Gleanings of the Week Ending August 24, 2024

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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.

Warming waters and nutrient overload: A dangerous combination threatening our rivers and lakes - Food webs are becoming less complex in warmer, nutrient-rich waters. This simplification means shorter food chains and a degraded functioning ecosystem.

Stonehenge’s giant Altar Stone came all the way from north-east Scotland – here’s how we worked out this astonishing new finding – It evidently came from north-east Scotland at least 430 miles from where it is today!

Over half of iron deficiency cases in large health system still unresolved at three years - Factors associated with a higher likelihood of getting iron levels back to normal included older age (age 60 and up), male sex, Medicare insurance, and treatment with IV iron alone. Younger patients, females, and Black individuals were most likely to remain iron deficient or experience longer lags in getting their iron stores back to a healthy level.

What the Mesopotamians had for dinner – Small clay tables date to 1730 BC or earlier…are about preparing food! The instructions are terse, clipped. And as is the case for many old recipes, from all vintages of the human relationship with cuisine, amounts are not specified. Here is how one of the stews is made: for the lamb stew known as tu'hu, first you get water. Then you sear leg meat in fat. In go salt, beer, onion, rocket, coriander, Persian shallot, cumin, beets, water. Crushed leek and garlic and more coriander, for a fiery taste. Then add kurrat, an Egyptian leek. The beets turn it an electric red.

Cleaning up the aging brain: Scientists restore brain's trash disposal system – Using a hormonal like drug to help the glymphatic system of the aging brain to remove toxic buildup more effectively (as younger brains do).

Plant disease could spell apocalypse for citrus fruits - Huanglongbing (HLB), also known as “citrus greening” disease. The economic impacts are dramatic in some countries. In Brazil, production has fallen by more than 20%, 60% in Guadeloupe and plummeted by more than 90% in Florida.

U.S. Wind Generation Hit Record in April, Beat Coal! – Hope this begins happening more often. It should as more wind energy comes online and coal plants are shut down.

Our skin is teeming with microbes. We should learn to love them - Zoom in on any square centimeter of the skin on your body and you'll find between 10,000 to one million bacteria living there. The skin microbiome is second only to our guts when it comes bacterial diversity. This is quite surprising if you think about it. Compared to the safe, warm and moist habitats of our mouths or guts, the skin is an inhospitable place.

Maine! Ghost Plant – A parasitic plant I learned about in my general biology course….and was thrilled the first time I saw it in the wild years ago. I haven’t seen it since.

Five ways science is tackling the antibiotic resistance crisis – Natural products, the promise of AI, combination therapies, immune assistance, efficient diagnostics….and we need more.

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 17, 2024

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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.

Ultrafine particles (UPFs) linked to over 1,000 deaths per year in Canada's two largest cities – Particles smaller than PM2.5 that primarily come from vehicle emissions and industrial activities. The study was done in Montreal and Toronto neighborhoods from 2001 – 2016. The findings associate long-term exposure to UFPs with a 7.3% increase in the risk of non-accidental death. Respiratory deaths saw the highest increase, at 17..4%, followed by a 9.4% rise in deaths from coronary artery disease.

Eureka: Why Was Monet Obsessed with Water Lilies? - From 1890 to 1927, Monet would create more than 250 paintings of the water lilies. He had found his subject and there would be no need for another. Besides, as the artist said in an interview, “the water flowers are only an accompaniment.” The real subject was that fickle, forever fluid thing called light, which Monet said changed every seven minutes in Giverny.

The History and Mystery of Glastonbury – A satellite image from January 2024. A little history lesson too: Before the Somerset Levels were drained and converted into agricultural land in the 18th century, the region was a flooded swamp. Glastonbury Tor towered above the water as an island, drawing attention as a site of worship for pagans and Christians.

