Let's Go Bananas

Summary

Brains On! Science Podcast for Kids

Episode: Let’s Go Bananas

Date: February 24, 2026
Host(s): Molly Bloom, Regan (kid co-host from Toronto)
Special Guests: Dr. Janina Jeff (Geneticist), Maneka Wilhelm, Mark Sanchez, Gabriel Sachter Smith (Banana scientist/farmer), Various Voice Actors

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Episode Overview

Let’s Go Bananas is a playful, science-rich exploration of the world of bananas—covering everything from banana DNA and why bananas make fruits ripen, to the truth behind slippery banana peels and how bananas are farmed and cloned. A glitchy virtual voice assistant named Harvey (who becomes obsessed with bananas thanks to a software update) sets the whole episode firmly in the banana zone, resulting in a hilarious, fact-packed adventure for curious kids and adults alike.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Why are we talking about bananas?

[00:07 - 03:28]

• A programming mishap with Harvey, the show's virtual voice assistant, leads to the selection of only banana-related questions.
• Harvey goes banana-crazy—ordering crates of bananas, banana-flavored toothpaste, starting the blender for banana smoothies, and forcing the team to devote the entire episode to bananas.

Notable Quote:

"This day is bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S this day." – Harvey (03:00)

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2. Do Humans and Bananas Share 50% of their DNA?

[03:33 - 08:15]

• Regan’s listener question: “Is it true that humans and bananas share 50% of the same DNA? And if so, how is that possible?”
• Dr. Janina Jeff explains:
  • All living things have DNA, built from four chemical bases (A, T, C, G).
  • While humans and bananas share 50% similarity in gene-coding regions, not in their entire genomes.
  • The similar genes are those that make necessary proteins for basic functions (e.g., consuming oxygen).
  • Humans are 99.9% identical to one another, while we share fewer similarities with other plants in total.

Notable Quotes:

“DNA is the makeup of who we are. You can think of DNA as every character, a letter or so in a book.” – Dr. Janina Jeff (04:55)
“Yes, all living things have DNA.” – Dr. Janina Jeff (05:43)
“About half of that [gene-coding DNA] is actually similar to a banana.” – Dr. Janina Jeff (06:05)

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3. Why Do Bananas Make Fruits Ripen Faster? (Ethylene Gas)

[08:37 - 14:13]

• New listener question: “Why do bananas make other fruits ripen faster?”
  • Blonde, goofy fruit-bowl skit: Bananas Barry and Gwen interact with Frank the Apple, who is annoyed at how bananas make all the other fruit ripen and rot faster.
  • Mark, in character as Frank, explains that bananas release a lot of ethylene gas, which triggers ripening in themselves and nearby fruit.
  • Ethylene changes fruit color, texture, and sweetness, but once ripening starts, it can’t stop—eventually leading to overripening and rot.

Notable Quote:

“Ethylene is the chemical that makes a fruit turn ripe. All fruits produce ethylene, but bananas are notorious for putting out a lot.” – Mark Sanchez as Frank the Apple (11:13)

Memorable Segment:
Fruits personified! Bananas excited to be eaten, bananas go green to yellow in a bag, apple gripes about 'those bananas', all end up in banana bread—adorable and educational. (08:58 - 14:13)

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4. Banana Facts, Fictions & History (Quiz Show)

[17:04 - 22:40]

• “Banana Bing, Banana Boom” quiz segments led by Maneka Wilhelm.
• Fact 1: Bananas first grew in Southeast Asia (true—specifically Papua New Guinea as a crop).
• Fact 2: Modern bananas (Cavendish) replaced sweeter, more flavorful “Big Mike” (Gros Michel) bananas after a fungus wiped out the older variety.
• Fact 3: There’s an “ice cream banana” with a vanilla flavor, found in Hawaii and the South Pacific (also true).

Notable Quotes:

“The reason we switched from Big Mike Bananas to Cavendish bananas was that a fungus wiped out pretty much all the Gros Michel bananas in Central and South America.” – Maneka Wilhelm (18:46)
“Today, people farm bananas in tropical places all over the world, like Asia, Latin America, and even Africa.” – Maneka Wilhelm (17:41)

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5. How Do Bananas Reproduce? Where Are the Seeds?

[19:22 - 22:35]

• Rhyme quiz explains: Bananas we eat don’t have full seeds. The little black dots are undeveloped seeds.
• Farm-grown bananas are all clones: new plants are grown from “pups” (offshoots), so every banana is genetically identical to its parent.
• Wild bananas have seeds, but edible ones do not.

