Anyone left over from the apocalypse is going to have to live on one staple for decades as tech bosses only just clock that their AI bots may spark human extinction
If you’re one of the lucky few who survive the apocalypse, you’d better get used to eating beans because that’ll be all that’s on the menu.
Fresh fears that we’re not long for this world have been raised by tech bosses who have only just realised their AI creations might get out of control within the next few years.
However, there are plenty of other ways that humans might be heading for near extinction – be that climate disasters, asteroids or nuclear war. For the few who are left to struggle on afterwards, life’s going to be no fun. And all they’ll have to eat is mung beans, according to new research.
A study has shown that among the plants stored for an acid rainy day in an Australian ‘doomsday seed vault’, one variety has a longer shelf life than the rest.
The frozen seeds being kept safe have lifespans far shorter than the 2,000-odd years first thought, but out of the tropical species that did have some staying power, the humble mung bean came top of the crops at just 45 years.
This means they kept their ability to produce a plant for five decades.
In second place came sorghum, a grass found in Africa and India that can be used to create an alcoholic drink. So at least you’ll be able to wash down your bean stew with a beer.
Mung beans are mostly grown in South Asia and are used as an ingredient in both savoury and sweet dishes. Popular recipes include mung bean curries, stews, soups and pancakes.
Most famously, crop seeds are also kept in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault – a secure Arctic facility in Norway that stores backup copies of the world’s plants to protect global agricultural biodiversity.
It is built inside a sandstone mountain on Spitsbergen Island, within the Arctic Circle, and is designed to carry on even if the worst happens globally.
Seeds are stored in airtight aluminium bags. The facility currently stores around 1.4 million seed, although it has the capacity to hold 4.5 million samples.
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