Gleanings of the Week Ending November 30, 2019

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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.

US-born residents more than 5 times likely to use prescription opioids than new immigrants -- ScienceDaily – Evidently new immigrants are often healthier than non-immigrants despite their poorer background….which is a clue that there is something about American culture that influences opioid use.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week: Spectacular – National Geographic Society Newsroom – Enjoy the birds! We are enjoying the birds coming to our feeder and (heated) bird bath…in the trees around our house. They are easier to see now that the leaves have fallen from the tees.

50 Fish, 50 States: Small Stream Wonders – Cool Green Science – Lots of small fish! When we are in the streams with high school students, we often find small fish but since they aren’t what we are looking for – we simply put them back without identification. Maybe I should look for a simple small fish ID to take a long and start to photograph them too.

A Giant Treehouse 'Like A Castle' Is Destroyed By Fire In Tennessee: NPR – My sister and I visited this giant treehouse in 2012 when we were in that area of Tennessee. Sad that it’s gone.

Hurricanes have become bigger and more destructive for USA -- ScienceDaily – An expensive trend.

When Turkeys Attack – I’m glad the wild turkey population is recovering….hope we can develop strategies to co-exist!

Scientists study impact of sediments and nutrients from Conowingo Dam on Chesapeake Bay -- ScienceDaily – Close to home. The base of Conowingo Dam is where we go to view Bald Eagles. There is a lot of concern now about the sediment build up in the reservoir --- state governments and the utility are working to determine best options for prolonging the energy generation capacity of the dam and improving water quality into the bay.

Big Box Stores Leading the Shift to Renewable Energy - News | Planetizen – Wal-Mart and Target are all in….what about other big box stores? What about owners of shopping centers? Lots of stores are in leased spaces.

Five Architectural Firms Retained to Redesign National Mall Tidal Basin – Another ‘close to home’ in this set of gleanings. This one is in the District of Columbia. Think of the Jefferson Memorial and the cherry blossoms. Flooding has increased over the time we have living in this area (now over 35 years). Hope they can develop a good design and get the funding to implement it.

Manta Ray Populations Have Complex Social Structures | The Scientist Magazine® - A study of the reef mantas as they aggregate around the reefs of the eastern Indonesian archipelago Raja Ampat. The study showed two distinct groupings: one dominated by older females and the other a mix of sexes and ages.

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 23, 2019

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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.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week: Seed Eaters – National Geographic Society Newsroom – Quite a variety. Some are small and somewhat drab…but with the camera’s magnification – it’s easy to see that many are more interesting..

The best and worst countries to be a woman – Inclusion, security and justice. Yemen, Afghanistan, Syria, and Pakistan are the worst….Norway, Switzerland, Finland and Denmark are the best. The US scored 19 of 167 countries.

We asked women around the world these 6 provocative questions – Thought provoking and a good read for the answers from women.

Computer science classes break down cultural barriers, study shows -- ScienceDaily – This was certainly true for computer science classes and gender barriers in the US during the 70s and early 80s….and then it wasn’t. Hopefully the same does not happen in the future to this project and projects like them.

Renaissance Nun's 'Last Supper' Painting Makes Public Debut After 450 Years in Hiding | Smart News | Smithsonian – A little art history -- Plautilla Nelli. The article includes pictures before and after restoration of the painting.

California's crashing kelp forest: How disease, warming waters, and ravenous sea urchins combined to kill the kelp and close the red abalone fishery -- ScienceDaily – An ecological horror story that happened between 2013 and 2017.

Infographic: Red Tides Still Hold Tantalizing Mysteries | The Scientist Magazine® - There have been more stories about red tides in Florida again recently, so this article caught my attention. It appears that there is still a lot to learn about the organism.

Horrifying True Stories of Insect Zombies – Cool Green Science – Insect parasitized by fungus, worms, other insects….the amazing complexity of natural interactions.

Replacing coal with gas or renewables saves billions of gallons of water -- ScienceDaily – This is a big deal – particularly in areas that are water challenged (like much of the western US).

The fragrance factory: Roure-Bertrand Fils and the perfume industry in Grasse | Europeana Blog – Perfume history…from the early 1900s.

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 16, 2019

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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.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week: November – Enjoy the birds!

Common nutrient supplementation may hold the answers to combating Alzheimer's disease -- ScienceDaily – Choline….not sure I am even getting the recommended intake very often. Taking a supplement might be worthwhile.

Female scientists gaining recognition for their breakthroughs – A little history….and hope that things are changing for female scientists working now. This article is from the November 2019 special issue of National Geographic, “Women: A Century of Change.”

New report highlights Alaska’s last five years of dramatic climate change | NOAA Climate.gov – There are often stories about dramatic high temperatures in Alaska…but this is an overall look at what is happening.

A Field Guide to Commonly Misidentified Snakes – Cool Green Science – The first photograph is labeled ‘#NotACopperhead’ – lots of snakes have probably been killed by people thinking they were a poisonous snake.