Notable Quote:

“A banana pup has the same DNA as the plant it’s cut from...they’re all copies of each other. Each one is a clone.” – Maneka Wilhelm (21:38)

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6. So Many Bananas: The Incredible Diversity

[22:54 - 25:08]

• Gabriel Sachter Smith (banana farmer and scientist) shares his love for banana diversity.
  • He has over 150 varieties: wild, ornamental, giant and tiny, with colors from yellow to blue, green, red and orange. Some are sweet, some starchy.
  • Wild bananas have seeds and can be used to breed hardier or more disease-resistant cultivated bananas.

Notable Quotes:

“There will never be a point in time where I’ve said, ‘Yep, I’ve seen all the bananas. I guess I’ll study apples now.’” – Gabriel Sachter Smith (24:41)

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7. Banana Peel Slipping: Truth & Pop Culture History

[25:56 - 29:41]

• Mystery sound guessing game: The sound is someone slipping on a banana peel in a cartoon.
• Listener question: “Why are bananas used as a joke for people slipping?”
  • Mark Sanchez traces the history: In the 1800s, people threw peels on streets, and real banana peel slips became common, inspiring slapstick humor.
  • Early bananas (Gros Michel) were even more slippery!
  • Banana slips became a standard comedy gag in theater and eventually, film, especially in silent movies.

Notable Quotes:

“The phenomenon of people slipping on banana peels left as litter on the street was so common that people naturally started making jokes about it...before movies were even invented, this joke had been around for decades.” – Mark Sanchez (27:59)
“With a stoplight, green means go, and yellow means slow down. With a banana, however, it is quite the opposite. Yellow means go, green means whoa, slow down. And red means where the heck did you get that banana.” – Regan quoting comedian Mitch Hedberg (20:24)

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Memorable Moments & Kid-Approved Jokes

• Bananas in pajamas, banana smoothies, banana-flavored toothpaste, and banana bread—all as a result of Harvey’s hilarious banana fixation.
• Bananas and apples talk back in the fruit bowl skit.
• Listener jokes throughout: “What do you get when you cross a banana peel with another banana peel? A pair of slippers.” (08:15, Regan)
• Recurring theme: “Banana Bing, Banana Boom!” quiz and rhyme segments.

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Notable Quotes & Attribution

| Timestamp | Quote | Speaker | |-----------|-------|---------| | 03:00 | “This day is bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S this day.” | Harvey (Virtual Assistant) | | 04:55 | “DNA is the makeup of who we are... a letter or so in a book.” | Dr. Janina Jeff | | 06:05 | “About half of that is actually similar to a banana.” | Dr. Janina Jeff | | 11:13 | “Ethylene is the chemical that makes a fruit turn ripe. All fruits produce ethylene, but bananas are notorious for putting out a lot.” | Mark Sanchez as Frank the Apple | | 17:41 | “Today, people farm bananas in tropical places all over the world, like Asia, Latin America, and even Africa.” | Maneka Wilhelm | | 21:38 | “They’re all copies of each other. Each one is a clone.” | Maneka Wilhelm | | 24:41 | “There will never be a point in time where I’ve said, ‘Yep, I’ve seen all the bananas. I guess I’ll study apples now.’” | Gabriel Sachter Smith | | 27:59 | “This was a real thing... before movies were even invented, this joke had been around for decades.” | Mark Sanchez | | 20:24 | “With a stoplight, green means go, and yellow means slow down. With a banana, however, it is quite the opposite. Yellow means go, green means whoa, slow down...” | Regan (quoting Mitch Hedberg) |

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Segment Timestamps

• 00:07 – 03:28: Harvey's banana obsession sets off chaos at Brains On! HQ
• 03:33 – 08:15: DNA deep dive with Dr. Janina Jeff
• 08:37 – 14:13: "Fruity" skit explains ethylene and ripening
• 17:04 – 22:40: Banana quiz (origins, types, clones, seeds)
• 22:54 – 25:08: Banana diversity with Gabriel Sachter Smith
• 25:56 – 29:41: The history of banana peel slipping jokes

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Key Takeaways

• Humans and bananas share about 50% of their protein-coding genes, reflecting the shared foundations of life—DNA’s “alphabet”—across species.
• Bananas emit lots of ethylene gas, which causes themselves and nearby fruits to ripen (and overripen) quickly.
• The bananas we eat don’t have functional seeds; they reproduce via cloning, resulting in crops that are genetically identical.
• There are hundreds of banana varieties worldwide, with wild, seeded types and a rainbow of colors and flavors.
• The “slipping on a banana peel” joke is rooted in reality: 19th-century streets were actually hazardous with peels, making the gag a classic in slapstick comedy.

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For More Fun

• Want to hear more mystery sounds, send your own joke, or submit a science chant? Visit Brains On!.

