Now that 21 people have been infected with avian flu in Turkey, there has been a proliferation of news about the bird which Ben Franklin, who celebrated his 300th birthday yesterday , suggested as the US?s national bird . It turns out that turkeys are remarkably intelligent and technologically sophisticated.

Today?s winner: ?Turkey able to develop bird flu vaccine: professor.? That's one smart bird. I only hope she turns her attention to a human H5N1 vaccine after she develops the one for her own species.

Then there?s the one about the turkey telephone. It's a bit of a throwback but it's nearly as powerful as the Treo:

TURKEY TELEPHONE NEWS BRIEFING AT 1500 CET - WHO AVIAN FLU TEAM LEADER TO SPEAK WITH JOURNALISTS

One colleagues? response: it feeds on Blackberries.

Another?s: I had a duck phone once.

This epidemic may get worse before it gets better.