Image of the Day: Stick and Leaf Insects | The Scientist Magazine® - The article includes a link to the full study too (here). The figures alone are worth a look.

Non-pharmacologic treatments may be more effective for psychiatric symptoms of dementia -- ScienceDaily – Outdoor activities, massage and touch therapy may be more effective that drugs….and they don’t have the side effects of the drugs. I hope the findings of this study are incorporated into care decisions.

Image of the Day: Brains and Braincases | The Scientist Magazine® - The human skull shows adaptations for walking upright more than changes because of our brain structure.

Photos of the Week – October 18, 2019 | The Prairie Ecologist – Milkweed seeds.

Textile technology: Joseph-Marie Jacquard and the loom that changed the world – Some textile history from the early 1800s.

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 9, 2019

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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.

Infographic: How Air Pollution Could Affect the Brain | The Scientist Magazine® - A quick and disturbing summary. The evidence of harm: particles like those produced by vehicle engines found in frontal cortex (postmortem), reduced volumes of white matter, slowed development of children, inflammation related damage to brain cells, and higher accumulation of Alzheimer-associated proteins.

Happier Babies Have an Edge - Scientific American Blog Network – The more children experience happy emotions, the more time they spend building skills and relationships that help them in the future.

900 Pythons Removed from South Florida – That’s a lot of snakes. Kudos to the Python Action Team. There are other organizations (government and non-profits) working on this too. I wish the article would have included information about what they do with the snakes after they are captured. Presumable they are killed.

Study: 95 percent of baby food contains traces of toxic metals - UPI.com – Not good. The full report referred to in the article is available here. I wonder if pediatricians are changing their recommendation when it comes to some foods (like rice cereal for babies).

Newly discovered virus infects bald eagles across America -- ScienceDaily – Over 1/3 of America’s Bald Eagles are infected…and it might be causing a fatal disease – Wisconsin River Eagle Syndrome.

BBC - Future - What life might be like in alien oceans – Lots of possibilities. It will be interesting to get some probes (submersibles, etc.) out to the moons of other planets in our solar system that have alien oceans…maybe life.

From quills to typewriters: how the industrial revolution changed our writing culture | Europeana Blog – A little history lesson.

National Science Board highlights Skilled Technical Workforce shortage in new report - The Bridge: Connecting Science and Policy - AGU Blogosphere – “Without immediate action, the US risks falling behind other nations that are making significant investments in their Science and Engineering workforce and the Science and Technology enterprise.”  The whole report can be found here.

The Platypus Is Weirder Than You Ever Imagined – Cool Green Science – They don’t have a stomach, their venom can help treat diabetes, their milk can help fight antibiotic resistance….the list goes on.

Photography in The National Parks: Your Armchair Photography Guide To Olympic National Park, Part 2 – The Forests – National Parks….always a great destination for nature photography.

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 2, 2019

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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.

Eavesdropping on Soil Insects Could Aid Pest Management – Earlier this week I was hiking with second graders…soil auger in hand. There was big excitement when one of our samples include a beetle grub! And then this article appeared a few days later. The grub moved a bit and I wonder if it was one that made stridulations (chirps); if so – they weren’t loud enough for us to hear.

A Field Guide to Elk Bugling – Cool Green Science – Elk are not just in the western US. They have been reintroduced into the east.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week: Birds in Flight – National Geographic Society Newsroom – Some familiar birds in this group – norther shoveler, northern pintail, red tailed hawk…some others.

Could Brain Activity During Sleep Be a Biomarker for Alzheimer's? | The Scientist Magazine® - The study only included 31 individuals…so replication with larger samples is still needed. We do need a non-invasive and early way to diagnosis Alzheimer’s.

Edge of the Ice – Brown bands at the edge of the ice are layers of ice deposited at different climate periods. Usually we only see the layers in ice cores.

Better way to teach physics to university students -- ScienceDaily – Kudos to the physicists and educators at University of Kansas. Hopefully other universities and maybe high schools can benefit from these ideas.

Climate Change Threatens Hundreds of North American Bird Species: “It’s a Bird Emergency” - Yale E360 – This on top of the declines we’ve already seen in insects and birds that feed on them. The ‘bird emergency’ is not a future event…it is already happening.

New test diagnoses Lyme disease within 15 minutes -- ScienceDaily – It would be great to have a faster test for Lyme disease. Most people are probably not tested until they have symptoms…and that’s sometimes too late to avoid permanent damage.

The peculiar bathroom habits of Westerners - BBC Future – A little cultural dissonance…that we don’t often hear about.

Humans have salamander-like ability to regrow cartilage in joints: The process could be harnessed as a treatment for osteoarthritis -- ScienceDaily – Wow! If works, there will be a lot fewer joint replacements as people get older….and moving would a lot less painful.

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 26, 2019

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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.

Scientists Find Way to Fully Recycle Plastics Without Losing Quality - Yale E360 – I hope this process undercuts plastic manufacturing from fossil fuels…plastics should not be the glide path for the oil companies! The heating of the plastic to 850 degrees for this process should be done with renewable energy. And what happens to the parts that don’t get recycled (I assume there is waste from the things that weren’t plastic that got into the stream (i.e. ‘dirty’ containers).