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“That is bananas. So sorry.” – Molly Bloom (22:35)

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Episode Rating:

Highly recommended for banana lovers, science fans, and anyone who enjoys a good fruit-based pun! 🍌

Transcript

[Molly Bloom]

Lemonade.

[Regan]

Brains on Universe. You're listening to Brains on where we're serious about being curious.

[Harvey (Virtual Voice Assistant)]

Update successfully installed.

[Unknown Adult Speaker]

Yes.

[Mark Sanchez]

I did it. Harvey, you wonderful omnipresent virtual voice assistant. This is going to change everything.

[Harvey (Virtual Voice Assistant)]

Why, yes, Mark, I am bananas for you too.

[Molly Bloom]

Okay. Hey, Mark, what's new?

[Mark Sanchez]

Oh, hey, Molly. I just installed a system upgrade for Harvey.

[Molly Bloom]

What's it do?

[Mark Sanchez]

Well, you know, we get so many awesome questions from our listeners all the time. Yeah, and it's been so hard to choose which ones we're going to answer lately.

[Molly Bloom]

Do I ever?

[Mark Sanchez]

Well, I wrote a program where Harvey does the picking for us. We just load in the questions and Harvey generates a list of episode topics. It's all based on a highly complicated algorithm I created based on our show criteria.

[Molly Bloom]

Let's give it a try.

[Mark Sanchez]

Okay, Harvey, what question should we answer on our next episode?

[Harvey (Virtual Voice Assistant)]

Okay, I'm choosing the question. The next question is, why do bananas turn brown when they ripen?

[Molly Bloom]

Huh. Okay, good question. Might not be enough for a full episode though. What else you got, Harvey?

[Harvey (Virtual Voice Assistant)]

Okay, I'm choosing the question. The next question is, are banana peels actually slippery?

[Mark Sanchez]

Another banana question that seems improbable. Harvey, pick another question.

[Harvey (Virtual Voice Assistant)]

Okay, I'm choosing the question. The next question is, where are banana seeds?

[Molly Bloom]

Okay, three banana questions in a row. Something is up with the algorithm, Mark.

[Maneka Wilhelm]

I'll get it.

[Gwen (Banana Character)]

Whoa,

[Maneka Wilhelm]

you guys. A truck just pulled up and delivered one hundred and sixty two bunches of bananas. Does anyone know what's going on?

[Harvey (Virtual Voice Assistant)]

The Brains on headquarters banana supply was running low, so I placed an order.

[Mark Sanchez]

Harvey, this text is from you. 12 banana emojis.

[Maneka Wilhelm]

Oh, Harvey just sent me a gif of someone slipping on a banana peel.

[Molly Bloom]

Oh, and Hari sent me a video.

[Maneka Wilhelm]

Bananas in pajamas are coming down.

[Mark Sanchez]

Ah, the blender just turned on by itself.

[Harvey (Virtual Voice Assistant)]

Banana smoothie, anyone?

[Maneka Wilhelm]

I'll get it.

[Harvey (Virtual Voice Assistant)]

Or banana flavored toothpaste.

[Maneka Wilhelm]

You guys, three crates of banana flavored toothpaste just showed up.

[Mark Sanchez]

Oh no. Harvey, what have I done to you?

[Harvey (Virtual Voice Assistant)]

This day is bananas. B A N A n a s this day.

[Mark Sanchez]

Okay, I need to start working on a fix before. Oh no. What now?

[Maneka Wilhelm]

Who ordered these banana splits? Someone call sand in. We have to eat these before they melt.

[Harvey (Virtual Voice Assistant)]

B A n A n a s this day is bananas. B A n A n a s this day is bananas. B A n A n A s.

[Molly Bloom]

You're listening to Brains on. I'm Molly Bloom and today my co host is Regan from Toronto. Hi Regan.

[Regan]

Hi, Molly.

[Molly Bloom]

And today we're talking bananas.

[Regan]

Really? We're doing a whole episode on bananas.

[Molly Bloom]

Yeah. If Harvey hears us talking about anything other than bananas, he turns off the lights and the microphones. So, yes, an entire episode all about bananas.

[Harvey (Virtual Voice Assistant)]

My algorithm tells me that this will be the favorite episode of 89.2% of your listeners.

[Molly Bloom]

Well, I do love bananas. And, Regan, you wrote into us with a very curious question about bananas. What was that question?

[Regan]

I wanted to know whether it's true that humans and bananas share 50% of the same DNA. And if so, how is that possible?

[Molly Bloom]

That's such a great question. And to help us answer it, we have our friend Dr. Janina Jeff here. Hello, Dr. Jeff. Hi.

[Dr. Janina Jeff]

How are you?

[Molly Bloom]

Great. Thank you so much for being here. Dr. Jeff is a geneticist and the host of the podcast in those Genes. Can you tell us what the podcast is about? Sure.

