US Botanic Garden in December 2014 - Part I

We made our annual holiday trek down to the US Botanic Garden in Washington DC on the last Sunday of the year. Their holiday display includes models of Washington area monuments constructed of natural materials such as pine cone scales, willows branches, grape vine tendrils and acorn caps. The slide show below shows 6 of the models. Some things to note: the dome of the Jefferson Memorial Is some kind of guard with the stem still attached (1); the Smithsonian Castle is very ornate (2) so I included a close up of the right side to show the stick-bark-seed construction (3); the National Museum of the American Indian is made mostly of shelf fungus (4); and the US Botanic Garden glows from within (5); the capitol is one of the larger models (and it doesn’t have scaffolding around the dome as the real one does right now) (6); and the Supreme Court building (7) is very ornate so I included a close up of the columns that were just as ornate and more colorful than the actual building (8).

The other part of the holiday display involves model trains. The structures to the side of the tracks change every year. This year it was light houses. The winding path through the exhibit was packed with people that had stood in line for over an hour to get in - many with young children. But the wait was worth it. The child in front of us had a ‘Thomas’ lunch box and was very excited to see the trains. The older couple behind us had visited many of the lighthouses and were surprised at how many of the models they recognized. These models are built of natural materials like the monuments. A good time was had by all!

 

Posts from previous holiday displays:

• 2011
•  2013 (part I, part II, part III) 

Gleanings of the Week Ending December 27, 2014

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

How the Ancient Romans Made Better Concrete Than We Do Now - Article include the ‘how’ plus some information about how the scientists worked out the details. Roman concrete is ‘better’ in terms of durability and its production releases a lot less carbon into the atmosphere.

The Greenland Ice Sheet: Now in HD - The article is a story from Ohio State University. Some of the imagery is available here.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week #74 - As usual - I can’t resist looking through these collections of bird pictures.

The Complete History of Earth in One Tidy Infographic - As usual for infographics…lots of data packed into one page. It is worthwhile to read the text then expand the infographic to take a closer look. I am taking the Origins course so it was a nice coincidence that this graphic came out recently.

Top 10 Public Health Stories of 2014 - We are getting to the end of the year and a number of sites are compiling top stories. This one is about public health.

Over two hundred interesting new species in 2014 - We are still finding a lot of new species in the world - even while we know species are going extinct too. How will we ever know the magnitude of the extinctions when we don’t even know all the species on Earth?

Mosaic Design Gets Assist from Robotics and Enterprise Software - I’ve always enjoyed mosaics and now it appears that robots are being used to create them. Will that make them less expensive (and thus more popular)? I hope we see more mosaics in public places - and in homes too. I’ve noticed several airports with mosaics (one of the newer terminals at DFW and Tucson).

Photography in the National Parks: Looking Back On 2014 - So many good places to take pictures…

2014’s Big Advances in (Biological) Science - A list from The Scientist.

A Video Tour of Yellowstone National Park - A 5 minute video about the geysers of Yellowstone.  It’s a reminder to go back to Yellowstone - soon.

Winter Solstice Hike

One of the new traditions I am starting this year is taking a Solstice Hike. I got the idea from a guided hike conducted by the Howard County Conservancy yesterday (yes - a day early…but Saturday was a better day for the event than Sunday). The hike started at Belmont Manor and Historic Park and hiked down to the Patapsco River through the Patapsco Valley State Park that almost surrounds Belmont. The keyword about the trail is down; it was that getting to the river and then uphill for the way back!  My Fitbit counted about 9,000 steps and the equivalent of 40 flights of stairs. The pace was comfortable and there were no difficult parts of the trail.

It was about right for a winter hike. I bundled up and stopped periodically to take pictures. The first stop was the pond and the cypress tree. We had noticed on a hike before last fall’s BioBlitz at Belmont that there were knees by the pond and then noticed the large trees at the water’s edge. Some of the knees are in the water but most of them are in the grass around the pond and are scared from mowers.

As we started into the forest we noticed a tree with distinctive bark. I took a picture of the trunk and up into the tree to help with identification. I think I is a black tupelo/black gum since the bark does look like ‘alligator’ hide and the branches make a pinwheel pattern coming out from the trunk.

