Turkey sowed the seeds of farming

COLOGNE: Biologists at the Max Planck Institute for Agricultural Research in Germany have discovered the birthplace of European arable farming in southeastern Turkey. They made their breakthrough after investigating the genetic make-up of more than 1,300 seed samples of single-corn wheat, according to a report published in the US journal Science.

“The research results allowed them to pinpoint exactly the first cultivation area of the domesticated single-corn wheat at the foot of the Karacadag mountain range, near Diyarbakir around 9,000 BC,” said Professor Heinz Saedler of the institute. The researchers used DNA examinations of seeds from the whole region to be able to trace the first wheat plants back to this original area.

Clinton’s aid(e)s

VANCOUVER: US President Bill Clinton has started to wear the hearing aid devices recommended by his physicians and has found “they’re working well,” White House Press Secretary Mike Mccurry said. In Canada for the annual gathering of the 18-member Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum, Clinton was wearing the aids “for short periods of time as he gets used to them and gradually will increase the amount of time he has them in”.