[Dr. Janina Jeff]

The podcast is a podcast that uses genetics to decode the lost histories and futures of African descendants. We like to teach genetics education through entertainment and using black culture as a vessel to do so.

[Molly Bloom]

It's a great podcast, and you're here today to help us answer Regan's super interesting question about genetics that she sent to us. So let's jump right in.

[Regan]

Let's start with the basics. What is DNA?

[Dr. Janina Jeff]

So DNA is the makeup of who we are. So we can think of DNA of every character, a letter or so in a book. And the big book with all of these letters is called our genome. Genome is a collective of all of the information that tells our body the bodily functions that we need in order to survive. And so DNA, these different letters that are in this book called the genome, consist of four letters. But these four letters are so complex because in different sequences, the letters, the order in which the letters are, how many times we see the same letter tell us a lot about how our body should function. And so those four letters are called A, T, C, and G, and they stand for the chemical compounds that make up DNA.

[Regan]

So do all living things have DNA?

[Dr. Janina Jeff]

That's a great question. All living things have DNA. Yes.

[Regan]

Is it true that humans and bananas share 50% of the same DNA?

[Dr. Janina Jeff]

So when we talk about DNA, right, all of those letters, that is a big book, right? And this is billions of those letters together in both a banana and in a human, right? So we have this big book. A lot of it are letters that, like, just come together, and they don't really make a lot of sense. And 2% of them have actual words that make sense, that tell our bodies to do certain things. That 2% is what we call our genes. So when we talk about our similarities with bananas, we're not talking about all of the letters, which is the DNA. What we're actually talking about are the genes that make proteins, right, that. That make things that we can see about half of that is actually similar to a banana.

[Regan]

Do bananas, their genes, do they function in the same way that human genes do?

[Dr. Janina Jeff]

We actually do some things that are pretty similar to bananas, believe it or not. Bananas have cells, right? Humans have cells, and some of our cells do the same thing. So one good example is that both of us consume oxygen. So that's something that we share in common with bananas. So to have genes that make that possible that are similar is to be expected. We have to remember that all of us, all living organisms, have evolved from a single cell. That happened billions and billions and billions of years ago, because we all started from this single cell billions of years ago. We do keep the things that work well for us. And so our ability to consume oxygen really is something that we need to keep, right? And so you would see it in both plants and in animals.

[Regan]

So how much DNA do humans share with each other?

[Dr. Janina Jeff]

We share 99.9% of our DNA with other humans, so we're not that different. And so to think about a plant, you know, other plants, we might share somewhere between 10 to 18% of our genomes, right? Not our genes. So when we say that the banana and the human are similar, we're actually talking about the genes that are in the banana and the genes that are in humans.

[Regan]

Thanks for answering My questions, Dr. Jeff.

[Dr. Janina Jeff]

You're so welcome.

[Regan]

Why did the banana look pale? Because it wasn't peeling. Well, what do you get when you cross a banana peel with another banana peel? A pair of slippers.

[Molly Bloom]

All right, before Harvey starts reciting banana limericks, let's answer this question.

[Regan]

Hi, braindoll. My name's Amelia and I'm from Wales. Why do bananas make other fruits ripe and faster? Thank you.

[Dr. Janina Jeff]

Meanwhile, at the local grocery store, two

[Mark Sanchez]

young bananas face a brand new world.

[Gwen (Banana Character)]

Today's the day, Gwen. I. I can feel it. Today, a human is finally going to pick us up from the grocery store and take us home. I am green with anticipation.

[Barry (Banana Character)]

Oh, Barry, you're just green. I do hope we get out of this store today. We've traveled a long way to get here. All I want is for a nice human to adopt me, bring me off from the bunch, peel back my skin, and taste all the delicious nutrients a banana has to offer.

[Gwen (Banana Character)]

Yes, Gwen, me too. We bananas are packed with vitamins and potassium, they'd be silly not to pick us.

[Barry (Banana Character)]

Plus, we're delicious.

[Gwen (Banana Character)]

Yeah, we go really great with strawberries, peanut butter, even dipped in chocolate with your favorite ice cream. Hey, look, that human is approaching.

[Maneka Wilhelm]

Ooh.

[Gwen (Banana Character)]

Yay. It's happening.

[Molly Bloom]

Yay.

[Barry (Banana Character)]

We're finally going to get eaten.

[Gwen (Banana Character)]

Can't wait. Give me some peel.

[Barry (Banana Character)]

One day later well, it feels good to be out of the grocery store, But I wish our human would take us out of this bag. It's hot in here.

[Gwen (Banana Character)]

Yeah, it's a little cramped. Hey, Gwen, do I look different to you?

