Hens with teeth

From the Times of London:

The first birds with teeth since the age of the dinosaurs have been created by an Anglo-French team of scientists. . .

A batch of chicken embryos raised at a French laboratory have been coaxed into growing rudimentary teeth, after researchers managed to re-awaken a gene that has lain dormant in birds for at least 70 million years.

The results of the experiments, which are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, have caused jaws to drop all over France: the French expression “quand les poules auront des dents”, meaning “when hens have teeth”, is the equivalent of the English “pigs might fly”.

Posted by David on June 5, 2003 9:08 AM