95% of Steel-Related Emissions from Vehicles Can Be Cut Using Green Steel - Procuring primary steel without fossil fuels is the strongest possible pathway to reduce steel-related emissions from vehicles – and this could be done at scale in the U.S. by the end of the decade. Collectively, automakers are among the largest buyers in the steel market in both the U.S. and EU. In 2022, the auto industry consumed 26% of the 82 million metric tons of steel produced in the U.S., and 60% of all domestic primary steel. In the same year, 17% of the 136 million metric tons of steel produced in Europe went to the auto industry, and 24% of all domestic primary steel.

Lyme disease is becoming more common. But its symptoms aren't always easy to spot - Lyme, is a disease with arthritis-like symptoms, but symptoms can get more varied if treatment is not prompt. It's a type of bacteria that penetrates every tissue in the body. Lyme disease can also cause facial paralysis, heart problems, severe fatigue and painful pins and needles in hands and feet.

Static Electricity May Help Butterflies and Moths Pick Up Pollen - Previous studies have found that honeybees, bumblebees and hummingbirds could pull pollen from flowers through the air with their electric charges. This study looked at 11 species of butterflies/moths from 5 continents.

Multiple urinary metals play key role in cardiovascular disease and mortality, study finds - When analyzed together, the 6 metal-mixture including cadmium, tungsten, uranium, copper, cobalt, and zinc was associated with a 29 percent increased risk of cardiovascular disease and a 66% increased risk of death over the study follow up of 18 years.

Your nose has its own army of immune cells — here’s how it protects you – The nose and upper airway — which includes the mouth, sinuses and throat but not the windpipe — serve as key training grounds where immune cells ‘memorize’ intruding pathogens. These memories allow the cells to defend against future attacks by similar microorganisms.

A Record-Breaking 17 California Condor Chicks Hatched at the L.A. Zoo This Year – Condors usually only raise one chick at a time…but the LA Zoo has found that they will raise more than one chick…and these chicks survive better than human raised chicks when released into the wild after 1.5 years at the zoo.

How the rising earth in Antarctica will impact future sea level rise - In Antarctica, melting glacial ice means less weight on the bedrock below, allowing it to rise. How the rising earth interacts with the overlying ice sheet to affect sea level rise is not well-studied. Measurements show that the solid earth that forms the base of the Antarctic ice sheet is changing shape surprisingly quickly. The land uplift from reduced ice on the surface is happening in decades, rather than over thousands of years.

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 10, 2024

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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.

Versailles’s Hidden Scientific Legacy to Surface in a Major U.K. Exhibition - The five-mile-squared grounds were mapped out by geometricians and astronomers; keeping the 14,000 fountains bubbling further required developing an unprecedented hydraulic engineering system. AND… Giovanni Domenico Cassini, who headed the Paris Observatory, turned skyward, mapping the moon with a precision that wouldn’t be matched until the late 19th century. AND… Hundreds gathered in the courtyard of Versailles to watch the flight of a hot-air balloon, agronomists developed a hardier potato capable of feeding the masses, and an inoculation against smallpox was discovered.

Air conditioning causes around 3% of greenhouse gas emissions. How will this change in the future? – The article concludes: “Rather than lamenting air conditioning's impact on energy use, we need to accept that demand for cooling will increase, work on making it affordable for those who need it most, and build efficient solutions that ensure electricity grids worldwide can cope.”

Ancient Rome’s Appian Way Is Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site - Rome’s Appian Way, an ancient highway dating to the fourth century B.C.E., has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Could the shingles vaccine lower your risk of dementia? - The idea that vaccination against viral infection can lower the risk of dementia has been around for more than two decades. Associations have been observed between vaccines, such as those for diphtheria, tetanus, polio and influenza, and subsequent dementia risk. It may be the resulting lack of viral infection creating this effect. We need more research exploring in greater detail how infections are linked with dementia. This will help us understand the root causes of dementia and design potential therapies.

Chickasaw National Recreation Area's Monkey Tree Needs Some TLC - An Osage orange tree estimated to be about 130 years old with three thick spreading trunks that generations of children have played on.