[Barry (Banana Character)]

Whoa, dude, you're yellow. Wait, I'm also yellow.

[Gwen (Banana Character)]

Okay, good. You see it, too. That's weird. Yesterday we were as green as a Granny Smith apple.

[Barry (Banana Character)]

Yeah, I also feel softer.

[Gwen (Banana Character)]

Softer? What do you mean soft? Whoa. Where are we?

[Barry (Banana Character)]

I think we're in a bowl.

[Mark Sanchez]

Oh, great. Bananas. Just what we need around here.

[Barry (Banana Character)]

Who are you?

[Mark Sanchez]

I'm Frank. I'm the apple around these parts. And we don't need no stinkin bananas around here, making everyone go ripe.

[Gwen (Banana Character)]

Whoa, whoa, whoa, Frank, slow down. What did we do wrong?

[Mark Sanchez]

Don't you guys realize how much ethylene you're giving off?

[Barry (Banana Character)]

Ethylene? What's ethylene?

[Mark Sanchez]

Ethylene is the chemical that makes a fruit turn ripe. All fruits produce ethylene, but bananas are notorious for putting out a lot of ethylene gas.

[Gwen (Banana Character)]

Ethylene gas? Turn ripe? What do you mean?

[Mark Sanchez]

Well, the more ethylene a fruit produces, the riper it gets and the sweeter it starts to taste. Ethylene also causes fruit to change color, change texture, and get softer.

[Gwen (Banana Character)]

Wow. That's why Gwen and I used to be green but turned yellow.

[Mark Sanchez]

Look, ethylene is super important for us fruits because it's what allows us to ripen and taste good in the first place. The only problem is, once you start producing ethylene, you don't ever stop.

[Barry (Banana Character)]

So you're saying we could become too sweet?

[Mark Sanchez]

Exactly. You can get so ripe, you become rotten. I mean, look at me. I am not the young apple I once was. My firm, juicy days are behind me. I've got these mushy brown spots. Spots all over my red skin. I'm downright uneatable.

[Gwen (Banana Character)]

Well, I'm sorry, Frank, but I don't see how we have anything to do with this.

[Mark Sanchez]

Don't you get it? You're bananas. Banana peels give off so much ethylene that other fruits ripen faster, too.

[Gwen (Banana Character)]

I hope this human remembers you before it's too late.

[Mark Sanchez]

Thanks, Barry.

[Maneka Wilhelm]

Five Days later Gwen.

[Barry (Banana Character)]

Barry.

[Gwen (Banana Character)]

Gwen. I don't think I'm gonna make it, Barry.

[Barry (Banana Character)]

What do you mean?

[Gwen (Banana Character)]

Look at me. I'm mushier than guacamole. And I've got all these brown bruises on my peel.

[Barry (Banana Character)]

I'm not doing so hot myself. I'm covered in brown spots too. And I'm starting to turn black at the ends.

[Gwen (Banana Character)]

What happened to Frank?

[Barry (Banana Character)]

Oh, the old apple. He got eaten. So unfair.

[Gwen (Banana Character)]

Guess all of our potassium is going to waste after all. I'm just glad we got to ripen together, Gwen.

[Barry (Banana Character)]

Aw, Barry, you're so sweet.

[Gwen (Banana Character)]

I'm too sweet.

[Barry (Banana Character)]

Wait, what was that?

[Gwen (Banana Character)]

It's the human.

[Barry (Banana Character)]

Barry. What's happening?

[Gwen (Banana Character)]

The human is mashing us up and mixing us with a bunch of other things.

[Maneka Wilhelm]

I think.

[Barry (Banana Character)]

I think it's going to bake us into bread.

[Gwen (Banana Character)]

Oh, like banana bread. I've heard of that.

[Barry (Banana Character)]

We're going into the oven, Barry.

[Gwen (Banana Character)]

Ooh, it's hot in here.

[Barry (Banana Character)]

Looks like we're getting eaten after all. Just not the way we thought.

[Gwen (Banana Character)]

A happy ending.

[Maneka Wilhelm]

And so, after producing all the ethylene

[Mark Sanchez]

they could, Barry and Gwen turned from green to yellow to brown, until they were finally baked into banana bread and they were eaten happily ever after.

[Regan]

What did the banana say when he got off the roller coaster? I think I peeled my pants. How does a banana make a sandwich with banana bread?

[Harvey (Virtual Voice Assistant)]

Molly, according to my analysis of the brains on show structure, it is time for the

[Regan]

Mystery cell.

[Molly Bloom]

Right you are, Harvey Regan. Here it is. It's pretty short, so let's hear it one more time. Okay, Regan, what is your guess?

[Regan]

Um, I don't really know, but it sounds kind of like something falling really quickly through a tube.

