Is the meat from a frozen mammoth still good enough to eat?
   Risa, Age 11, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Dr. dig responds:
It might be--there are plenty of rumors about people eating frozen mammoths, but no confirmed accounts. However, we do know that in the 1960s, the explorer Coleman S. Williams did something similar. He discovered the frozen remains of a 50,000-year-old horse sticking out of a glacier near Goldcreek, Alaska. Unfortunately, hungry wolves and bears had gotten to it first -- there was almost no meat left on the bones of the prehistoric pony. Not wanting to be cheated out of his share of this flavorful fossil, Williams sectioned the skeleton and found the marrow in the bones still fresh and edible. He quickly brought the bones back to New York on ice. The marrow was scooped out and used as an ingredient for a tasty cocktail treat which he served to a large and distinguished crowd of people at an annual Explorers Club dinner. Do you suppose this is how we get the term hors(e) d'oeuvres?