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week: Bird Interactions – National Geographic Society Newsroom – Birds with other birds (not always the same species).

Maya Tomb of the Unknown Red Queen - Red from cinnabar (mercuric sulfide) power that covered everything inside the limestone sarcophagus…a mask of malachite.

Time Spent in Nature Is Good for You | The Scientist Magazine® - Spending at least 2 hours in nature per week is strongly correlated with self-reports of being in good health and having high well-being…..based on a study in the UK with 20,000 participants between 2014 and 2016. Intuitively – the idea seems right. But what does ‘time spent in nature’ really mean and what is it that causes the correlation? Do you have to be outdoors or is viewing it enough? I am outdoors in beautiful natural places (gardens, forests, seashores, rivers and lakes) so frequently…the 2 hours per week is at the low end for me…except for the coldest or wettest weeks.

Cooking food alters the microbiome: Raw vs. cooked diets have distinct effects on both mouse and human gut microbes -- ScienceDaily – No recommendations from this research but lots of prompts for further research.

The Short List Of Climate Actions That Will Work | CleanTechnica – These are country or continent type actions like: electrify everything, overbuild renewable generation, build continent-scale electrical grids and marks, fix concrete, change agricultural practices, shut down coal and gas generation aggressively. Some of them can be impacted by individual decisions…to move in the direction. For example – 1) The CSA I belong is on a path to not use plastic to control weeds and retain moisture around their crops. 2) The next house I buy (in the next 2-3 years) will be all electric and have solar panels…maybe battery storage too….maybe geothermal heating/cooling. 3) The next car I buy will be an EV rather than a plug-in hybrid like I have now. And I can change my yard into a mini-forest (of redbuds, dogwoods, spice bush, hollies….not huge trees but ones that are native to the area where I live).

Air Pollution May Damage People's Brains | The Scientist Magazine® - Mortality, respiratory health, cognition, and social behavior. This is scary. This is yet another reason to move away from fossil fuels.

Humankind did not live with a high-carbon dioxide atmosphere until 1965 -- ScienceDaily – I was in 5th grade in 1965. It was the grade between two memorable events: seeing a tornado just before it touched the ground and traveling with my parents to Mexico City for a weeklong vacation (two firsts: on an airplane…and out of the US). But the cross over to a high-carbon dioxide atmosphere has the greater long-term impact. I already suspect that unless something changes dramatically, climate change by midcentury will probably shorten my life.

Ailing U.S. pecan industry calls on India to reduce tariffs - UPI.com – I couldn’t find an update on this story from a few weeks ago. Evidently China used to buy 40% of the pecan crop in the US but now there is a tariff and the market is gone. So, the farmers are trying to develop the Indian market. It’s been tough to be a farmer for many years…but the tariffs have added even greater challenges.

Stressed out: Americans making themselves sick over politics: One in five report lost sleep, damaged friendships -- ScienceDaily – If individuals are stressed by politics….hopefully they’ll realize that it’s time to implement strategies to reduce the stress. Spending less time on ‘news’ would provide time to shift focus to other aspects of life – skew toward activities that make you happy and help others too. ‘Staying informed’ of politics 24/7 should not be a priority (although participating in elections should be).

Last of CSA Veggies

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Last week was the end of the regular season with are Community Supported Agriculture (Gorman Farms CSA). The share was robust as usual. I was surprised by the late season tomatoes. They had both purple and green cabbage; I chose the purple, of course. The choice table was overwhelming, but I decided on the fennel after staring at it for a minute…with big a big feathery top that made the reusable bag look too small. I’ll use that top part first (chopped up and combined with grated sweet potato to make a colorful chicken salad.

I haven’t quite kept up with the veggies this summer. The freezer is reasonably full and a bit more will go into it from the freeze from this last week. Nothing goes to waste! I’ll enjoy the tomatoes, mixed greens, and onions in at least one salad; maybe I’ll eat them fast enough to avoid putting them in the freezer to use in smoothies or soups. With the shift in seasons – I lean toward the soups. I’ll probably not buy any veggies in the produce section of the grocery store for at least 6 weeks!

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I’ll miss the weekly newsletters and ‘about your harvest’ boards. Every season with the CSA is a learning experience.

This was the first year for popcorn. There were lots of my favorites too - veggies I’ve learned to love with the CSA (fennel, sweet potato leaves, all kinds of peppers, uncured sweet potatoes, all kinds of squashes, all kinds of tomatoes…the only thing I’ve not learned to love is eggplant). This year was a drought year and last year it was too wet. Our farmer pulled though with lots of good veggies in both years but the variety this year was greater than last. CSAs are a great way to ‘eat local.’