Divers Discover Mesmerizing Roman Mosaic Beneath the Sea – Near Naples…a villa in a city known as the Las Vegas of the Roman Empire…now under water.

Healthy diet with less sugar is linked to younger biological age – The correlations between a diet that is rich in vitamins and minerals, especially one without much added sugar, and having a younger biological age at the cellular level.

Agriculture: Less productive yet more stable pastures - Grassland optimized for high yield responds much more sensitively to periods of drought than less intensively used meadows and pastures.

Anne Boleyn’s Childhood Home Is Restored to Its Tudor Glory – The interiors of rooms restored to the style they had during Anne Boleyn’s time.

Forest carbon storage has declined across much of the Western U.S., likely due to drought and fire – Forests in some parts of the world, like the American West, probably do not have the potential to help curb climate change.

Native Plants Added to Our Yard

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This is our third summer in our house. Last summer, I added some native plants to the yard and am pleased with how well they have done. The only one I have lost is a beautyberry that was planted last fall and didn’t survive the winter.

The fragrant sumac has new stems coming up and male flowers on the tips of the older branches. I like that the leaves start out with a lot of red and then turn a darker green. I intentionally planted it near the edge of the flowerbed and hope that it will eventually be stems that come up on the grassy side of the edging. There are some other plants around it that are already spilling over, and it would be good to gradually enlarge the bed area, reduce the grass.

The most successful plants in the wildflower area are black eyed susans and cone flowers. There are others…but they are not as robust. I will take some of the seeds from these two to plant elsewhere in the yard.

The grayhead coneflower bloomed in the garden I made where the stump of the old pine tree was cut down last year. It got top heavy and fell over and is now about done with its blooming. Next year I will stake it to help it stay upright.

The same happened with the hairy mountain mint. I think this one will bloom soon.

The showy goldenrod has been growing almost overwhelmed with pokeweed. Now that I have pulled the pokeweed, the plant will get more sun – and, hopefully, bloom this fall.

Early last spring I thought the American spikenard had died over the winter…but then rediscovered it! And now it is starting to bloom. It is still a very small tree but seems to like where it is planted and I can see it from my office window.

There are two redbuds that have come up in my yard, and I am letting them stay where they are. They are native (the parent tree is probably the one growing near the neighborhood ponds) and I like their heart shaped leaves. All the other trees in the back yard are evergreens (pines and hollies) so these two deciduous trees will be good additions.

Hurray for native plants!

Gleanings of the Week Ending July 27, 2024

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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.

Archaeologists Find a Cache of Ancient Murano Glass Off Bulgarian Coast - Underwater archaeologists in Burgas, Bulgaria have discovered over 100 glass objects dating back to the days of the Ottoman empire in the nation’s Chengene Skele bay. It is speculated that the glass artifacts fell from the cargo of a ship battered by a storm in the shallow, rocky area of the sea. Experts attribute the glass objects to Murano, a Venetian island still renowned today for its fine glassware, likely made in the late 16th and early 17th centuries.

Want the health benefits of strength training but not keen on the gym? Try ‘exercise snacking’ – Great idea!

Timing is everything: Study finds link between bowel movement frequency and overall health – The research showed that if stool sticks around too long in the gut, microbes use up all the available dietary fiber, which they ferment into beneficial short-chain fatty acids. After that, the ecosystem switches to fermentation of proteins, which produces several toxins that can make their way into the bloodstream. They showed that the microbial composition of study participants' gut microbiomes was a telltale sign of bowel movement frequency. Fiber-fermenting gut bacteria, often associated with health, appeared to thrive in a "Goldilocks zone" of bowel movement frequency, where people pooped between 1-2 times per day. However, bacteria associated with protein fermentation, or the upper gastrointestinal tract tended to be enriched in those with constipation or diarrhea, respectively.

Replacing Fuel Tax A Government Quandary - As the proportion of electric cars on the roads rise, what will fill the funding gap left by the loss of gasoline and diesel tax? One possibility is a road user charge (RUC).