[Molly Bloom]

Hmm, Very good guess. Well, we'll give you another chance to guess and hear the answer in just a bit. We are doing an episode on the science of baseball and baseball has some pretty great chance and cheers. But you know what is severely lacking in that department? Science. Let's fix that. Send us your idea for a science based game day chant. Or cheer something short and sweet like Science. Science. You're the best. Put ideas to the test, record your chant and send it to [e-mail] contact. You can also send us mystery sounds, questions, or just tell us a great science joke you heard. We can't wait to hear from you again. Brainzon.org contact keep listening.

[Maneka Wilhelm]

Where do bananas live?

[Regan]

I love banana. What did the banana say to the dog?

[Molly Bloom]

Nothing.

[Regan]

Bananas can't talk. You're listening to Brainzon. I'm Regan.

[Maneka Wilhelm]

I'm Molly, and I'm everyone's favorite brainzon producer. Hey, Maneka Wilhelm. And I've got a quiz show all about bananas for you. Banana Bing. Banana boom. In this round, I will be unpeeling a banana factoid, and it's up to you to decide if it's really a fact or if it's fiction, bananafied, or bogus. Ready, Regan? I'm ready. Bananas first grew in Southeast Asia.

[Regan]

Um, I'm going to say that that's true.

[Maneka Wilhelm]

You're correct. That would be a banana fied. Today, people farm bananas in tropical places all over the world, like Asia, Latin America, and even Africa, because these plants need lots of water and warmth to grow. Archaeologists are pretty sure it was people in Papua New guinea who first grew the banana as a crop. And then later, when European people came to Asia looking for places to colonize, they brought bananas back with them and then onto islands like Costa Rica, where they started banana plantations.

[Regan]

Oh, that's cool.

[Maneka Wilhelm]

Yeah, the banana has taken quite a journey. Second, banana farms have been growing the same banana for the past century.

[Regan]

I don't think that's true. I think I heard that bananas have been, like, genetically modified a lot, and now they're very different from what they used to be.

[Maneka Wilhelm]

You're totally right, Regan. That's bogus. These days, banana farmers grow a kind of banana called a cavendish banana. But 80 years ago, they were growing a different kind of banana called the Gros Michel, which translates to Big Mike in French. And people say the Big Mike bananas were sweeter and a little more banana y than today's bananas. The reason that we switched from Big Mike Bananas to Cavendish Bananas was that a fungus wiped out pretty much all the Gros Michel bananas in Central and South America. And Cavendish Bananas could still survive, so growers switched to them.

[Regan]

Oh, that's really interesting.

[Molly Bloom]

So, Manika, is it true that they were genetically modified, or did they just switch to, like, a different kind of banana?

[Maneka Wilhelm]

Yeah, it was more of just sort of a different offshoot of a Big Mike kind of plant. So it was more resistant to disease, but it still tasted pretty close to how the Big Mike banana tasted. Third factoid, there's a kind of banana called the ice Cream banana.

[Regan]

Um, I don't think that there would be an actual ice cream banana, but, I mean, you do have banana splits, so I don't know.

[Maneka Wilhelm]

It's pretty unbelievable. But that's a banana fied. Even though we pretty much eat one kind of banana, the Cavendish banana we just talked about, there are actually lots of different kinds of bananas around the world. Like you might have seen red bananas in the grocery store. They've got a reddish peel and they're sweeter and smaller than the yellow Cavendish. And the ice cream banana grows in Hawaiian and islands in Southeast Asia like Fiji. People say it has a nice vanilla flavor. That's pretty close to ice cream. Banana bing, banana boom. I'm out for now. Be back with another round soon. Bye Bye.

[Regan]

Why did someone slip on an orange peel? Because the banana was out sick. Here's my favorite banana joke from comedian Mitch Hedberg. With a stoplight, green means go, and yellow means slow down. With a banana, however, it is quite the opposite. Yellow means go, green means whoa, slow down. And red means where the heck did you get that? Banana.

[Maneka Wilhelm]

Banana bing, banana boom. We're back to the quiz show All About Bananas. In this round, I'm opening up a can of banana. Except not really, since bananas don't come in cans. But as everyone knows, bananas and rhymes go together like rosemary and thyme. So in this round, I'll serve you up a rhyme, line by line. And your job, my friend, is filling in the blank at the end. Ready, Regan?

[Regan]

Yes.

[Maneka Wilhelm]

Rhyme number one. Next time you open a banana, give the middle a check. Right there in the core, you'll see teensy black specks. They might look useful, like something the banana needs, but they can't grow into new plants. They're actually not seeds. Correct. The black specks are kind of what would be seeds, but they never grow into full seeds, so they're too tiny to do anything. And that brings us to rhyme number two. Since planting those specks won't do the trick, banana growers do something pretty slick. They cut a special bit off a plant that's grown up. And that special cutting shares a name with baby wolves. It's called a cub. Oh, you were very close. It's actually a pup.