Middle Patuxent River at MPEA

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Earlier this month I was in the Middle Patuxent River twice (with two different high schools) at the Middle Patuxent Environmental Area (MPEA). We got there by 7:15 AM to be ready for the buses with students to arrive at 8. We parked near the South Wind Circle trailhead and hiked through the forest to the edge of the river. Then came the tricky part - climbing over the big rocks to get down into the river and on the side with enough cobbles to hold the field gear for water assessment. The towels in the second picture mark the route over the rocks. Sitting down on the highest rock turned out to the be safest way to start the crossing.

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I took a few pictures of the quiet down in the stream after equipment was set up and before the students arrived. The river is very low this year but still picturesque.

Once the students arrive, there is a flurry of activity with boots and macroinvertebrate finds/identification and chemical tests of the water. The students spend 2 hours in the river then hike back up the hill. Then we have a break before more buses arrive with more students from the same school. During that break, I always take the path up hill across the river from the path where we arrived some privacy. The path is covered with fall leaves and there are many Christmas ferns along the border.

There is even time for a snack…and then we have another 2 hours of focused activity. At the end we pack up everything and the students help us carry all the gear up the hill before they get on the buses to go back to school.

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 19, 2019

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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.

New report deepens understanding of wind-wildlife interactions -- ScienceDaily – This article overviews the report. The 24 page report is available here. The amount of collaboration between the industry, government, conservation, academic and scientific organizations is significant and ongoing.

Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park Celebrates Forests – Maybe I’ll go to Vermont for this festival next September – if it’s an annual event.

These surreal jarred fish tell an urgent story of extinction – The Royal D. Suttkus Fish Collection – nearly 8 million preserved fish…a window into how 20th century development changed the Southeastern US fish….a record of that destruction.

No bones about it, this protein slows down fracture-healing -- ScienceDaily - Abundance of ApoE may explain why older people have trouble healing broken bones. Turning off ApoE completely causes fat to be deposited in arteries (a cardiovascular problem) so treatment options may involve lowering ApoE for short periods of time.

O Canada! We Like Your Food Guide – Food guides from Canada (and some other countries) … some differences from the US. Canada merges ‘dairy’ in with protein foods rather than featuring it as an independent group.

Scientists Are Getting Better at Predicting Hurricane Intensity – A new algorithm has been developed to include the complicated physical mechanisms of tropical cyclone dynamics and the way they interact with upper-ocean and atmospheric circulation. It may reduce the error of tropical cyclone prediction within a 24-hour period by 16%. Every little bit of improvement in prediction means better preparations when an intense storm is approaching.

Artworks of the Dark Zone – From caves in Tennessee and Alabama. Artwork incised in mud and inscriptions. A slideshow.

How Penn State is Cutting Greenhouse Emissions in Half – and Saving Money – Kudos to Penn State. I wonder how many other universities are doing similar things.

Empty Meditative Landscapes Visualize the Tranquil Beauty of Silence – A visual treat

Ed Hawkins “Climate Stripes” May be the Most Important Science Image so Far in This Century – Effective visualization of lots of data…becomes information. The next step is action.

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 12, 2019

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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.

Climate change may cut soil's ability to absorb water -- ScienceDaily – Climate change impacts everything. The models only model pieces of the puzzle. This study was looking specifically at water and soil – not currently included in models..

The Iguana Invasion – Cool Green Science – They’re a common sight in Florida….and the state is now advising people to kill them. No talk of eating them like they do in their native range further south and the Caribbean where they are farmed.

Sigiriya, the 'Lion Fortress' of Sri Lanka – A Heritage Site that survived by being hidden by forests…and being remote enough to not be marred by modern weapons of war.

Impostor syndrome is more common than you think -- ScienceDaily – Seeking social support outside academic (or workplace) specialization seems to be the best coping strategy.

Pregnant Moms' Air Pollution Exposure May Affect Babies' Health | The Scientist Magazine® - Research is ongoing. The first correlation was between air pollution and low birthweight/preterm birth. Current research is on other health consequences in the early life of the baby and beyond…looking beyond correlation to the underlying mechanism.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week: October – The headline picture is of a Green Heron!

BBC - Future - The simple words that save lives – Communication in an emergency…if it goes wrong…tragedy.

Despite growing burden of diet-related disease, medical education does not equip students to provide high quality nutritional care to patients -- ScienceDaily - Researchers call for improved nutrition education to be integrated into the medical curriculum. This makes sense to me…but why hasn’t it been done long before now?

Iceland's Seabird Colonies Are Vanishing, With "Massive" Chick Deaths – Kittiwakes, puffins, murres, fulmars – Chicks die…nests with eggs abandoned. Total breeding failure for many of the birds. For the Puffins it has been happening since 2005. Lots of changes caused by climate change funneling pollution from the North America and Europe to the North Atlantic: mercury ubiquitous and rising fast in some areas, brominated flame retardant, pesticides, PCBs, chemical laced microplastics. A caption under one of the pictures: “In Iceland, levels of PCBs and other contaminants are so high in murre eggs that people shouldn’t eat them.”

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 5, 2019

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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.

