Turkey Tidbits and Leftovers

Here are a few headlines to nibble on this Thanksgiving holiday.

Want to get inside a turkey’s head? The Witmer Lab of Ohio University will grant you that access with this video. The technical term for that gray, fuzzy thing?  The snood, of course.

Before you put that bird in the oven check out our San Francisco neighbors the Exploratorium’s Science of Cooking blog. They’ll give you the scoop on (and the science behind) cooking temperatures and times, roasting pans and lids.

Time to set the table. This is a must see! Discover has a super cool Thanksgiving dinner DNA spread. Start off with the turkey genome (recently sequenced in September) and your sides—the corn and potato genomes.  Satisfy your sweet tooth with the apple genome found in your pie and wash everything down with the wine grape genome.  Enjoy some mouth-watering discoveries and images with each course.

The author of the above spread, Emily Anthes, has more to say on her PLoS Blog about the turkey genome. Turns out domestic turkeys are very susceptible to cancer—they could very well be “a great research model for cancer” in the near future.

Pass the mashed potatoes? How are genetically modified foods changing our holiday feast? Popular Science digs deep to discover how biotechnology affects the way we eat.

Stuffed, yet? Scientific American has a 60-Second Science podcast today on eating less. Apparently, simply using a smaller plate or bowl could reduce caloric-intake by 20-50%.

Don’t fight over the wishbone! Our favorite dino-blogger, Brian Switek, has a post today at Smithsonian on something that a turkey and a Tyrannosaurus rex have in common.

Finally, Robert Krulwich, science journalist extraordinaire, has a great blog on NPR today on the first Thanksgiving. More history than science, but still worth the read.

Happy Thanksgiving!