4 ms·

Wheat’s Evil Twin Has Been Intoxicating Humans for Centuries (2016)

128 points by indigodaddy 6y ago

amanaplanacanal 6y ago
According to Wikipedia, it’s not the plant itself that’s toxic, but rather a fungus that can infect the plant, much as ergot infected other grains.
- jack_riminton 6y ago
  Yes. I found this paper which talks about it more http://www.sidthomas.net/pdf/paperpdfs/Thomas%20et%20al%20JofE.pdf http://www.sidthomas.net/pdf/paperpdfs/Thomas%20et%20al%20Jo... p34 talks about its constituent properties. Crucially no one is quite sure what the exact active component is
- mcphage 6y ago
  Okay, that makes the article make more sense. Most of the article the author claimed it was quite dangerous, but then they later cited a study which it was up to 10% of a harvest. I didn’t know how to make those make sense together.
- legulere 6y ago
  German Wikipedia even notes that the fungus is related to ergot.
- phaker 6y ago
  From what i can find, the difference is that ergot is parasitic and rare but the fungus growing on darnel is symbiotic and common. Polish wikipedia says up to 86% of seeds carry it but without source. This paper [1] says 70% of 'wild populations' of related L. perenne, implies infection in darnel (L. temulentum) is also prevalent, but notes most populations have low frequency of infected individuals and then tries to explain that. [1]: https://mivegec.ird.fr/images/stories/PDF_files/0250.pdf https://mivegec.ird.fr/images/stories/PDF_files/0250.pdf
  - eyelidlessness 6y ago
    This seems similar enough to the allergy commonly associated with peanuts to be worth mentioning too.
Hydraulix989 6y ago
Thought this would be about alcohol
billyjobob 6y ago
Could someone post a version of this article that doesn’t cause iOS safari to crash?
- djmips 6y ago
  You could read this source which the article seems to have referenced quite liberally. http://www.sidthomas.net/pdf/paperpdfs/Thomas%20et%20al%20JofE.pdf http://www.sidthomas.net/pdf/paperpdfs/Thomas%20et%20al%20Jo...
- zeepzeep 6y ago
  Could someone find out why it crashes, is it exploitable? :D
- rconti 6y ago
  Hangs halfway through loading on Safari/Big Sur as well.
- superkuh 6y ago
  Sure. https://archive.is/L2zir https://archive.is/L2zir Another way to do this is to turn off javascript and force pages to behave like documents. Only a single image will load but all the text is there and that's what matters.
- givinguflac 6y ago
  Loads fine on my iPhone on iOS 13.7 and iPad on 14.1, perhaps the article has been fixed?
lqet 6y ago
I expected this to be about ergot [0], a fungi with hallucinatory effects. It's suspected that ergot caused the Strasbourg dancing plague of 1518 [1] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergot [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dancing_plague_of_1518 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dancing_plague_of_1518
- andrewl 6y ago
  It's also been suggested as a factor in the events that lead to the Salem witch trials: https://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/witches-curse-clues-evidence/1501/ https://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/witches-curse-clues-evidenc...

128 points by indigodaddy 6y ago

According to Wikipedia, it’s not the plant itself that’s toxic, but rather a fungus that can infect the plant, much as ergot infected other grains.

jack_riminton 6y ago
Yes. I found this paper which talks about it more http://www.sidthomas.net/pdf/paperpdfs/Thomas%20et%20al%20JofE.pdf http://www.sidthomas.net/pdf/paperpdfs/Thomas%20et%20al%20Jo... p34 talks about its constituent properties. Crucially no one is quite sure what the exact active component is
mcphage 6y ago
Okay, that makes the article make more sense. Most of the article the author claimed it was quite dangerous, but then they later cited a study which it was up to 10% of a harvest. I didn’t know how to make those make sense together.
legulere 6y ago
German Wikipedia even notes that the fungus is related to ergot.
phaker 6y ago
From what i can find, the difference is that ergot is parasitic and rare but the fungus growing on darnel is symbiotic and common. Polish wikipedia says up to 86% of seeds carry it but without source. This paper [1] says 70% of 'wild populations' of related L. perenne, implies infection in darnel (L. temulentum) is also prevalent, but notes most populations have low frequency of infected individuals and then tries to explain that. [1]: https://mivegec.ird.fr/images/stories/PDF_files/0250.pdf https://mivegec.ird.fr/images/stories/PDF_files/0250.pdf
- eyelidlessness 6y ago
  This seems similar enough to the allergy commonly associated with peanuts to be worth mentioning too.

Hydraulix989 6y ago

Thought this would be about alcohol

billyjobob 6y ago

Could someone post a version of this article that doesn’t cause iOS safari to crash?

djmips 6y ago
You could read this source which the article seems to have referenced quite liberally. http://www.sidthomas.net/pdf/paperpdfs/Thomas%20et%20al%20JofE.pdf http://www.sidthomas.net/pdf/paperpdfs/Thomas%20et%20al%20Jo...
zeepzeep 6y ago
Could someone find out why it crashes, is it exploitable? :D
rconti 6y ago
Hangs halfway through loading on Safari/Big Sur as well.
superkuh 6y ago
Sure. https://archive.is/L2zir https://archive.is/L2zir Another way to do this is to turn off javascript and force pages to behave like documents. Only a single image will load but all the text is there and that's what matters.
givinguflac 6y ago
Loads fine on my iPhone on iOS 13.7 and iPad on 14.1, perhaps the article has been fixed?

lqet 6y ago

I expected this to be about ergot [0], a fungi with hallucinatory effects. It's suspected that ergot caused the Strasbourg dancing plague of 1518 [1] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergot [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dancing_plague_of_1518 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dancing_plague_of_1518

andrewl 6y ago
It's also been suggested as a factor in the events that lead to the Salem witch trials: https://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/witches-curse-clues-evidence/1501/ https://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/witches-curse-clues-evidenc...