Gleanings of the Week Ending April 29, 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 Creamy, Sculpted Dunes of White Sands National Monument – I’ve only been there once…but it was memorable. It was a hot day but the sand is so white that it reflects the sun and can be walked on barefoot! (See my post from back in June 2013 here)

Tracking down water pollution through DNA of algae – A new method for rapid and reliable bioassessment of aquatic environments which will allow for synchronous processing of many samples in record time and reduced cost….no more microscopic identification of organisms in samples!

Circadian Rhythms Influence Treatment Effects – There is a lot of evidence that timing of a medication may have a marked impact on effectiveness….yet drug trails did not track time of day information and thus not on drug labels. Simultaneously – understanding a patient’s circadian rhythm is an aspect of precision medicine - find the right drug for the patient at the right dose… administered at the right time. Also see the infographic: Circadian clock affects heart and disease

How Western Civilization could collapse – Doom and gloom scenarios. Do they seem more likely than they have in recent decades?

What’s chemistry ever done for us? – In infographic from Compound Interest that came out prior to the March for Science last weekend.

Incredible photos of Japan’s natural landscape that look like watercolors – Eye candy….and a little geography too.

4 great things the EPA had done for our health – A lot of progress has been made since 1970 when the EPA was created. No one should want to go back to air so filled with smog that your eyes watered when you went outside (like happened in LA) or lakes became sterile from changing pH or rivers caught on fire.

Foreignceuticals: our drugs go global – Scary. It’s often hard to tell where drugs and supplements come from….and there may be little or no quality control along the way.

Climate change is turning dehydration into a deadly epidemic – More very hot days….drinking soft drinks rather than contaminated water to rehydrate…maybe some other factors  - kidney disease rise dramatical in laborers in Latin America.

5 Ways to Prevent Food Waste in Your Kitchen – Probably nothing new here but always worth a quick check…ratcheting up what you do to avoid wasting food.