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Ancient Turkey Bones In Mexico Reveal A Strange Relationship With Humans

Ocellated turkeys stand out for their bright blue heads and iridescent feathers. They're still around the Yucatan today. Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty Images hide caption

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Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty Images

The Salt

Ancient Turkey Bones In Mexico Reveal A Strange Relationship With Humans

New tests reveal humans have long raised the birds, and not just for food. Ancient Mesoamericans were buried with turkeys, perhaps as snacks, companions or status symbols. There was even a turkey god.

Learning To Love Sake: Japan Ramps Up Efforts To Entice Foreign Markets

Empty sake bottles lined up outside a restaurant in the Daikanyama area of Tokyo. Graham Crouch/Getty Images/Lonely Planet Image hide caption

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Graham Crouch/Getty Images/Lonely Planet Image

The Salt

Learning To Love Sake: Japan Ramps Up Efforts To Entice Foreign Markets

Faced with a shrinking market and workforce, Japanese sake brewers are relying more on exports for growth. So, the government and sake industry are investing in education to help demystify the drink.

A Century-Old Dairy Ditches Cows For High-Tech Plant Milk

Some of the "milks" on offer by Elmhurst Milked, which operated as a traditional dairy in New York for nearly 100 years. These days, Elmhurst has replaced cows with nuts, oats and rice. Courtesy of Elmhurst Milked hide caption

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Courtesy of Elmhurst Milked

The Salt

A Century-Old Dairy Ditches Cows For High-Tech Plant Milk

American aren't drinking as much milk. One long-established dairy is spurring business by replacing cows with nuts and grains, and using new technology to make alternative "milk" sources.

The Cheese Does Not Stand Alone: How Fungi And Bacteria Team Up For A Tastier Rind

A block of Tomme de Savoie cheese ages with a sweater of Mucor lanceolatus fungal mold. Mucor itself doesn't have a strong taste, but more flavorful bacteria can travel far and wide along its hyphae — the microscopic, branched tendrils that fungi use to bring in nutrients. Benjamin Wolfe/Benjamin Wolfe hide caption

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Benjamin Wolfe/Benjamin Wolfe

The Salt

The Cheese Does Not Stand Alone: How Fungi And Bacteria Team Up For A Tastier Rind

Cheese rinds may seem simple, even discardable, but the microbial world they contain is complex. Among their inhabitants: bacterial swimmers that hop on highways of fungal tendrils to get around.

Boozing With The Bard: How The Masses Find Common Ground With Shakespeare

A trio of illustrations from the cocktail book Shakespeare, Not Stirred: Ophelia, King Henry VIII and King Lear. The Folger Shakespeare Library / James Monaco hide caption

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The Folger Shakespeare Library / James Monaco

The Salt

Boozing With The Bard: How The Masses Find Common Ground With Shakespeare

From a theater company where audiences drink along with the actors to a book of cocktails inspired by his plays, alcohol has long been "a great provoker" in making the Bard's work more relatable.

Honeybees Help Farmers, But They Don't Help The Environment

Nigel Raine keeps a collection of wild bees in his laboratory at the University of Guelph, in Canada. Farmed honeybees can compete with wild bees for food, making it harder for wild species to survive. Dan Charles/NPR hide caption

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Dan Charles/NPR

The Salt

Honeybees Help Farmers, But They Don't Help The Environment

Maybe honeybees get too much attention. They are agricultural animals, like sheep or cattle, and they sometimes make life harder for wild bees. In fact, the bees in true peril are the wild ones.

Honeybees Help Farmers, But They Don't Help The Environment

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'This Is Not Normal': Nutella Riots Hit France After Stores Slash Prices

A promotional sale on Nutella was more successful than planned: Customers came to blows trying to get jars of the sweet spread after a grocery chain cut prices by 70 percent. Eric Gaillard/Reuters hide caption

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Eric Gaillard/Reuters

The Two-Way

'This Is Not Normal': Nutella Riots Hit France After Stores Slash Prices

"At 8:15, there was already a waiting line of 200 people in front of the store," an employee at one Intermarché location said. Video of one scene was titled "Emeute" — a term for rebellion.

In London, The American Food Aisle Is Filled With Nostalgia And Preservatives

Plenty of food shops in London have sections catering to American immigrants. The busiest times converge around three American holidays: Independence Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Christine Ro/NPR hide caption

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Christine Ro/NPR

The Salt

In London, The American Food Aisle Is Filled With Nostalgia And Preservatives

To Americans abroad, comfort food so often looks like junk food. Shops in London are filled with items from Hershey's, Aunt Jemima and Betty Crocker. But Kellogg's Pop-Tarts seem to rule them all.

Business

Supplies Of Valuable Ginseng Root Dwindling

Ginseng is a prized root in demand for it's wide use in traditional Chinese medicine. Some of the most valuable ginseng grows wild in Appalachia, but supplies are dwindling.

Supplies Of Valuable Ginseng Root Dwindling

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