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If you looked at Earth from far off in the solar system, would it look like it's run by humans — or chickens? There are about three times as many chickens as people on this planet. And while horses and dogs are often celebrated as humankind's partner in spreading civilization, a new book argues it's really the chicken.

Why Did the Chicken Cross the World?

The Epic Saga of the Bird That Powers Civilization

by Andrew Lawler

Hardcover, 324 pages | purchase

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TitleWhy Did the Chicken Cross the World?SubtitleThe Epic Saga of the Bird That Powers CivilizationAuthorAndrew Lawler

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Read an excerpt

Andrew Lawler, author of Why Did the Chicken Cross the World?, tells NPR's Scott Simon about the chicken's malleability, its religious symbolism and the most disturbing thing he learned while researching his book.

Interview Highlights

On why he calls the chicken nature's Mr. Potato Head

You can turn the chicken into almost anything. You can have a tiny little bantam, or you can have a giant Rhode Island red. The chicken is incredibly malleable, which is probably a good reason why we decided to domesticate it and use it for so many purposes. ... Some archaeologists believe that the chicken was domesticated for ... cockfighting and for religious purposes. And it's only later — really, in the past century — that the chicken has been used to eat on a regular basis.

On the chicken as a religious symbol

I can't think of a creature that has more religious significance than the chicken. ... If you look at most Christian churches, they have a chicken on top — that is, a rooster — as a weather vane. Actually, there's a pope, about 1,500 years ago, who declared that the chicken should be placed on top of every steeple in Christendom. And even on the top of Old St. Peter's [Basilica], there was a rooster that crowed people into church to awake them spiritually. But this is actually an old idea that goes back to the Zoroastrians in ancient Persia.

On how African-Americans became so central in the poultry industry

This is one thing that I think surprised me more than anything else I discovered about the chicken industry. And that is that, in the Colonial South, chickens were just about the only thing that American slaves were allowed to raise, because livestock like cows or sheep or pigs were considered too important, and those were reserved for the masters, or slaves took care of them. And so, over time, over a century and a half, African-Americans became kind of the general chicken merchants in the South. And in part [that was] because they knew the chicken well: They came largely from West Africa, where the chicken was an essential part of daily life ... for food as well as for religious ritual.

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On the Chicken of Tomorrow project

It's sort of like the Manhattan Project for poultry. So, after World War II, the people who [raised] chickens got together. And they were really afraid that at the end of the war, people were going to go back to eating beef and pork, which had been largely reserved for the troops during the war. So they decided that they needed to draw on the latest science and engineering in order to make the chicken more profitable. And they had a vast national contest, and at the end of this contest, in 1951, they chose one chicken that seemed to fit the bill. And that was a chicken that could grow really fast with a minimal amount of feed, and would have a large breast that Americans like to eat. And ultimately it proved incredibly successful.

On the most unsettling thing he learned about the poultry industry

It was particularly disturbing to discover that under U.S. law, chickens are not even considered animals if they're grown for food. So, in other words, there are no regulations that say how chickens should be treated. Now, this is very different, say, from pigs or from cattle, where there are some very strict guidelines that people have to follow. But the chicken is almost considered not even alive, which, after spending time talking to people about chickens around the world — I discovered that's crazy.

Read an excerpt of Why Did the Chicken Cross the World?

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Dave Arnold can work some serious magic with a cocktail shaker. But he's no alchemist — Arnold, who runs the Manhattan bar Booker and Dax, takes a very scientific approach to his craft.

Liquid Intelligence

The Art and Science of the Perfect Cocktail

by Dave Arnold and Travis Huggett

Hardcover, 416 pages | purchase

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TitleLiquid IntelligenceSubtitleThe Art and Science of the Perfect CocktailAuthorDave Arnold and Travis Huggett

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Arnold, author of Liquid Intelligence: The Art and Science of the Perfect Cocktail, has some advanced tricks will help you up your game in time for holiday cocktail parties. And while some of them — like his liquid nitrogen techniques — aren't for the faint of heart, one of his favorite secrets is a simple, low-tech ingredient: salt.

"That's what I tell everyone," he tells NPR's Ari Shapiro. "Next time you make cocktails, make a drink, don't add any salt [and] taste it. Then just put a pinch in afterwards, stir it and taste the difference."

