Part Bird, Part Mammal ... Wait, Isn't This the Start of a Joke?

The New York Times reports on the genome sequence of the platypus -- which you probably already knew about, but we're partial to any publication that refers to the "freak-show charm" of one of the weirdest-looking critters on the planet (and we mean that in the nicest possible way). As NYT reports, the public responded to the announcement of the platypus genome last week "with considerably more enthusiasm than it had accorded similar bulletins about the sequencing of, say, the mustard plant, the mosquito or the wild chicken." Hey, don't feel bad, chicken -- maybe one day you, too, will acquire bizarre mammalian features.