BBC - Future - The desert soil that could save lives – Bioprospecting for antibiotics and industrial biocatalysts from bacteria that survive in extreme environments like the Atacama or Antarctica

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week: Resident Birds – National Geographic Society Newsroom – ‘Resident’ around the world….beautiful birds.

Global warming may threaten availability of essential brain-building fatty acid -- ScienceDaily – Impacts of climate change go far beyond the climate models…many probably still to be discovered.

Recovery: Restoring the Floodplain Forest – Cool Green Science – I started reading the article since I am always interested in how restoration projects are created and evolve…but the aspect I’ll remember about it was the info about a tree: American Elms. Ones resistant to Dutch Elm Disease are among the trees being planted as part of the restoration. I grew up at a time when the elms were all dying. There were several I remember at my grandparents’ house in Oklahoma and a tree beside the playhouse at the house we moved to in Dallas in the early 1970s. It was already sickly. I wonder if there will soon be enough varieties and availability of elm trees for them to become landscaping trees again.

Interview: Self-Taught Myanmar Photographer Captures People Working – Capturing images of human-made place. Now I am wondering what I would photograph in my part of the world to do something equivalent.

Crying over plant-based milk: neither science nor history favors a dairy monopoly – An article about milk….and the argument about what the word means. The dairy industry wants it to mean milk from cows…but milk has been used more broadly to mean white liquid for a very long time. We even have plants with ‘milk’ in their name (i.e. milkweed)!

Pictures of India's UNESCO World Heritage sites – Rich cultural and natural history…reflected in places selected to protect.

'Report card' on diet trends: Low-quality carbs account for 42 percent of a day's calories: Older people, those with lower income, and those with less education face greater hurdles -- ScienceDaily – With results like this, maybe we should come up with better ways of helping people learn about nutrition. Do our schools help students learn about nutrition? How many adults have logged their food intake into an app and discovered how good (or poor) their food choices are? The current outreach strategies relative to nutrition are not enough. Sometimes even doctors seem to lack any expertise other than knowing that a patient is overweight/obese or their waist is too large.

Create Wildlife Habitat Around Your House – Cool Green Science – I already have a bird bath and feeder, milkweed patch, brush pile and some native trees (maple, sycamore, tulip poplar, oak). Even a spongy compost pile is habitat (this summer I had puddling tiger swallowtails on it)!

Komodo Dragons Have Skin That Looks Like Chain Mail | Smart News | Smithsonian – Four distinct morphologies of osteoderms in the skin of adult Komodo dragons. Another example of the wonderful complexity in the natural world.

Gleanings of the Week Ending September 28, 2019

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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.

Marriott Aims For 33% Reduction in Plastic Waste | CleanTechnica – Marriott will do this by 2020. They will do away with the tiny tubes of shampoo, conditioned and other toiletries, replacing then with larger bottles affixed to the walls. It’s a step in the right direction and we all need to be looking for these steps that are ‘easy.’ We also need vendors to do their part and transition away from plastic packaging. Remember that plastic is relatively recent; there are still people alive that remember a time without it! But we need new solutions rather than just going back to pre-plastic days….it will take focus and creativity…and a demand from all of us – to rid ourselves of the negative aspects of plastic.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week: Endemic Birds – National Geographic Society Newsroom – Beautiful birds.

Dam Removal Complete on Maryland's Patapasco River - News | Planetizen – Some close-to-home news. I had been tracking these dam removals over the past few years and hearing reports about preparation and results at the annual Maryland Water Monitoring Council conference.

Harmful Algal Blooms (Red Tide) – Information and maps about algal blooms. I looked at the Chesapeake Bay part of the site.

Ghost Crabs Use Teeth in Their Stomachs to Ward Off Predators | Smart News | Smithsonian – This article reminded me of the ghost crab we saw on Two Mile Beach near Cape May, New Jersey last May. We must have been far enough away to not be too threatening; the crab did not make any noise at all.

Drinking tea improves brain health, study suggests -- ScienceDaily – I like to drink tea…and it gets even better with studies like this. The opposite it true for soft drinks…even the diet ones. Those I need to reduce or stop drinking completely.

Can We Turn Down the Temperature on Urban Heat Islands? - Yale E360 – Work to gather more detailed information about the heat islands within cities. The extra details help clarify strategies of how to reduce them. Some of the ideas I had heard before…others – like varying building heights – I had not.

Topography could save sensitive saguaros as climate changes -- ScienceDaily – We haven’t been back to Tucson since my daughter finished her graduate work at University of Arizona; but I always browse articles about the place. This research was done at U of A…and I was glad that the iconic saguaros might adapt to climate change – at least on Tumamoc Hill.

A Field Guide to The Feral Parrots of the US – Cool Green Science – Wow – there are a lot more of them than I realized.

Neurotoxin lead sometimes added to turmeric for brighter color -- ScienceDaily – Very scary. Are we sure they don’t export the tainted turmeric?

Gleanings of the Week Ending September 21, 2019

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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.