Scientists Find an Underground Cave on the Moon That Could Shelter Future Explorers - Radar data from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) points to the presence of a cave beneath the moon’s surface. Such caves could serve as shelters for future human explorers, since they could protect astronauts from the moon’s hazardous surface environment. (Note – LRO was launched in 2009. My daughter, as an undergraduate, did some of the initial image calibration work!)

With CO2 Levels Rising, World’s Drylands Are Turning Green - Southeast Australia has been getting hotter and drier. Droughts have lengthened, and temperatures regularly soar above 95 degrees F (35 degrees C). Bush fires abound. But somehow, its woodlands keep growing. One of the more extreme and volatile ecosystems on the planet is defying meteorology and becoming greener. Long-term studies by University of California, Riverside in the Sonoran Desert show that shorter shrubs better adapted to less rainfall and higher temperatures are moving in at the expense of native plants, creating an impression of greening that marks an ecological breakdown.

Why Are Amphibians the Most Endangered Class of Animals? - Amphibians are the most endangered class of animals in the world, with 41% facing extinction. Climate change on its own would not be such an incredible threat if it weren’t for the toll it takes when combined with habitat loss, fragmentation and disease.

New solutions to keep drinking water safe as pesticide use skyrockets worldwide - A 62% rise in global pesticide use in the past 20 years has escalated fears that many of these chemicals could end up in our waterways, causing cancer. Powdered activated carbon (PAC) is currently used to remove organic pesticides from drinking water, but the process is costly, time consuming and not 100% effective. The researchers found that reducing the PAC particles from the existing commercial size of 38 μm (one millionth of a metre) to 6 μm, up to 75% less powder was needed to remove six common pesticides, achieving significant water treatment savings.

Huge! The Massive and Mystical Jordanian Monument to an Enigmatic People - The ancient city of Petra. Known as the “Rose City” for the warm pink blush of the sandstone cliffs it is carved out of, Petra was built by the enigmatic Nabateans. Built over two millennia ago, it was long lost to the shifting sands of Jordan’s desert until it was rediscovered by European travelers in the early 1800s.

Melting Sea Ice Is Making the Northwest Passage More Dangerous - Old, thick chunks of sea ice that tend to cluster near the North Pole are increasingly drifting southward toward Canada and into the path of ships. The younger, thinner ice that once held older ice in place is becoming scarcer as the region warms. For the cargo vessels, fishing boats, and cruise ships crossing the northwest passage, drifting chunks of old, thick sea ice pose a significant threat.

Yard Work – July 2024

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The only yard work I do on a weekly basis is mow the grassy area; it is a good way for me to achieve my ‘intensity minutes’ of exercise for the week! I do some weed eating every other week. Everything else is more ad hoc…and as needed.

I ordered 25 orange daylily roots and got them planted around the base of our two red maples in the front yard. The ruff of these plants around my oak in Maryland looked good and made it easier to mow around the base of the tree without being too close to the trunk. The daylilies are better than mulch to keep the grass from growing too close to the tree trunks!

The Virginia creeper has covered the stones in the raised bed in front. I pull down any that tries to climb the brick and try to keep weeds from growing in the area (like poke weed). I do need to trim the boxwood (and remove the Virginia creeper growing into it.  

I have rounded most of the corners created by the fence by planting lambs ear…and I let low growing poke weed grow there too.

I mowed part of the area I didn’t mow in May back in June and left the thick clippings to mulch in place; much of the grass has died there and violets from the flower bed are spilling into the yard. The larger leafed plant near the metal iris is a spikenard which is in the same area. About a foot of grass has been eliminated along this section of the flower bed. Over time I will use this strategy to reduce the grassy area of our yard.

A plant came up in a bare ‘hole’ in the turf in my back yard and I have been carefully mowing around it. It appears to be a small white aster and has been blooming for more than 4 weeks. I’ll eventually mow it, but it was a fun experiment to see what kind of plant it was.