With the vegetation of summer gone, I started looking more closely at the base of trees. They usually provide a firm hold to the earth for the tree. There was one tree with a splintered trunk that still had a stump firmly in the ground.

I like the winter scenes that still have a bit of green from moss

Or ferns.

I photograph just about every shelf fungus I see as well!

Finally we see the Patapsco River.

At the water’s edge there are sycamores with their roots being undermined by the river.

As we begin the hike back we see the distinctive trunk of a Honey Locust.

Next year I might do another guided Solstice Hike…or I may just hike with friends. The point is some outdoor time on the shortest day of the year!

Another new tradition I want to try this year is a First Day Hike in a State Park. There are parks all over the US participating. To find one near you - check the http://naspd.org/  site (the logo at the bottom of the page goes to a form to select your state)! I hope the weather on January 1 is as good for hiking as the weather was for the Solstice Hike.

Gleanings of the Week Ending December 20, 2014

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

The Hooting Season: Enjoying Great Horned Owls - I liked the owl pictures!

What Are MOOCs Good For? - I enjoy the Coursera MOOCs so I thought I would read a review of MOOCs in general.  I was surprised that the review barely mentions people like me that enjoy MOOCs to learn about a topic rather than to get a certification or qualification for a career. When I look at discussion boards - it seems like there are quite of few of us ‘post career’ folks taking MOOCs.

Walking Fish Model Evolution - I had heard about ‘walking fish’ but had never seen one in action. This post includes a video....and discusses how the fishes bones change if they are walking frequently.

Three ways cats can control our minds - There is a summary in the narrative of the three ways but the video is worth watching! Fun!

An Ocean of Plastic - I’ve been hearing more about this recently…we have to figure out how to stop putting more plastic into the ocean. On an individual level - recycling plastic is an OK answer but not really good enough. It’s hard to avoid plastic but that is what we need to think more about. I have already stopped buying bottled water and I carry reusable shopping bags whenever I shop (not just for groceries although that is how I started).

A Bird's Eye View of Humpback Whales Participating In Bubble Feeding - This is like the walking fish post - something I’d read about but never seen. The second video provides more narrative about how they do it (if you don’t hear the narrative check the audio volume).

EPA’s Energy Efficiency Action Week & New Energy Star Home Advisor - This online tool has been updated according to this post. The tool itself is available here.  Be prepared to hunt through records if your want to assess your house with this tool!

Absolutely Stunning Examples of Lakes and Rivers with Unearthly Colors - I appreciate the ones that are colors from nature….the ones from pollution are very sad.

Chemical-Sensing Displays and Other Surprising Uses of Glass - A peek at Corning research.

Desalination out of Desperation - There is a lot of water in the sea….but desalination is still very expensive. But we may be coming close to a time when we’ll pay the price.

White Throated Sparrow

It was a cold and cloudy day when I walked around Brookside Gardens earlier this week. My plan was to spend most of my time inside the Conservatory but I made a quick walk around the gardens surrounding the building. There were a lot of small birds that were very active in the rose garden. I should have brought my monopod and bundled up better. It was too hard to get close enough to the birds to get a good image. I managed to get close enough and then zoomed to 20x to get one good picture of one bird…figuring out when I got home that it was a white throated sparrow once I got home.

I’ll have to go back prepared to sit on a cold bench for a time and get many more good pictures of birds finding food in winter.

Centennial Park - December 2014

I visited Centennial Park between rain showers yesterday and photographed the Canadian Geese. They were conveniently at the lake shore close to my favorite parking lot.

It is fun to title pictures…give the geese people-like personalities. What do your think of The Orator (below)? The geese in the water look like they are paying attention!

There always appears to be one Guard Goose in the flock.

When one decides to leave - there is often a Follow the Leader exodus.

And what about the strategy of the Big Stretch when they first get out of the water?

Brookside Conservatory - December 2014

Brookside Gardens cancelled their Garden of Lights display this year but the conservatory has the model trains on display…and is a great (warm) place to spend some time on a winter’s day. I always see something new and wonderful in the conservatory. Sometimes it is something that just happens - like the pink begonia flower that fell into a pool of water

Or noticing the cycads near the front entrance that have always been there but have recently been trimmed so that more of the plant structures show.

There is a cactus display near one corner - with threatening long thorns next to

More benign looking desert plants - sometimes with a surprising amount of color.

