Went all out for Xmas over at mentalfloss.com. Plenty of posts on the science and/or history of various seasonal wonders, and more to come (…maybe, I dunno, ask may editor).

Are There Really Virgin Births?

Who Sent the First Christmas Card?

Is it true that no two snowflakes are alike?

No more haggis!

The traditional Scottish dish, made by taking a sheep’s heart, liver and lungs, onion, oatmeal and spices and boiling it in a sheep’s stomach, is at risk because lung worms are thriving in the warming climate. The parasite has always been an occasional problem, but infections in sheep are rising because there are less hard frosts on grazing land and the worms can stay on the surface longer, where they’re eaten by the sheep. The more sheep that get infected with lung worm, the harder it is for butchers to get their hands on a decent lung.

Adding to the problem is the fact roundworm and fluke, have become less common in sheep. If evidence of these parasites isn’t found in sheep droppings, then farmers tend not to give the animals de-worming treatments.

Haggis makers have their fingers crossed and some are sourcing lungs from Ireland during shortages. Offal lovers everywhere are no doubt anxious for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to tackle the problem.

Photo: Ian Britton, supplied by FreeFoto.com

These two items popped up in my Google Reader at the same time. I present them without comment (and, again, without bird puns, which takes more willpower than you know).

New findings challenge long-held assumptions about flightless bird evolution

Five of the Largest Birds in History

Also, the Large Hadron Collider will be doing all sorts of quantum magic in less than a week. Check out the _floss on 10th, when I explain how the LHC’s handlers plan to keep it from destroying the universe.