Sorry Westerners, you can't digest seaweed like a Japanese

Sushi was once a strange dish eaten only by the Japanese and Molly Ringwald in "The Breakfast Club." Now, however, it's one of the most popular and beloved foods on earth. Yet as "Nature" reports, the Japanese people may be the only ones who actually get protein out of the nori seaweed that makes up the green wrap of "makizushi"-- and yes, even California rolls.

The stomach-dwelling bacterium Bacteroides plebeiusin evolved within the Japanese digestive system to take on specific genes that help it break down proteins found in seaweed. Scientists speculate that a random seaborne microbe "transfered genes" to the bacteria. This is apparently the first clear-cut case in scientific history where researchers have been able to perfectly identify this kind of evolution.

The bad news is that if your race doesn't have the gene, you may have to wait another million years for this kind of sporadic genetic transfer to happen. Just make sure your kids and your grandkids eat a lot of fresh nori and hope it's filled with marine microbes.