The water feature running through lush plants always is attractive.

But I made my way to the model trains rather quickly….following the mothers with very excited young children. Watching the trains was more fun with the chatter of children experiencing them for the first time.

Chincoteague Egrets

This is the last post about our weekend trip to Chincoteague back in November. I enjoyed photographing the egrets too much to not include a post about them. They were not as plentiful as the Great Blue Herons or cormorants. The yellow bill and dark legs distinguish the birds as Great Egrets.

It was a very cold day but evidently the fishing was still good. Most of the birds were standing in water - or at the edge of the water - actively looking for their next meal.

Look at those long toes! The angle of the light shows how fluffed the birds feathers are against the cold.

This one has fluffed feathers too - and that primordial looking kink in the neck that egrets and herons share.

Most of the bits they caught were quite small.

This scene with the mallard and two egrets speaks of communication between species - but what exactly are they communicating?

Right after the encounter one of the egrets flew off into the sunset. And that was the end to our egret observations at Chincoteague.

Gleanings of the Week Ending December 13, 2014

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Drugs in the environment affect plant growth - Water treatment is unable to remove many of the drugs from sewage….so they are showing up in the water supply. This study was about the impact of the drugs (still in low concentrations) on plants - and they did find some changes. It looks like this is another dimension to think about when it comes to sustainability of the planet.

Art That's Made with Snow and Ice - Maybe I’ll try a simple pattern in my backyard when we get a good snow! The spirals appeal to me.

Climate change already showing effects at Kennedy Space Center - Not so surprising since it is right on Florida’s Atlantic coast. We were there in November 2013 and noticed how close much of the visible infrastructure was to the sea. There is a lot of commercial development along that coast too; it will probably face similar challenges.

Finding infant Earths and potential life just got easier - Did you know that Cornell has an Institute for Pale Blue Dots?

What really helps women achieve a good work-life balance? - The problem is broader than a time conflict based on this research. It points to a ‘glass cliff’ phenomenon whereby women and minorities are more likely to be placed in leadership positions which are risky or precarious….which exacerbates any ‘fit’ problems at work and thus impacts the perception of work-life balance.

Food: The rarely-seen robots that package what we eat - Two videos (pancakes and salami processing) and a short explanation. They are much faster and more reliable that people!

A Quick Tour of Germany's National Parks - Wow! Lots to see in Germany.  The post includes links for additional info about each one.

The Wonderful Geometry of Budapest's Spiral Staircases - Dizzying images…also beautiful.

Chesapeake Bay region streams are warming - I live in the watershed for the Chesapeake Bay. All the states have programs to monitor and improve the water quality flowing into the bay. It is challenging with so many things changing.

Early warning signals of abrupt climate change - Signals of a reorganization of the Atlantic ocean’s circulation….bad news. 

Chincoteague Kingfisher

Kingfishers are usually too fast for me to photograph but there was one that had a favorite place along the road to the beach at Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge (in November). He kept a close watch on the cars that parked along the road but evidently realized that the narrow band of water between him and the road was enough security. He kept his perch while protesting.

What a photogenic bird!

Assateague Lighthouse

We’ve been to Chincoteague many times but the visit last November offered a first for us: climbing the steps inside the Assateague Lighthouse. It was the first thing we did when we got the wildlife refuge! I included my husband in the picture to provide some size perspective. The steps spiral around the inside. There are windows at the landings…and we stopped briefly at every one; by the time we got to the top our legs felt like cooked spaghetti.

The view from the top provides a different view of the refuge (which is actually on Assateague Island). The picture shows the bridge between the refuge and the town of Chincoteague.

The last picture is closer to ground level and shows our first view of the lighthouse as we came up the path - a short stroll from the parking long through the fall foliage of mid-November.

Gleanings of the Week Ending December 06, 2014

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

12 Ways Airports Are Actually Getting Better - Some good trends. I’ve noticed the increasing number of art work particularly - like the floor mosaics in one of the DFW terminals.

Wanderers - A short video. Wish we were doing more space exploration these days….thrilled that the Orion test flight yesterday was successful.

WHO Report: Climate Change to Cause 250,000 “Extra Deaths” a Year by 2030 - Not good.