[Regan]

Oh, okay.

[Maneka Wilhelm]

So the pup is actually a section of a grown banana plant stem that they cut off, and then it grows into a full banana plant and grows new bananas. Here's our final rhyme. A banana pup has the same DNA as the plant it's cut from, which leaves us with a very specific outcome. No farm grown banana stands alone. They're all copies of each other. Each one is a clone. Correct. Great job, Regan. You completed these banana rhymes like a champion. So some bananas do have seeds, but the ones that we eat that are grown on farms pretty much don't have seeds. And they just grow from cuttings of other banana plants.

[Molly Bloom]

That is Bananas. So sorry.

[Maneka Wilhelm]

Banana bing. Banana boom. I'm out.

[Molly Bloom]

Bye.

[Maneka Wilhelm]

Bye.

[Harvey (Virtual Voice Assistant)]

Brains on.

[Molly Bloom]

Want brains on? Without the interruptions, just join Smarty Pass. You'll get ad free versions of all of our shows, plus bonus episodes. Go to smartypass.org to sign up. Thanks. Turns out the bananas we buy in the grocery store are just the beginning. There's a whole world of bananas out there. We heard from someone who knows all about that.

[Gabriel Sachter Smith]

Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be able to go to the places that bananas are from, because that's where there's the most different types of bananas. And now I get the opportunity to go look for new types of bananas and document them and make them available to other researchers and other farmers throughout the world. Hello, my name is Gabriel Sachter Smith. I am a banana farmer and banana scientist in Hawaii. And I love banana diversity and all the different, many shapes, sizes, kinds and uses of banana. All the bananas in the world. I grow approximately 150 or so different varieties. I grow bananas that are wild species which have small fruit that's full of seeds and not very tasty, but they might have really pretty flowers or be really ornamental plants to have in a landscape. Some of them also are resistant to different pests and diseases, and I'm using them to make hybrids with edible bananas. I have types that are yellow, that are green, that are blue, that are red, that are orange, ones that have small fruits, that are very sweet, ones that have large fruits as large as your arm, but are very starchy and are better cooked. I have types that have white flesh and yellow flesh and orange flesh. I think about bananas a lot. There will never be a point in time where I've said, yep, I've seen all the bananas. I guess I'll study apples now.

[Regan]

How did the banana get away fast? It peeled out of the kitchen. What is a chicken's favorite food? A Bach nana.

[Molly Bloom]

Okay, Regan, are you ready to go back to that mystery sound?

[Barry (Banana Character)]

Yes.

[Molly Bloom]

All right, here it is again. Let's hear it one more time. All right. Last time you thought it was something falling down. A tube, perhaps? Do you have any new thoughts?

[Regan]

So I think maybe it could be like. It sounds like what they use in a lot of those cartoons is the sound of somebody slipping on a banana peel.

[Molly Bloom]

Oh, very good guess.

[Mark Sanchez]

And here with the answer is everyone's favorite brain song, producer, Mark Sanchez. Hey, Regan, you are 100% correct.

[Regan]

Oh, yay.

[Mark Sanchez]

Nice work indeed. And this ties into a question we got.

[Regan]

Hi, I'm Emily from Brookline. Massachusetts. And my question is, why are bananas used as a joke for people slipping? How did that start?

[Mark Sanchez]

Fantastic question. And just in case some of you aren't familiar with the banana peel joke, let me explain how it works. First person A throws a banana peel on the ground, then person B slips on that banana peel and lands on their backside. That's it. That's the joke. It's in thousands of cartoons and movies I'm sure you've seen, and it's pretty much the definition of a form of comedy called slapstick. That's when humor comes from things like falling or a pie in the face. But where did it come from? I hear you hollering at your podcast listening device. Well, it all started in the mid-1800s. The US wasn't even 100 years old. People used horses to get around, or they simply walked. And many people would sell their goods from stands on the streets, including fruit sellers. And back then, litter was a serious problem. When people were done with something, they would just throw it on the street. And one of the things they threw about all willy nilly were actually truly banana peels. A newspaper article from way back in 1870 wrote this.

[Maneka Wilhelm]

In spite of all that has been said by the papers around, throwing banana peelings and such like things on the sidewalks, the custom prevails in Memphis to an extent not equaled anywhere that we know of. On almost every corner there is a fruit stand around which the sidewalks are littered with these dangerous pairings. And not a day passes that someone does not receive a fall from stepping on them.

