Ben Shoemate's Notebook

One of the reasons bananas enjoy their rampant popularity is that the kinds you buy in stores are hideously mutated versions of the original, bred to not have the inedible seeds their wild brethren so proudly display. Thanks to new research we may soon be seeing other fruit making the transition to seedlessness, and filling our grocery shelves. Bioengineers have successfully tweaked the custard apple, charimoya (called by Mark Twain "the most delicious fruit known to men") and the sugar apple — all of which are delicious but require nimble teeth if you want to avoid their seeds. These plants could provide new farming opportunities and delights in the produce section - plus, there's a possibility the research could be adapted to even more fruit. Get ready for the delicious, seedless future! More »