In 9000 years, humans have altered sweetcorn to make it 1000 times larger, 3.5 times sweeter, much easier to peel and much easier to grow than its natural ancestor. It no longer resembles the original teosinte plant at all. Around half of this artificial selection happened since the fifteenth century, when European settlers placed new selection pressures on the crop to suit their exotic taste buds. The newest varieties were developed by extensive testing in laboratories.

Inofgraphic via JamesKennedyMonash