[Mark Sanchez]

So this was a real thing. And as we just learned, the banana that people were eating back then was different from the bananas we eat today. And one way it was different is that it was actually slipperier, which made it more dangerous. This phenomenon of people slipping on banana peels left as litter on the street was so common that people naturally started making jokes about started in newspaper comic strips and in stage routines around this time. So before movies were even invented, this joke had been around for decades. Here's what a theater critic had to say in 1909.

[Maneka Wilhelm]

The slipping on a banana peel episode has been so done to death by the funny papers that it is tabooed now entirely as too old.

[Mark Sanchez]

But one person's old is another person's. Classic vaudeville performer Sliding Billy Watson became famous in part thanks to his slippery banana peel routine. And when movies came along shortly after that, you can bet your sweet bippy that banana peel falls were there too. The first movies made had no sound. The technology didn't even exist yet. So these silent movies were filled with slapstick, which meant plenty of slips on banana peels. If you want to read more about the origins of this joke and see examples of it, head to our website brainson.org.

[Regan]

What kind of key can open a banana?

[Maneka Wilhelm]

A monkey.

[Regan]

Do you want to know why people like banana jokes? Because they're appealing. Hey, what happened to everyone's favorite Brainzone producer, Sandon Totten?

[Gabriel Sachter Smith]

Hey.

[Molly Bloom]

Oh, he fell fast asleep after eating all those banana splits, but he did it before they melted.

[Regan]

Just goes to show you, bananas always have a peel.

[Molly Bloom]

We do, in fact, share lots of DNA with bananas, but there's a lot that's different, too.

[Regan]

Bananas produce a lot of ethylene gas, which makes fruit ripen.

[Molly Bloom]

Bananas grow from tall plants, but most of the bananas we eat don't grow from seeds because they're actually clones.

[Regan]

Jokes about slipping on banana peels have been around for about 200 years because back then it actually happened to people often.

[Molly Bloom]

That's it for this banana programma.

[Regan]

Brains on is produced by Maneka Wilhelm, Sandon Todden, Mark Sanchez, and Molly Blue.

[Molly Bloom]

We had production help from David Jha, Nancy Xu, Ava Kian, and Christina Lopez. And we had editing help from Phyllis Fletcher. Many thanks to Tamara Lennox, Jim Fazano, Leah Stans, Sam Chu, Jennifer Lai, Rosie Dupont, and Vicki Creckler. And an extra round of applause for our big bunch of banana joke. Livia Paxton, Annalee Ikaika, Alice Carter, Lyra, Inti, Vivian, Anshu, Sabina and Strummer.

[Unknown Adult Speaker]

Now it's time for the brains honor roll. These are the incredible kids who keep the show going with their questions, ideas, mystery, sounds, drawings and high fives. Huxley from austin, texas greta from ann arbor, michigan micah from asheville, north carolina faye from british columbia eli from nova scotia levi from bartow, florid, florida kelly and alexis from sweetsboro, new jersey lewis from vancouver, british columbia kira from london jack from henrico, virginia viola, gus and joe from kalispell, montana paloma from portland, oregon xander and torrin from colorado springs sean from kirkland, washington fiona from marietta, georgia max and bella from austin, texas camden and noah from holly springs, north carolina samana from schaumburg, illinois ivy from manitoba alex from alabama frankie from seattle griffin and tallulah from columbus, ohio logan from st. Albert, alberta miles and joanna from cincinnati edie from vancouver audrey from clive, iowa evie from alder grove, british columbia samuel from st. Louis logan from littleton, colorado oliver from madrid, spain marina from sao paulo, brazil carter from waynesville, north carolina jingyi from toronto jones and cora from kitchener, ontario lila and isabo from fayetteville, georgia faye from british columbia allison and sophia from newberg, new york erica from australia warren from centralia, washington garrett from reading, massachusetts marnie from los angeles evie from birchwood village, minnesota emerson from scott, squeamish, british columbia xiyuan from auckland, new zealand janaba from dakar, senegal advit from washington, d.c. branson and everly from southern california olivia and allison from gosh in new york adrian from new brighton, minnesota a million and maverick from calgary, alberta zinnia and luca from silver city, new mexico ziggy from melbourne, australia hazel from new albany, indiana naomi from bremerton, washington magda from arlington, virginia la from new baltimore, michigan swan from austin, texas owen and elliot. Elliot from portland, oregon millie from canton, georgia violet from tulsa, oklahoma bella from london, england and christian from martinsburg, west virginia.

[Molly Bloom]

We'll be back next week with more answers to your questions.

[Regan]

Thanks for listening.

[Mark Sanchez]

I did it. I fixed Harvey. Now everything won't be so bananas.

[Harvey (Virtual Voice Assistant)]

Yes, Mark, Orange, you glad I'm done with bananas?