This Linguistic Family Tree Is Simply Gorgeous - It’s only the Indo-European languages….not all the world’s languages. It would be interesting to see all of them in this same format

Apple Crisp - Yum. I have some apples in my refrigerator I need to use up quickly….this will be a good way to use them!

The Chemistry of Poinsettia Plants - Did you know that the pigment in the red leaves changes color with pH? This could be a project to try as your poinsettia sheds its petals!

Losing air: barrage of small impacts likely erased much of the Earth’s primordial atmosphere - Since I am in the middle of an ‘Origins’ course on Coursera - I am noting this type article more. There is geochemical evidence that Earth’s atmosphere may have been completely obliterated at least twice since its formation. This research investigates a possible mechanism.

Citizen science increases environmental awareness, advocacy - Talking and thinking are enhanced by doing when it comes to really understanding something. It happens is so many areas of life.

New Model of Media Consumption in 'Age of Interruption' - 15 hours a day is the average…that is almost every waking hour! I’m disappointed that they did not have statistics for the ‘retired’ segment of the US population. The average hours are a bit high for me (very high on days that I am leading nature hikes!) and the distribution (at least for me) is heavily skew toward computer (tablet and laptop) rather than the other types of media….largely because of courses, ebooks and the amount of writing I like to do. And there is another difference too - I am not sedentary in front of my laptop when I am at home (Swopper chair).

The weird world of everyday liquids - I’m always liked these kind of images. There are videos worth viewing too.

Chincoteague Cormorants

The cormorants were plentiful at Chincoteague when we were there in November.

The first day we saw them in several wet places along the main rode

And then a group on the mudflat just before we reached the beach area. They were preening in the late afternoon sun - unfurling their wings.

One swam way from the group and then flew off low over the water. I like the light on the wings showing the ways the feathers spread as the bird first leaves the water.

The next day we found the birds in the same spots although I didn’t realize it at the top. Doesn’t the post this cormorant is on look the same as the post in the first picture?

Ten Days of Little Celebrations - November 2014

Noticing something worth celebration each day is an easy thing for me to do. The habit of writing it down reminds me to be grateful for these and a myriad of other things in my life. This month has been full of ‘little celebrations’ - as had been the usual for the past few months. Here are my top 10 for November 2014.

Noticing the seasonal change

A warm day. November had some perfect outdoor days this year. I celebrated by spending most of one of those days outdoors and, realizing that the warmth would be over soon,  celebrated the warm sun and blue sky.

Leaves flying. The breezes took the leaves from the trees and swirled them up and across and over the roadways. The view was a serendipity celebration on the way to someplace else. Did the idea of confetti for celebratory parades come from the natural process of leaves swirling away from the trees in the fall?

First snow of the season. We got our first snow the day before Thanksgiving! It was the perfect low impact snow: melted almost immediately on sidewalks and streets, stuck to grass and roofs enough to make everything pretty. I celebrated the beauty…and that I didn’t have to get out of the house at all.

Food

Thai food in a quiet restaurant. I was a little too far from home to get there for a lunch and I celebrated finding a quiet Thai food restaurant where the ambience was pleasant and the food was tasty. I read my Kindle book and savored the place…celebrated a lunch out.

Cranberry orange relish. It tasted so good. I like it so much that I eat it more as a dessert than a relish! I’ll eat up the batch I made for Thanksgiving over the next week or so….and then make another! This is one of my favorite foods between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It is part of the celebration of the season for me.

Hot ginger root and lemon ‘tea.’ I enjoy the subtle flavor of fresh ginger in hot water. Sometimes I don’t even need the lemon…or the tea. The ginger root tea is the new additional to the celebration of the season this year.

Activities

Chincoteague - bald eagle soaring over the highway. It was hard to pick what I celebrated the most about our weekend in Chincoteague but I finally settled on the bald eagle soaring over the highway as we headed home. There is something about the bird that makes me celebrate every time I see one in the wild. They’ve made quite a comeback since the dark days of DDT.

Nature hikes (field trips). The fall season elementary school field trip nature hikes for the Howard Country Conservancy ended this month. I celebrate the enthusiasm and curiosity of the children - their joy at being outdoors.

Poetry experiments. I am never going to be a poet but the Coursera poetry course did give me ideas for word experiments…and I celebrate that spark that prompted it all.

