Protect Yourself From Unwanted Pathogens This Thanksgiving . . . Cook the Turkey with Cranberries

A timely article from Discovery News describes the potential antibacterial properties of cranberries and how cooking a turkey with cranberry juice may help prevent infection from such unpleasant diseases as E. coli and Salmonella.  Considering that cranberries are generally already a part of most Thanksgiving dinners this is a good way to help prevent unnecessary illness during the holiday.  Of course the safest choice is just to make sure you keep the kitchen clean and that your bird reaches and internal cooking temperature of 180 degrees (F).  Stuffing in the Turkey should reach at least 165 degrees (F).  Have a safe and happy holiday everybody.

Could Cloning Bring Extinct Species Back from the Dead?

With the popularity of stories like Jurassic Park (both the book and movie version) there has been a fascination for some time now of using cloning to bring back to life species that have long been extinct.  While it sounds good in theory up until now it has been thought to be pretty hard to do due to implications of damaged or incomplete DNA.  But that may soon change.  A short CNN article this morning points us to work being done by Japanese scientists who have successfully cloned mice that have been dead and frozen for 16 years.  This research could open the possibility of eventually cloning other animals that have long been extinct.  An interesting implication to say the least.