Similarly, the biotech giant Cargill has begun manufacturing a polymer from vegetable oils that is used in polyurethane foams, which is found in beddings, furniture and car-seat headrests.

Be gladde lordes bothe more and lasse, / For this hath ordeyned our stewarde / To chere you all this Christmasse / The bores heed with mustarde.

After all the sociologizing about family tradition, geography, religion, economic status, blue and red states, and clan influence, perhaps Gilbert and Sullivan came closest: “I often think it’s comical / How Nature always does contrive / That every boy and every gal / That’s born into the world alive / Is either a little Liberal / Or else a little Conservative!”

Twenty two people have been put in quarantine in Subei county near Jiuquan after a man died last week from pneumonic plague, the West China Business News reports. The national health authorities have sent experts to help deal with the case.