Gleanings of the Week Ending April 8, 2017

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 Skeleton Revealed – Vertebrates! Did you know that the hood of the cobra is created by ribs?

How to Photograph an Orchid – Good ideas for photographing other flowers as well as orchids.

What happens when diagnosis is automated? – As there is more data to consider…as time is of the essence for treatment…automation becomes more important in medicine. An article about the state of the art and the technology.

Deer Culled from Civil War Battlefield Parks Provide 8 Tons of Venison for Food Banks – The parks are in western Maryland (Antietam, Monocacy and Catoctin). Like the area where I life in Central Maryland there is an overabundance of deer. Catoctin has conducted deer management efforts since 2010 and has seen a return of native tree and shrub seedlings.

Our aging scientific workforce raises concern – The aging of the science and engineering workforce is aging more rapidly than the general workforce as a whole --- what impact will that have?

Pinkies up! A local tea movement is brewing – Tea grown in the US!

Hair testing shows high prevalence of new psychoactive substance use -Testing hair samples to detect usage of psychoactive substances by nightclub/festival attendees…and finding a about 25% are using…many unknowingly. Scary finding.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week #81 – Two favorites in this set: the American Kestrel and Sandhill Cranes (with babies)

Brave New World of Nanotechnology – It is surprising how little is understood (yet) about the impact of nanoparticles in our environment – at a time when they are becoming more and more prevalent.

Teacher resignation letters paint bleak picture of US education – Teachers writing about what they see as a broken education system. I hope this analysis from Michigan State University will be factored into actions that can make a difference for children in the US.

Phipps Conservatory – Pittsburgh

It was very cold the day we visited the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens last week. I only went outside once…drawn by the red branches of a Japanese maple…and then quickly went back inside to enjoy the lush plantings that bask in the glass house warmth even in winter.

As usual – I was drawn to closer looks at cactus spines.

There were a lot of people working on garden decorations for the spring exhibit that will debut this week. Some were made of plants or plant materials…all were set among beds that develop over the months of the exhibit. I think my favorite was the rabbit with a dried hydrangea flower for a tail. The three bears with a hobbit like house were in the same area.

Fiddle head ferns are another classic draw for me to photograph.

The orchids were in a room with glass figures (long, slender…as alien looking as the orchids themselves). Slipper orchids are always my favorites.

I finally understand how ‘screw pines’ got their name. The way the leaves come off the trunk really is just like a screw. When I saw one in Hawaii, I was more interested in the fruit….didn’t even look closely at the trunk.

I’ve grouped the ‘best of the rest’ in these last collages. There were so many great plants to photograph…and the conservatory was not very crowded the afternoon we were there. I want to go again already!