As for that liquid nitrogen, it's the key to the Thai Basil Daiquiri, one of Arnold's signature drinks. The basil's anise flavor notes make it a fantastic herb for drinks, he says.

i i

How to muddle your herbs with liquid nitrogen: Left: Freeze your herbs. Center: After muddling, it should look like this. Right: Add liquor, let thaw, then add syrups and shake with ice. Strain drink through a tea strainer into a chilled coupe glass. Travis Huggett/W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. hide caption

itoggle caption Travis Huggett/W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

How to muddle your herbs with liquid nitrogen: Left: Freeze your herbs. Center: After muddling, it should look like this. Right: Add liquor, let thaw, then add syrups and shake with ice. Strain drink through a tea strainer into a chilled coupe glass.

Travis Huggett/W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

(A note of caution: Liquid nitrogen is extremely cold – Arnold works with it at minus 196 degrees Celsius. Read the warning label before attempting to use it.)

In traditional muddling, grinding releases an herb's flavors and oils into a cocktail. "The problem is, [a muddled leaf] starts turning black almost immediately," when enzymes in the herb react with oxygen, Arnold explains.

But when the leaves are frozen with liquid nitrogen, Arnold says, they become so cold and brittle that they can be easily powered and used to create fine infusions. And because those enzymes are deactivated by high-proof ethanol – booze – combining the powder with liquor retains the herb's bright color, Arnold explains.

Eater/YouTube

Watch Dave Arnold explain how to make his Thai Basil Daiquiri using liquid nitrogen.

Arnold also has a pretty spectacular party trick that uses a much older technology: a saber, used to knock the top off a bottle of Champagne or sparkling wine. Luckily, almost any kitchen knife, like a chef's knife, will do.

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If you do it properly, Arnold says, you needn't worry about ending up drinking shards of glass. "I've done high-speed photography of it, and looked at it, and the force and the pressure are such that the glass shards always travel away from the beverage."

If you listen to the conversation in the audio player above, Arnold will walk you through his sabering technique. Just take care where you try this technique, he notes. "I have broken a window in my bathroom" doing this, he says, so try it out "in a place that you're not worried."

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In Hong Kong, thousands of pro-democracy protesters wearing hard hats and masks clashed with police as they attempted to storm the office of the territory's leader, who they have repeatedly demanded step down.

Chanting "Surround government headquarters!" and "Open the road!" students marched toward buildings in Admiralty, next to Hong Kong's central business district, according to Reuters.

The news agency said that "scores of protesters with wooden shields and metal barricades charged police as officers warned them to retreat. Police, who have been accused of using excessive force, struck demonstrators with batons in a bid to push them back."

NPR's Frank Langfitt, reporting from Hong Kong, says that protesters "surged forward against lines of cops, banging the aluminum walls of a construction site as they went.

"They seized a major road downtown to cut off access to the government complex," Frank says. "But police counter-attacked, swinging batons, firing pepper spray, detaining protesters and re-taking the road."

The South China Morning Post reports that the protesters "thronged around government headquarters and Tamar Park and began trying to breach police lines at various points.

The English-language daily said: "Two key areas of violence - some of which left protesters bloodied and requiring first aid treatment by makeshift medics as police used pepper spray and baton charges to repel attempts breach their lines - were Lung Wo Road and the walkways connecting Harcourt Road to government headquarters."

The SCMP reported that "fresh trouble" also flared at a student protest site in Mong Kok on the other side of the harbor in Kowloon, where police and protesters briefly clashed.

The protests, which have gone on for more than two months, are aimed at forcing unpopular Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying to step down and for Beijing to fulfill its promise of open elections for his successor.

While many in the former British colony initially supported the student-led protests, frustration has set in amid no sign of government concessions.

Hong Kong protests

Around this time every year, retailers gird their loins and prepare to slash prices for the holiday shopping season. For many stores, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are opportunities to clear old stock (at a mild loss) and trigger a surge of spending that carries on well into December. Deals on toys, televisions and tablets are meant to pull you into stores, where you're likely to splurge on other things like towels ... or perhaps a new cellphone.

Depending on when and where you look this week you'll be able to snag a new flagship class phone for as little as a penny if you're willing to sign a 2-year contract. There are a few contract-free devices being discounted this weekend, but the bulk of them aren't exactly the amazing "doorbusters" they're being advertised as. They're throwaway phones meant for short-term use. That's not a knock against the cheap phone market, however. In fact, some of the most interesting developments in cellphone tech are focused on the so-called "low end."

