Monday, May 26, 2008

Red Canary


RED CANARY
By Tim Birkhead
An unusual story about genetics with all its false starts, dashed hopes and achievements. In 1921 a 40 years old school teacher in Bremen heard a nightingale singing near the cathedral. But this was august and no one had ever heard a nightingale sing in the middle of town at that time of year. In fact the bird he had heard was extra ordinary, a special canary that Karl Reich, a bird keeper had engineered through a decade of dedicated breeding. With Reich’s knowledge of birds and the 40 years old Hans Duncker’s expertise in genetics , the two joined forces with an audacious plan to create a new kind of bird , called –Red Canary.

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