The prospect of staying at home for several days. For some reason - it seemed like I was out and about more this month than in the past year and I realized as I headed into the Thanksgiving weekend that the prospect of staying at home for a few days was something I wanted to celebrate.  I can remember years ago when my husband and I were working full time, my middle school aged daughter told us that instead of going away for a 3 day week that she wanted us all to just stay home! And we all celebrated the ‘at home’ vacation. I am feeling like that again right now.

Chincoteague Herons

The Great Blue Herons at Chincoteague seemed to be everywhere and were concentrating so hard on fishing that they stayed put for photographs.  I took over 100 pictures and have selected 9 for this post.

This bird was standing on one leg on the shore. It was a very chilly afternoon and his neck feathers appear to be slightly fluffed to keep him warm.

A very determined bird walked along the bank - intent on finding dinner.

A very cold looking bird standing in shallow water. He moved his head a little (the better to see us) but otherwise did not move at all.

Another actively hunting bird but in a tangled mess of branches

Using those branches to survey the possibilities for dinner

Perhaps mistaking his reflection for something edible.

A bird on the move.

A bird hiding

And emerging.

The look in the herons’ eye make it is easy to imagine the relationship of birds and dinosaurs!  

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 22, 2014

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Winter Lodging in the National Parks: The Choices Are Many and Intriguing - I’ve stayed at the Flagg Ranch in early spring….and it did snow while we were there. There are lots of other parks with winter lodging!

Prairie Ecologist’s Photo of the Week – November 14, 2014 - A series of photos of a Chinese mantis (feeding on a sphinx moth).

The strange world inside cheese - cheese=the castle built by microbes

IEA World Energy Outlook 2014: 5 Takeaways - None of the 5 seem surprising to me….only that they rank above other aspects of the world energy outlook. The International Energy Agency is looking out to 2040.

Scientists Have Climbed To the Bottom of the Mysterious Siberian Crater - The bottom is about 35 feet below the surface and is a frozen lake. The depth of the lake is estimated to be 35 feet deep, but it could be deeper. The picture look like it could be on another planet…but this is Earth and there could be more of these forming as the climate warms.

It Turns Out That "Longevity Genes" Don't Exist - Evidently the genetic underpinnings maybe real but they are so complex that this study that included 20% of the people alive today that are over 110 years old could not pinpoint anything that seemed like ‘longevity genes.’ One of the people even carried a gene variant that raises the risk of sudden death caused by irregular heart rhythms!

Epic 4K Sun Video, with Bonus Sunspot Tantrums - A video of the solar surface from the later part of October.

Butterfly Eyespots Deflect Predation - A video that shows just how effective the eyespots on butterfly winds are in saving their lives.

5 Reasons Why You Should Drink Ginger Lemon Tea - This has become my favorite hot drink as the cold weather sets in. I even like hot ginger water (no tea)! I make I in my tea maker (a coffee maker that has never ever made coffee) - putting the chunks of ginger in the carafe. I add lemon in the cup - if I add it at all.

Nothing fishy about health benefits of plant-based omega-3 fatty acid -The chia seeds I have for breakfast almost every morning are high in omega-3….and it’s a good thing!

Major Revamp Planned for D.C.’s South Mall - It’s a long way from happening but the proposal is more extensive than I expected. I want to take a lot of pictures of the ‘as is’ next time I go to the Smithsonian.

Two Gulls at Chincoteague

There were lots of gulls at Chincoteague. There were tracks all over the beach when we walked there the first afternoon. The wind was cold - not conducive for a long photo session so I focused on one gull that stood surveillance at the water’s edge. Maybe he was watching me - ready to fly away if I took a step closer. I used the zoom on my camera and he continued to pose for the few minutes I tolerated the cold.

The more interesting event happened the next morning. It was still cold. We noticed a gull carrying something swooping down onto a sand bank. We pulled to the side of the rode and I took a series of pictures sitting in the car with the window rolled down!  The gull had caught a crab. The crab was still trying to escape when it was first thrown to the sand bank. But the gull proceeded to eat his catch soon enough. The crab was brunch for the gull!

Chincoteague Sunset…and Sunrise

We arrived at Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge at mid-afternoon and decided that we would make the effort to photograph the sunset….and then get up early enough the following morning to photography sunrise.