I noticed a tall something in the flowerbed on the yard side of the stairs from our deck. It is a young redbud! I’ve decided to keep it…will trim the bush that is on one side of it and the ornamental grass that is on the other side.

My spider mum metal sculpture was visible from my office window when I first stuck it in the ground…but the branches of the pine are growing and getting lower around it. I have borrowed a pole saw from my daughter and will trim the lowest ones (it is impossible to get close enough to the trunk without using a pole saw!).

I am pleased with the progress I am making on the yard. My goals are to make it easier to maintain…more native plants…less grass…all while staying within the ‘rules’ of the neighborhood HOA.

Gleanings of the Week Ending July 20, 2024

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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.

Why US schools need to shake up the way they teach physics - As the economy becomes more tech-centered, understanding physics is critical. Yet the number of Americans with a solid grasp of physics is dwindling. Learning physics can better prepare you for a role as an aerospace engineer, software developer or environmental scientist, to name just a few. Shifting the way physics is taught so that students see how physics influences their daily lives with examples from sports, extreme weather or baking and cooking rather than rote memorization of formulas with examples from history would increase the number of students mastering physics and prepare them for the future…which is what education should do.

The Smithsonian Acquires the Earliest Known Photograph of an American First Lady – A daguerreotype of Dolley Madison from 1846 when she was 81.

The Hunt: What Happened to the Great Sphinx’s Nose? – The nose was gone well before Napoleon’s time.

NASA Returns to the Beach: Assateague on the Move – The changes in the barrier islands between 1985 and 2019 shown in images from NASA satellites.

The State of Electric School Bus Adoption in the US – Every U.S. state, except Wyoming, has electric school bus commitments. I hope the adoption has the momentum to continue for the health of child and the environment! As of December 2023, 3,700 electric school buses had already been delivered and 4,800 were awarded/ordered.

Huge firework displays will mark 4 July in the US, but the nation's air quality will suffer - Fireworks generate large amounts of smoke, which can have a visibly negative impact on air quality, but they also release other pollutants that are harder to see. In some areas, the concentration of fine particulate pollution known as PM2.5 can be between 1.5 and 10 times higher than normal on the night of 4 July and the following day. These fine soot particles have been linked to a range of health problems including asthma, heart disease and low birth weight. Another negative for fireworks: One analysis of wildfires on federal land in the US over a 37-year period from 1980 found that 11,294 of nearly 600,000 fires over that period could be attributed to fireworks. Two thirds of these occurred in the two-week period around 4 July. There are concerns that perchlorate (used as a propellent in fireworks) contamination can find its way into drinking water, where high levels of perchlorate can interfere with human thyroid function. --- I hope to see more drone shows available in the coming years.

Weaker Ocean Circulation Could Worsen Warming – A new modeling study finds that slowing currents could disrupt the upwelling of nutrients from the deep ocean to the surface, starving the phytoplankton that absorb carbon. The result is that, not only would the ocean absorb less carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, it would also unleash more carbon dioxide from its depths, leading to further warming.

See Ten Awe-Inspiring Images from the Astronomy Photographer of the Year Contest – Beautiful images. My favorite is the solar prominence image.

Proteins and fats can drive insulin production for some, paving way for tailored nutrition - Production of the insulin is much more dynamic and individualized than previously thought. A subset of the population appears to be hyper-responsive to fatty foods. As a next step, the researchers hope to expand their work into clinical studies that would test insulin responsiveness to carbohydrates, proteins, and fats in a real-world setting, and to begin developing personalized nutrition approaches based on the findings.

Clever pupils don't need to attend academically selective schools to thrive – A study from Australia that followed students for 11 years. At ages 19 and 25 there was little difference between the educational and employment outcomes of children who attended selective schools versus non-selective schools. For example, the study found that while 81% of selective school students went on to secure a job or university place at 19 compared to 77.6% of pupils from non-selective schools, this difference disappeared when the students were matched on key characteristics, including socioeconomic background, gender, and geographical location.

