I Speak of Dreams

Why Science Is Endlessly Fascinating: This Time, The Complicated History of the Domesticated Turkey | 80beats | Discover Magazine

The Complicated History of the Domesticated Turkey | 80beats | Discover Magazine.

Scientists knew that the Aztec people of pre-Columbian Mexico had domesticated the turkey by the time Europeans arrived, and that those birds are the forebears of the giant birds Americans devour in gut-busting volume every Thanksgiving. But a new study (pdf) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that the Aztecs weren’t the only early Americans to tame the turkey: People of what is now the Southwestern United States, including the Anasazi, separately domesticated the birds.

A Quick Tip on A Good Post on Food

Coturnix, that Serbian gourmand, writes an ode to offal: A Blog Around The Clock : Offal is Good.

I'm not much on brains or tongue, but otherwise rather fond of "organ meats".

The Official Marine Christmas Manual

Link: Doc in the Box: Christmas S.O.P. for all Marines:

1.a:

Not a creature will stir without permission. This includes warrant officers and mice. Marines may obtain special stirring permits for necessary administrative action through the Battalion S-1. Officer stirring permits must be obtained through the Deputy, Post Plans and Policy Office.

Cephalopodmas 2007

Cephalopodmas! PZ has his rewards! Two enormous creatures made National Geographic's list of the best photos of 2007.  One is the "colossal squid"  and the other is of a giant squid ashore in Australia.

Of course, the obligatory: please help save the endangered tree octopus

A Thermite Thanksgiving video

Link: A Thermite Thanksgiving video.

I laughed out loud, really.  Remember,  I was married to this guy --

Thanks to Zak, posting at Making Light.

Arrrgh PIRATES!

It's National Talk Like a Pirate Day.   I like what I said in 2004:

A Great Cure for Dyslexia

See if pirates ruled the world, we'd only need one letter.

See all the images for "If Pirates Ruled the World" at Worth 1000

It wouldn't take long to learn how to type, either.

Cory, who wishes he were a pirate told me about it.

Mmmmm, foooooooooood: Gelatin filtraton

I actually haven't been cooking much lately--Robert's is just too convenient.  But this post at BoingBoing caught my eye.  It links to an article at the New York Times, The Essence of Nearly Everything.  The author, Harold McGee, wrote one of my favorite food books.  McGee mentions a blog, Ideas in Food that might be a source for gelatin-filtration recipes.

The Viking Longship: From Denmark to Dublin

This is so cool.  I have a new obsession--a reproduction Viking Longship is sailing (well, rowing at the moment) from Link: Havhingsten fra Glendalough: Home.  The skjald is also keeping a diary.

There's also a site for the construction of the ship.

Thank you, Cranky Professor!

Finally I Understand! The AH gene Revealed

Link: University Diaries.

UD has already, on this blog, reported the discovery of the AH gene, predisposing carriers, in the words of the study, "to chronic behavior in an obnoxious, boorish, selfish, overbearing, and generally offensive manner (pp. 128 - 129)." AH-Carriers have "four alleles... which [we] refer to as rectalleles." Depending on the combination of alleles in carriers, they may be "complete AH's" or lesser varieties of these.

The Domestication of the Cat

ScienceNOW has a nifty article on the domestication of the cat.  What is new is the use of mitochondrial DNA to prove that Felix silvestris silvestris (the Old World wildcat)  is indeed the wild ancestor to today's house cat (Felix silvestris domesticus, Felix  silvestris catus.)

(that's Felix silvestris silvestris to the left.  Image source).

Wildcats are a single Old World species. Five subspecies live in Europe, sub-Saharan Africa, China, Central Asia, and the Near East. The researchers collected genetic material from 979 modern-day cats, domestic and wild, from three continents. Their analysis indicates that the common ancestors of all domesticated cats lived in the Near East some 130,000 years ago. They were wildcats living in the Fertile Crescent--the area extending from the Eastern Mediterranean around Turkey and down into Mesopotamia--"exactly the place where humanity settled down to agriculture ten to twelve thousand years ago," says O'Brien. The team found five lineages of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in modern felines. Because of this variation, the researchers believe domestication occurred a half-dozen times or so in the Middle East.

More on feline evolution with a nifty discussion of coat color genetics, which lead me to The Lyons' Den.