Here are two sunset pictures - taken about 15 minutes apart. I liked the burned in color.

In between, some birds flew to their evening roosts.

And thus the day slid to evening.

The next morning we were early enough to catch the reds of sunrise.

The lighthouse was still bright over the treetops.

The light turned toward orange,

And then a minute later - faded. A cloud bank must have blocked the sun!

We continued to the shore and saw the thin line of color just over the sea. The cloud layer above was very thick!

On the Way to Chincoteague

We made a weekend trek to Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge this past weekend.  There were so many photography opportunities that I will showcase them in several posts over the next few weeks. This post will focus on the trek to get there: leaving home early, crossing Maryland’s Bay Bridge, and making a stop at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge near Cambridge, Maryland.

We started our drive by 7:30 AM - being glad it was a weekend and there would be no rush hour traffic. The morning was quite cold. Many of the leaves in our neighborhood had fallen in the past week but the pines along this road early in our drive seemed to have protected the deciduous trees growing with them. 

The Bay Bridge is less than an hour along our route. I always try to take pictures as we are driving over. There were no closures so traffic on each span was going one way. Note that the bridges are not the same.

When we got to Blackwater - it seemed like it was going to be too cold for anything to be moving. We walked to the end of short boardwalk and nearly gave up.

Then we spotted the Great Blue Heron standing like a statue. Then it started to hunt for a snack. Not that the neck looks a lot thicker in the second picture. He had been successful in his foraging!

There were ducks too. These mallards look fat - or maybe it is just fluffed feathers. I liked the curls of their tail feathers.

At the end of the wildlife drive there were lots of pines and colorful leaves. There seem to be more sweet gum trees than I remembered from previous visits. The brochure for the refuge explained that they are challenged with rising water levels. What was once marsh has become - or is becoming - open water. Some forested area has become too marshy for the trees.

The visitor center has been renovated since we were at the refuge last (in June 2013) and there is a Monarch sculpture in the garden area behind it. My husband commented that it reminded him of the way the butterflies crowd together in Mexico to keep warm!

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 15, 2014

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.  (Note: There are a lot of planetary science/astronomy related new items this week….a perfect storm with conferences and events).

Mars spacecraft, including MAVEN, reveal comet flyby effects on Martian atmosphere - We were in Florida to see the launch (see picture at right) of MAVEN last fall and I’ve been noticing any articles of it since then.

Baby photos of a scaled-up solar system - My daughter is one of the co-authors! I’m celebrating that her work is getting the publicity.

All 'quantum weirdness' may be caused by interacting parallel worlds, physicist theorizes - This article seemed to fit right in with the last cosmology segment of the Philosophy and the Sciences Coursera course!

Touchdown! Rosetta’s Philae probe lands on comet - Hurray! It is amazing that it actually landed…more news sure to come.

Jupiter's Great Red Spot is likely a sunburn, not a blush - Altitude may play a role in the color we observe on Jupiter. The red spot reaches much higher altitudes than clouds elsewhere on Jupiter.

Sense of meaning and purpose in life linked to longer lifespan - The questionnaire used something called ‘eudemonic wellbeing’ which relates to your sense of control, feeling that what you do is worthwhile and your sense of purpose in life…..and then looked at what happened to people with different levels of ‘wellbeing’ for the next 8.5 years.

Chiricahua National Monument Does Away With Entrance Fees - I am paying attention to every near Tucson since I’m sure we’ll be visiting sometime before next summer.

Scientists Discover a Virus That Makes Humans Less Intelligent - Specifically - “The group that harbored the virus performed worse overall on a set of tasks to measure the speed and accuracy of visual processing.”  The impact is slight but measurable. I wonder what other subtle infections exist.

Kilauea, 1790 and today - The eruption in 1790 was explosive but the eruptions of the last 3 decades we are seeing now is effusive. The geologic record shows that the mountain erupts in both ways ---- but not at the same time.

New state level data demonstrate geographical variation in 10-year cardiovascular risk - Where does you r state rank? There is quite a variation.

Unique Roman relief discovered: Depiction of unknown god in Turkey; Relics from 2,000 years of cult history excavated - An international excavation that has been ongoing for over 10 years is still finding new things.