These Caterpillars Can Detect Color Using Their Skin, Not Their Eyes | Smart News | Smithsonian – A little surprise…but insects probably have a lot of adaptations developed over eons that are challenging to imagine.

Five weird and wonderful ways nature is being harnessed to build a sustainable fashion industry – New dyes from enzymes, ‘leather’ from mushrooms, lacy fabric made from plant roots that grew that way (watch the video), cellulose for fabrics derived from manure!

Aesthetics of skin cancer therapy may vary by treatment type -- ScienceDaily – Hopefully these findings will guide doctors to use the more aesthetic treatments…since they all have about the same recurrence rates a year after treatment.

On the Alabama Coast, the Unluckiest Island in America - Yale E360 – Dauphin Island…when does everyone decide that these places can’t be saved…should not be rebuilt. It’s not something we are dealing with very well as individuals or as a nation.

Deer browsing is not stopping the densification of Eastern US forests -- ScienceDaily – Deer hurt the understory but the canopy is more impacted by the greater density of the big forest trees (because of fire suppression) and that red maples are growing in areas where young oaks, hickories, or pines would have grown previously. But wouldn’t the deer browse young trees? In our area – the forests have also changed quite a lot in the last 20 years with the decline of the hemlocks and now the ashes. This study – done in Pennsylvania – did not comment about those issues.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week: September – These photographs are always worth a look….birds are so beautiful.

North America has lost 3 billion birds – And fresh from looking at the wonder pictures of birds….this sobering news: North America has lost 25% of its bird population and it’s all happened in the last 50 years. More than 90% of the loss is in just a dozen bird families that includes the sparrows, warblers, blackbirds, and finches. Grassland birds have suffered a 53% loss. Potential causes: habitat degradation, urbanization, and the use of toxic pesticides.

Staying at elementary school for longer associated with higher student attainment – My daughter didn’t seem to have a problem transferring from elementary to middle school after 5th grade…but the middle school was next door to the elementary school, and she was doing well in school. The results of this research will have to overcome the school building infrastructure in many areas. Change happens slowly with school systems. So far I haven’t seen a change in start times for high schools even though there are studies that say that early starts are not good for high school students (in our area, they have always started before the elementary and middle schools).

Spotted in Kenya: a baby zebra with polka dots – I hope there is a follow up story on this baby. Will the pattern make it more susceptible to fly bites? Another note from the article: Zebras are accepting of difference…animals with atypical coat patterns fit right into the herd.

Drought Reveals Lost “Spanish Stonehenge” – The Dolmen at Guadalperal has resurfaced from the Valdecanas Reservoir in western Spain due to lower lake levels from dry, hot conditions this year. It has been submerged for 50 years. Hopefully someone will make a good 3D tour of the place.

Gleanings of the Week Ending September 14, 2019

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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.

Radio Tracking a Rare Crayfish – Cool Green Science – There are a lot more species of crayfish than I realized…and they have a bigger role in the stream that I assumed.

Mindfulness for middle school students: Focusing awareness on the present moment can enhance academic performance and lower stress levels -- ScienceDaily – I wonder if ‘mindfulness’ is something we need to teach more overtly now than in the past because technology and daily life tends to push us in ‘unmindful’ ways.

Canadian Canola Fields – I looked at this article because the Bugs101 course that I took recently mentioned the canola fields of Canada (for some reason I had never known very much about Canola as a crop). This article provides more history. It has become a cash crop for Canada in recent decades.

There's a Troubling Rise in Colorectal Cancer Among Young Adults | The Scientist Magazine® - Incidence of colon cancer is falling in older people…but becoming more common in people under 50. It has continued to go up over the past decade. In young adults, the cancer is discovered later too…usually stage 3 or 4.

A Northwest Passage Journey Finds Little Ice and Big Changes - Yale E360 – Lots of changes. Grizzly are moving northward…fewer polar bears…salmon far north of where they used to be…lungworm killing muskox…plastic in ice cores.

Researchers Discover New Family of Viruses | The Scientist Magazine® - The new viruses are found in lung biomes of people that had had lung transplants or have periodontal disease….many times the patients are critically ill. But we don’t know yet if the new family of viruses are linked to disease.

Utah's red rock metronome: Seismic readings reveal Castleton Tower's unseen vibrations -- ScienceDaily – On the plus side – it does not appear that climbers of the tower are impacting it…but this work is a baseline and there could be some longer term effects. Wikipedia has some pictures and a short article about Castleton Tower.

Infographic: History of Ancient Hominin Interbreeding | The Scientist Magazine® - Still learning about the hominin tree and how modern humans carry the genetic heritage.

Camera Trap Chronicles: The Pennsylvania Wilds – Cool Green Science – I wonder what I would see coming through my back yard. I know we have deer…and I occasionally see a fox. Maybe racoons. My first though was to put a camera on the bird feeder or the bird bath.

BBC - Future - Is there a worst time of day to get sick? – Circadian rhythms are important to health….and our medical system doesn’t use them to advantage. I remember being concerned when my mother was in the hospital years ago and the lights were very bright day and night. No wonder she had difficulty sleeping!

