While an asteroid that hit Earth 66 million years ago wiped out dinosaurs, it also paved the way for humans to thrive – and one of humanity’s favorite drinks.
According to a study released this summer, that asteroid likely helped grapes flourish in the Western Hemisphere. Researchers were able to glean insights from fossilized grape seeds found in Colombia, Panama and Peru that range from 60 to 19 million years old.
Monica Carvalho, the assistant curator at the Museum of Paleontology at the University of Michigan and co-author of a study tracing the origins of grapes in our hemisphere, joined the “Something Offbeat” podcast to help us unpack what these fossils revealed. In particular, she said the record of long-lost grapes sheds new light on extinction patterns.
“There’s a lot of things that move in and move out,” she explained. “And that complicates or rather, it makes a lot more of an interesting story when we think about trying to understand the history of biodiversity and the history of life on the planet.”
Listen to her full conversation with host Mike Rogers here.
Each week, “Something Offbeat” takes a deeper look at an unusual headline. If you have suggestions for stories the podcast should cover, send them to us at somethingoffbeat@audacy.com.