Our Missouri Yard – July 2024

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The wildest part of my yard is the wildflower garden I planted last summer.

In front of the wildflowers are some pumpkin vines, lambs ear, and fragrant sumac. Behind the wildflowers there is a rose bush that has died back to the roots during both winters we’ve lived in the house but has come back each year to form a low bush…blooming small red roses.

That area is always a good place to do some macro photography with my iPhone 15 Pro Max. I’ve noticed that the native plants tend to harbor more insects although most of them are quite small. We’re missing the big butterflies in our yard too.

When I mow the grass, I stop to photograph anything I find of interest…like the shell of a robin’s egg (was it taken by predator or did the young hatched and the parent clear the nest?) and a plant that grows reliably by our mailbox.

There are frequently mushrooms that come up on the area where a tree was cut down (and the stump ground up) before we moved to the house. This month there were at least 2 different kinds.

One of our pine trees is not old enough to produce cones…but the other one is prolific and I wince when I run over a cone with the lawn mower (they probably cause the blade to get dull faster). The cones look good with green needles – or grass – around them!

I still have a few areas of the yard that I have not mowed this year. In one area – violets have escaped from the flower bed and spilled out into the unmowed area. I mowed some of no-mow May area and the clippings are slowing/stopping grass from growing there and the violets are moving there too! I am getting other ideas on how to extend the flowerbeds in a way that results in less need to use the weed-eater…and overall less lawn….that remains compliant with the Home Owners Association of our neighborhood.

Gleanings of the Week Ending July 13, 2024

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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.

Pair of Resting Cuckoo Bees Wins the Royal Entomological Society’s Insect Photo Competition – Wonderful images of insects. My favorite is the Wavy-lined Emerald Moth (“A forest gem”).

The Role of Commons in Our Future Resilience - The climate and biodiversity crises will make collective land and water resources the source of future cooperation and conflict. If our commons aren’t governed well, we can have a “future of global violence.” Balancing the needs of local communities and conservation and restoration will require strong relationships between governments and the people who depend on commons for their livelihoods and culture.

Study shows how liver damage from stress and aging might be reversible – The study showed that aging exacerbates non-alcoholic liver disease by creating ferroptic stress, and by reducing this impact, we can reverse the damage.

Extreme Heat’s Far-Reaching Impacts - In addition to the expected impacts — dehydration, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke — heat can also endanger pregnant women, impact sleep patterns, and increase irritability, depression, and suicide rates. Heat is also associated with higher rates of violence and aggression, including intimate partner violence and gun violence.

The chemistry of Polaroid photography – The technology behind taking a picture and printing it instantly.

Cooling Solutions for Cities That Lower Surface & Air Temperatures – Some productive and appealing ways to cool urban heat centers.

Funny Early Entries of the 2024 Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards – Images that will make you smile!

Climate change and sea level rise pose an acute challenge for cities with combined sewer systems - Some 40 million people currently live in areas served by combined sewer systems (in places like Philadelphia, New York, and Boston) that are at increasing risk of being inundated by untreated sewage during floods.

Ancient Egyptian Scribes Were Worked to the Bone - Scribes sat in cross-legged or kneeling positions for long periods of time, hunched over paper and ink. Such activity was bound to overload the jaw, neck and shoulder regions. 30 skeletons of scribes from a northern Egyptian cemetery were examined. Much of the damage was found on the skeleton’s right sides, with the right knee being an especially common point of osteoarthritis, possibly because scribes repeatedly squatted on their right legs, the researchers theorize. And ancient Egyptian iconography commonly depicts scribes writing with their right hands. The posture impacted scribes’ backs.

Pronghorn Place: Preserve Protects Wildlife Migration Route – About the Flat Ranch Preserve on the outskirts of Yellowstone National Park…what has been learned about the Pronghorns migrating through. It reminded me of the pronghorns I saw at Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge (New Mexico) in 2018.

