Gleanings of the Week Ending November 26, 2011

The items below were the cream of the articles I read this past week:

Wild Turkey Facts – did you know that sonic booms can cause domesticated turkey to have fatal heart attacks?

National Parks Conservation Association report on the Chesapeake Bay – the bay will never be as it was when John Smith arrived…but there are things that can and should be done to help the bay recover rather than declining further

Baltimore’s can-do approach to food deserts – it can be very difficult/expensive to find healthful food inner city neighborhoods. Baltimore is trying to improve that situation.

Whale Fossils in the Atacama Desert – there are a lot of them and the research is just beginning

Mars Sand Dunes in Motion – the red planet dunes are not as static as once thought

Paper gems (template included) – hum…maybe this is a use for odd bits of wrapping paper? I’ve already printed off the template to give it a try!

Changes In Ancient Humans’ Diet Made Wisdom Teeth Obsolete – I am a person who did have all 4 wisdom teeth removed before I was 20. It is interesting to have this explanation but it may not be the only reason wisdom teeth need to be extracted.

Know your Sharks Gallery – Fascinating creatures that are getting a lot of attention from National Geographic right now

Makeup tips for aging faces – Some of these tips I had derived on my own some now…and every little bit helps!

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 19, 2011

The items below were the cream of the articles I read this past week:

1. National Park Service Documents Ancient Towers in Afghanistan - this is the second week in a row there has been an archaeology story from somewhere dangerous on my gleanings list (last week is was Lybia)
2. Baby Elephant pictures (Borneo) - note how large the eyes of the baby are in relation to the rest of him
3. New Mouthwash Targeting Harmful Bacteria May Render Tooth Decay a Thing of the Past - Wow! If this works as the early tests revealed (and without bad side effects), this is a disruptive technology....maybe to more than denistry if the same idea could be applied to other bacterial problems
4. Lots of Bundt Cake Recipes - some of the recipes reference books, others online - there are a lot of great ideas (and pictures) on this site to motivate me to dig out the Bundt pan!
5. Cynthia Kenyon: Experiments that hint of longer lives (TED talk) - genes have been identified that cause organisms to not age as fast (and thus live longer); studying what those genes do in the body is a very active area of research
6. Cranberries (info and recipes) – Cranberry upside-down cake…sounds good…think I’ll try this next week!
7. Fossil poop - coprolites - some discoveries from these bloob-like fossils...one included a human hair
8. Gaston Lacombe’s Fundy National Park Picture sequence - the photo of water smoothed rocks pulled me in (it is a great first picture for the series)

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 12, 2011

The items below were the cream of the articles from this past week!

1. 25 Inspiring Pictures of Snow - beautiful!
2. Castles in the Desert: Satellites Reveal Lost Cities of Libya - now if the country could become safe enough to find out more about them from the ground.
3. 5 Foods Threatened by Climate Change - Arrgh! Chocolate is one of them!
4. Cave Paintings Showed True Colors of Stone Age Horses - yes - there were spotted horses around at that time so the paintings are realistic rather than symbolic
5. Nature Notes: The Black Oaks Of Yosemite National Park, The Video - great visual about how the Indians processed the acorns for food
6. Impact of Space Weather - now that we are more dependent on satellites (for things like GPS), maybe we should be paying more attention 
7. New System of Intelligent Management of Street Lighting Enables 80% Savings in Energy - makes sense to only power lights when you need them, just like at home
8. Condors in Grand Canyon – 3 chicks - one has already died but the other two seem to be thriving; bit about trash being a potential threat quite depressing
9. Why we need public libraries is the future - for a subset of the reasons we need them today but very real and long term (it's not about books)