Friday TED Talk: Cary Fowler on a World Seed Bank

Some aspects of international cooperation work well, as when Norway donated a site in the permafrost just below the Arctic Circle for the establishment of a world seed vault:

(If you have Shockwave Flash installed, you may move your cursor over the numbers in the illustration to read a brief explanation of the feature shown.)

In the video below, Dr. Cary Fowler, who is the seed bank's director, explains why and how it came into existence, and shows scenes from its construction and later stocking with seed samples from all over the world:

You will find it extremely interesting to learn about all the varieties of apple that used to exist, and how many we have lost to date through plain, ordinary carelessness and the passage of time (but not, fortunately, the Fowler Apple!).

You may read more about Dr. Fowler here and in a bio on this page; there is also an illuminating interview with him at this page. The video may be watched in high resolution at this link, and you may download it as an .mp4 file, and in other versions, from this page.