Thanksgiving dinner can go wrong so easily. Your uncle brings up the presidential election. Your mom’s cousin decides to go on about the entitlement of the millennial generation. Next thing you know, your communal table reaches a volume like one of the lots where they keep the turkeys prior to the harvest.

It’d be sad if your enjoyment of turkey, all the sides and whatever else you might be eating was marred by a dinner table conversation like that one. So we propose six conversation starters from the fields of science and medicine that we hope will keep your family Thanksgiving gathering more fun than fraught.