Once upon a time when you walked into a store looking to buy a new cell phone, you were presented with three options. High-end devices like Apple's iPhone and Samsung's Galaxy line were cutting edge, but expensive. Mid-range phones like HTC's Desire series were cheaper, but not nearly as powerful. Low-end phones were the most affordable, but also the most technologically limited of the bunch. Their processors were slower, their screens were less crisp, and their build quality often left much to be, well, desired.

Looking at the market today, many things are the same. High-end phones are still pricey and aspirational while the midrange is still middling. Cheap smartphones, however, are in a state of disruption. Bargain-basement gadgets are giving way to bigger, better devices that are just as affordable. Manufacturers like Microsoft, Motorola and OnePlus are redefining what an affordable cellphone can do, and demanding that we put the term "low end" to rest.

Microsoft/Nokia

The New Low End

Before it was officially acquired by Microsoft, Nokia released the Lumia 520, 521 and 525 handsets that quickly became the most popular Windows phones in the world. A sub-$100 price point and fairly smooth everyday use made the series ideal for first-time smartphone users. Since then, Microsoft has rolled out more cheap models that feature significant hardware upgrades, while maintaining ridiculously low price points. Entry-level Lumias demonstrated what companies could accomplish by building software meant to run on simpler, cheaper hardware.

For the most part, the low-end smartphone market is dominated by Android. With Windows Phone 8, however, Microsoft targeted one of Android's biggest weaknesses — performance. As powerful and customizable as Android is, it has a track record of poor performance on phones with lower specs. Windows Phone may not be as popular as Android, but it's a relatively standardized platform — meaning that using one Windows Phone feels like using nearly every Windows phone.

Rather than treating the low end as an afterthought, Microsoft began the trend of treating it as an opportunity to provide all consumers with a compelling experience.

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Is Amazon's Failed Phone A Cautionary Tale?

Not long after Microsoft's foray into the new "low end," Motorola followed suit with the Moto G, a $180 off-contract phone meant to perform like a flagship. Similar to the Lumias, the Moto G became a record success for Motorola and challenged what low-cost Android phones could be.

The rising quality of smartphones priced under $200 is making them more attractive to the average consumer, but the low end is being redefined from above as well.

Redefining The Flagship

There's nothing technically low-end about the OnePlus One except for its price. At $299 off contract, OnePlus's "flagship killer" is more expensive than most of Microsoft's Lumias or the Moto G. Compared to the iPhone 6 ($649), the LG G3 ($699), and the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 ($949), however, the OnePlus One is ludicrously priced. The OnePlus One features the same high-end components as its competitors, but has opted for a different kind of business model, which OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei likens to that of a startup.

"In building our company, we wanted to challenge the status quo," Pei explained in an interview. "By selling directly to consumers and utilizing social media and our online community to create interest, we were able to put a lot more value back into the device itself."

OnePlus's One phone manages to provide a high-end experience at a relatively low price point. OnePlus hide caption

itoggle caption OnePlus

Unlike most other phones, the OnePlus One can only be bought online after receiving an invitation from the company or a friend who's purchased the phone. The system does the double duty of generating buzz around the device and allowing OnePlus to maintain a careful, cost-effective balance between supply and demand. Pei says OnePlus' focus isn't necessarily on its competition. It's on how people are purchasing their phones.

"Increasingly, people are starting to understand the true cost of signing a contract, and we want to make it easier to purchase a high-end device without having to give a large portion of money to a middleman," Pei said. "We're here to show everyone what's possible once you step outside of the traditional rules of the smartphone market."

The traditional rules of the smartphone market are what burned Amazon's ill-fated Kindle Fire Phone earlier this year and drove the company to discount the phone to a more reasonable $199 off-contract price. Today more Americans are buying smartphones under $200, and the market is responding.

ARM, the company that designs most of the world's cellphone processors, projects that by 2018 1 billion low-end smartphones will ship compared to 250 million high-end devices. What those devices will look like exactly is unclear, but it's obvious that the low-end market that we knew is evolving into something bigger, stronger and cheaper than ever.

Charles Pulliam-Moore is an intern at NPR's Code Switch who has a not-so-secret passion for mobile gadgetry. He tweets about tech, culture and the occasional pocket monster @CharlesPulliam.

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