Gleanings of the Week Ending September 7, 2019

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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.

BBC - Future - Is city life really bad for you? – Some additional reasons we need to make changes to cities --- if that is where the bulk of humans will live in the future.

A Field Guide to Commonly Misidentified Mammals – Cool Green Science – How many of these animals can you correctly identify?

Blood vessels turning into bone-like particles -- ScienceDaily – The headline caught my interest…bone-like particles in the blood. Then I noticed that the researcher was from the school where I did my undergraduate work back in the 1970s!

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week: Raptors and Migration – Catching up on these weekly posts from National Geographic. I always enjoy them.

BBC - Future - Can you cool a house without air conditioning? – We’ve probably had our last 90 degree plus day for the season at this point….but over the long term, I expect broadening the technologies we use to cool our homes and buildings is going to be important.

Turquoise-Tinted Tarantula Discovered in Sri Lanka | Smart News | Smithsonian – Iridescent color that must startle the spider’s prey (or a predator) --- and a discussion of collecting by scientists.

See a different endangered animal in every U.S. state – The map is easy to explore. The Puritan Tiger Beetle was the one listed for Maryland….not something I had heard of before.

Infographic: How Muscles Age | The Scientist Magazine® - A little muscle anatomy lesson – for young and old.

The Earth's Vegetation Stopped Expanding 20 Years Ago - News | Planetizen – Another indication that climate change is already having a worldwide impact?

Forest-killing bark beetles also might help ecosystem, experts say - UPI.com – It’s distressing to see a forest of dead trees…but maybe it’s an indicator that monoculture forests and fire suppression are not healthy. And then there is climate change in the mix as well. The beetles now survive the winter temperatures in much of their range.

Monarch Caterpillars

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This has been a disappointing year for Monarch butterflies in our neighborhood. I haven’t seen many butterflies and only two caterpillars…and it’s relatively late in the season. I first saw a medium sized caterpillar on the milkweed in my front flower bed (the milkweed came back after I pulled it earlier in the season). I took pictures of it two days in a row…eating away. On the third day I couldn’t find it. I hope it will reappear at some point although I am wondering if something is killing or eating Monarch caterpillars.

I found a bigger caterpillar on a milkweed plant behind the bushes (maybe the location of the plant is protective). The caterpillar was actively eating and is big enough that it will make a chrysalis soon.

The milkweed plants look OK but not as good as I remember them from the 1990s. The leaves sometimes curl and deform and there are a lot more aphids. It looks like there may be some parasitoids of the aphids which are beginning to control the population.

It’s frustrating to have host plants but so few caterpillars. Are there just too many factors leading to the Monarch decline? It’s worse than last year.

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 31, 2019

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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.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week: August and Sunbirds and Spiderhunters -  Two sets of bird pictures this week…catching up a little on the gleanings…and good picutres to start out the post this week.

Rare Lightning Strikes Detected 300 Miles from North Pole | Smart News | Smithsonian – I’d never thought about lightning or thunderstorms over the arctic….so this was ‘news to me’ from several perspectives.

Impact of largescale tree death on carbon storage -- ScienceDaily – In our area, invasive insects have caused the deaths of two tree species in recent years: Eastern Hemlock (wooly adelgid) and Ash (Emerald Ash Borer)…die-offs that are definitely not the norm. I wondered if the research included these in their ‘insect outbreak’ category.

The practical ways to reduce your carbon footprint (that actually work) | WIRED UK – How many of these have you considered…implemented?

Here's How the 'Fish Tube' Works | Smart News | Smithsonian – And it doesn’t injure the fish? It seems like it would be very traumatic for the fish.

Tracing the History of Decorative Art, a Genre Where "Form Meets Function" – Short…with some good pictures…and links.

Microplastic drifting down with the snow: In the Alps and the Arctic, experts confirm the presence of plastic in snow -- ScienceDaily – Aargh! Something we have in our minds as being ‘clean’ because it is white, is polluted by things so tiny we can’t see them.

Insect 'apocalypse' in U.S. driven by 50x increase in toxic pesticides – Why are we still using such huge amounts of pesticides when we don’t need to….we have methods to grow our food without decimating pollinators and other beneficial insects.

BBC - Future - The wildlife haven in a Cold War ‘death strip’ – The land between what used to be East and West Germany…the borderland between Finland and Russia….places where the Iron Curtain divided people. This is a long corridor of land left alone for the decades of rapid growth in Europe – land where people didn’t tread but where plants and animals could thrive. It is the European Green Belt through 24 countries. Some species are already using it to migrate north to escape the effects of global warming.

What drives inflammation in type 2 diabetes? Not glucose, says new research -- ScienceDaily – A surprise finding….and now a lot more research needed about fat derivatives and mitochondria in people with type 2 diabetes.

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 24, 2019

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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.

‘Off-the-charts’ heat to affect millions in U.S. in coming decades – How will public health be impacted by warming climate? This article summarizes a county-by-county analysis of likely temperature and humidity over the coming decades.

