kiosks set up outside of her performance at the Rose Bowl. As people filtered in, the kiosks were showing off clips of her dance routines but they were also secretly scanning faces. Facial recognition was used to cross reference all the faces against a list of known stalkers she’s had to deal with in the past so security could be ready.

The same technology is being used at NASCAR events, in malls and at sporting events for a variety of very non-specific purposes that include both security and also advertising. So if you have gone out to a public event in the last few years there’s a good chance that some company you have never heard of has your name and photo on file along with a list of things it has determined you like. By 2019 the company had already collected data on 110 million people attending events.

For what it’s worth, the company insists it doesn’t keep the data it collects, and it doesn’t even take identifiable images of people. Sounds reasonable.

5. An Airport Vending Machine Used Facial Recognition To Dispense Coffee to People Who Yawned

Most people seem leery of facial recognition at first but there have been efforts to convince people to embrace it and they’ve worked well. All you really need to do is give people a reason to, and that’s what South African coffee company Douwe Egberts did.

The company set up a coffee vending machine in a busy airport but it had no way to actually pay for the coffee. However, cameras in the machine identified people who yawned and dispensed free coffee for them. Soon enough people figured out what triggered the machine and everyone who wanted free coffee could get it. 

The whole thing was described as a marketing stunt, which it was, and stories detail the smiles and fun of all the people once they clued in. Less talked about was that the technology was conditioning people to produce a desired response, which worked out like gangbusters for the company and proved to them they can use facial recognition in campaigns to ensure customers are doing what they want.

4. There Are Hairstyles That Trick Facial Recognition

While makeup has proven capable of confusing facial recognition it’s not the only aesthetic choice you can make to throw the software for a loop. There are certain hairstyles that have proven confusing in the past as well, notably CV Dazzle.

The technique was designed by a man named Adam Harvey as part of his Master’s thesis and showed that combinations of hairstyles, makeup and even clothes could camouflage a wearer from what, at the time, was the most widely used facial recognition software algorithm. 

While the designs might look eccentric to a living observer, it’s unlikely you’d ever think the person was actively trying to dupe facial recognition software. Instead, they’d just look like they were on their way home from Fashion Week.

While the designs might look eccentric to a living observer, it’s unlikely you’d ever think the person was actively trying dupe facial recognition software. Instead, they’d just look like they were on their way home from Fashion Week.

In much the same way Juggalo makeup could throw off the software, this was a less ostentatious way of doing it, or at least a more fashion forward way, that could include streaks of makeup or even hair obscuring part of a face, in particular one eye or in a way that alters the perceived elliptical shape of the face and head..

3. Facial Recognition Is Used in China To Stop Toilet Paper Thieves

When it comes to cutting edge uses for facial recognition, no one is making more of it than Beijing’s Temple of Heaven which is a sacred site and tourist attraction. In 2017, visitors using the bathroom at the Temple found themselves with facial recognition toilet paper dispensers. 

The machine scans your face before dispensing a length of paper. The reason? People kept visiting the bathrooms to steal toilet paper. Now it gives you what it thinks you need, a strip of paper two feet long, and if you come back for more, it will recognize your face and refuse to give up the goods. 

The machine scans your face before dispensing a length of paper. The reason? People kept visiting the bathrooms to steal toilet paper. Now it gives you what it thinks you need, a strip of paper two feet long, and if you come back for more it will recognize your face and refuse to give up the goods. 

So what happens if, in good faith, you need more paper? That’s too bad because you’re only getting two feet and you better make it work. There is an inconvenient work around, if you have some time on your hands. The machines are on nine minute timers, so if you want a second length, wait the 9 minutes and you get more. It’s inconvenient for anyone who needs it but probably even more so for would-be thieves. 

2. Malls Use Facial Recognition to Gather Biometric Data on Shoppers

We mentioned malls earlier when talking about Taylor Swift so let’s dig into that a little more deeply because this is far more pervasive than you may realize. Have you seen one of those mall directory kiosks that lets you look up maps of the mall and specific stores? There’s a good chance if your mall has one, it’s also running facial recognition software in the background with a camera trained on you and everyone else passing by. 

A couple of Canadian malls got in trouble for this in 2018 because customers had not been informed that they were being photographed or for what reason. Two years later an investigation determined that the company that owns the mall had used the same technology in a dozen malls across the country to collect the images of 5 million shoppers. 

The company claims it was only tracking foot traffic and nothing identifiable about the customers – just age and gender information for analysis. But it also collected video and even audio footage which officials claimed was just part of a test phase.

The mall says they informed customers because stickers on doors say cameras are being used for “safety and security” but the privacy commissions investigating didn’t think that counted when the actual cameras were harvesting biometric data to guess ages, genders and shopping habits.

1. Chinese Police Use Facial Recognition Sunglasses

Straight out of sci-fi, or failed ideas like Google Glass, police in China were outfitted with sunglasses in 2018 that had facial recognition tech integrated into the lenses. A camera in the frames can scan through crowds of people and using the same basic tech you might use to unlock your phone, the faces can be matched to a database. If there’s a face on file belonging to a wanted criminal, someone using a fake identity or anything like that, the glasses can alert the officer right away.

According to police sources in China, the technology proved to be very successful and aided in the capture of more than half a dozen individuals just by having cops wander through busy train stations.

It was also suggested that perhaps the technology could identify not just criminals but political dissidents or even just to profile people but surely no police force or government would ever do that.