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There are a great many common misconceptions about the ‘first Thanksgiving’ – not the least of which is the menu. But according to the US writer, artist and noted eel expert James Prosek, eels likely would have been prominent on the plates of the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag people who attended that meal at Plymouth Plantation in 1621. Inspired by Prosek’s writing on the subject and a general lack of interest in traditional Thanksgiving fare, the US animator Drew Christie created the lighthearted short video A Thanksgiving Eel, which considers whether it’s possible or practical for the eel to make a Thanksgiving comeback.
Video by Drew Christie
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Language and linguistics
Do button-pushing dogs have something new to say about language?
9 minutes
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Art
When East met West in the images of an overlooked, original photographer
9 minutes
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Values and beliefs
Why a single tree, uprooted in a typhoon, means so much to one man in Hanoi
7 minutes
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Consciousness and altered states
‘I want me back’ – after a head injury, Nick struggles with his altered reality
7 minutes
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Making
On the Norwegian coast, a tree is transformed into a boat the old-fashioned way
6 minutes
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Animals and humans
One man’s quest to save an orphaned squirrel, as narrated by David Attenborough
14 minutes
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Computing and artificial intelligence
A future in which ‘artificial scientists’ make discoveries may not be far away
9 minutes
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History
Hags, seductresses, feminist icons – how gender dynamics manifest in witches
13 minutes
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Earth science and climate
Images carved into film form a haunting elegy for a disappearing slice of Earth
3 minutes