Waist size is a forgotten factor in defining obesity -- ScienceDaily - Waist size is just as important as BMI in defining obesity-related health risks. The study used data from 156,000 women ages 50-79 from 1993-2017 and confirms a similar study published in 2015 based on a much smaller population.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week: Little Brown Jobs (LBJs) – National Geographic Society Newsroom – Not as colorful as usual…but I still enjoyed the pictures. I also like the acronym (LBJs)

Algae living inside fungi: How land plants first evolved -- ScienceDaily – And the study was done with algae and fungi that produce high amounts of oil…could be useful growing together for bioproduction (reduce costs).

Food insecurity common across US higher education campuses -- ScienceDaily - Lack of access to reliable supply of nutritious food may affect student's ability to succeed, researchers say. Is it more a problem now that it used to be….or are we just recognizing it? Universities are scrambling to set up programs to address the issue.

With New Perennial Grain, a Step Forward for Eco-Friendly Agriculture - Yale E360 – How can the ideas for prairie and forest sustainable agriculture be moved into the mainstream faster? It seems like there is still a lot to learn about how to do it on a large scale.

Non-native invasive insects, diseases decreasing carbon stored in US forests -- ScienceDaily – It seems like more of these problems are cropping up….and at a time when we need our forests to retain carbon. In our area, the emerald ash borer has killed all the ash trees in the past 5 years…a noticeable change in our forests.

Focus on Native Bees, Not Honey Bees – Cool Green Science - Lots of beautiful bees out there…pollinating right along with the honey bees. We need to support all the pollinators to build (and sustain) health environments for us all.

Solar Panels on Farmland Have Huge Electricity-Generating Potential - Yale E360 – A vision to think about….agrivoltaics (a new vocabular word for me!).

Arctic permafrost is thawing fast. That affects us all. – I was intrigued by the pictures of landscapes of melting permafrost – collapsing land, methane (enough to burn) bubbling from a thawing pond, crumbling cliffs.

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 17, 2019

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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.

Well-Preserved Mosaic Floor Found in Roman Egypt - Archaeology Magazine – Lotus patterns!

Nations with strong women's rights likely to have better population health and faster growth-- ScienceDaily – A study analyzed databases which held information on health, human rights, and economic and social rights for 162 countries for the period 2004 to 2010.  The results suggest that gender equality is not just a women’s issue but a development issue.

More Climate Surprises Expected – THE DIRT – “Climate change together with environmental degradation and social and political instability is the threat multiplier.” It seems like more and more climate-linked surprises/disasters are happening every year. When do we reach a tipping point where everyone realizes that we cannot continue the status quo?

Liver transplants could be redundant with discovery of new liver cell -- ScienceDaily – From Kings’ College London. It would be a big step forward if this finding translates into standard treatment for liver failure.

Viking Woman Warrior May Have Been Slavic | Smart News | Smithsonian – Not all ‘Vikings’ were Nordic men…some were Slavic and some were women! It’s good to understand long ago cultures in more depth…particularly when it causes us to rethink our assumptions.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week: Birding – National Geographic Society Newsroom – Variety and beauty of birds…I always enjoy the ‘25’ collections.

How to keep buildings cool without air conditioning – according to an expert in sustainable design – We are going to need all the technology we know (and some new ones) to keep buildings and homes cool as the planet gets warmer.

America's packaged food supply is ultra-processed: Americans are overexposed to products that are high in calories, saturated fat, sugar and salt -- ScienceDaily – Unhealthy ‘food’ --- most of us have an inkling about this but it doesn’t keep us from indulging. The article mentions the Foodswitch app that allows consumers to scan packaged foods to determine their healthfulness; I loaded the app and scanned things in my pantry. The pasta I buy (whole wheat and green) rates a 5 of 5! Soymilk was 4.5. The canned tamales my husband likes are a 3 (salt and fat).

Thamugadi, a Roman outpost in Algeria, was saved by the Sahara – Buried in sand after it was abandoned around AD 700…and rediscovered in the 1700s but not explored. In the 1870s it was again rediscovered. It was excavated by the French from 1881 to 1960 in its entirety. It became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1982.

100 days, 100 nights: Sensor network reveals telltale patterns in neighborhood air quality: Custom-built sensors deployed for 100 days and nights to track black carbon pollution -- ScienceDaily – A test was done in West Oakland with new technology to monitor air pollution with more specificity over the area and time of day(s) than has been done before now. The technology worked and demonstrated that the finer grain measurements provide deeper understanding of what impacts localized air quality…something we have to understand to make progress in improving city environments.

Flowers on Table

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I have been enjoying the cut-your-own flowers from my CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) this summer. It’s great to have the color on the table – changing every week. A small bag with scissors for that part of the share pickup has been added to the larger bags for the heftier veggies. I often get some herbs as well. Fresh oregano and thyme are my two favorites. I rinse the herbs and put them on a small plate on the counter using it up in a few days or letting it dry so that it crinkles easily into a steaming pot of sauce or stir fry.