Gleanings of the Week Ending July 6, 2024

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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.

Extended maternal care central factor to human other animal, longevity – In species where offspring survival depends on the longer-term presence of the mother, the species tends to evolve longer lives and a slower life pace, which is characterized by how long an animal lives and how often it reproduces.

The 'gene deserts' unravelling the mysteries of disease - Less than 2% percent of the human genome is dedicated to coding for genes which produce proteins, while much of the remaining 98% has no obvious meaning or purpose. But scientists are slowly managing to accrue information about the ‘gene deserts’ apparent purpose and why they exist.

These Stunning Butterflies Flew 2,600 Miles Across the Atlantic Ocean Without Stopping – Painted Lady butterflies spotted in French Guiana where they are not usually found. Sequencing the butterflies’ genome revealed that they were related to African and European painted ladies – not North American. And looking at weather data revealed that wind conditions in the weeks prior to the sighting were favorable for the butterflies moving from Africa to South America.

Simple test for flu could improve diagnosis and surveillance - Fewer than one percent of people who get the flu every year get tested, in part because most tests require trained personnel and expensive equipment. The current version of new test is a low-cost paper strip that distinguishes between influenza A and B and subtypes H1N1 and H3N2. It works at room temperature…takes about 90 minutes. They are working to reduce the time to 15 minutes.

To Save the Red Knots, Look to Blue Carbon – Red Knots migrate over 9,000 miles to the Arctic to breed. Along the way they stop for meals of mussels and clams in coastal areas. This post highlights 6 projects from around the world that are restoring those area…for the red knots and the health of the planet.

Photography In the National Parks: Two Cave Parks Above and Below – Wind Cave National Park and Jewel Cave National Monument. Full of ideas for photographing inside caves and above them! My first thought was to see if there is a trail that goes over the top of Sequiota Cave and Spring near Springfield MO (we did a boat tour of the cave last spring).

Surprising phosphate finding in NASA's OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample – Remembering when we went to the launch of the mission in September 2016.

Swift Parrots and the Heartbreak of Rare Species – Endangered Australian parrots…with only an estimated 500 birds left in the wild. “We conservationists bear witness to so much loss: of species, ecosystems, and the places we know and love. Often, it feels like we’re watching extinction in real time, powerless to stop it. But there is value in staring these losses in the face. Value in bearing witness to a rare parrot with an uncertain future, knowing full well I might mourn its extinction in a few years time. If the worst happens, at least I will have cherished it while it was here.”

A Big Picture of the US Housing Market - High interest rates, supply constraints and growth in home insurance premiums (particularly in states like California and Florida) are all driving housing costs. There is some news that’s more positive. Nearly 450,000 new apartments were finished in 2023, the highest rate in about three decades. However, average rents remain above pre-pandemic levels in most markets.

Sheep & Solar: A “Beautiful Symbiotic Relationship” - When solar farms use sheep instead of mowers for vegetation management, they minimize burning fossil fuels, and costs associated with labor are also reduced. Investment costs for a solar farm might include water tanks, troughs, a small water pump to fill the troughs, predator-proof fencing, and dividing into sections for rotational grazing. The sheep eat the tall grass, weeds, and clover, and their chomping inhibits the vegetation from blocking the panels. Their steady consumption of forage on the land prevents grassy plants from growing high enough to block sunlight from reaching the panels, maintaining the productivity of the array. Sheep are the most appropriate ruminant species when it comes to vegetation management on solar farms because they are too small to damage the panels when rubbing against them, and they are not predisposed to chewing on wires or jumping on the panels.

Gleanings of the Week Ending June 29, 2024

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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.

The Electric Revolution of Gardening Tools is Here – Hurray! We’ve been completely transitioned to battery powered yard tools for a few years now. I wouldn’t be mowing my own yard without our electric mower. Our old gas-powered one was noisy and my throat got scratchy from the fumes. Now I think of mowing the yard as a challenging exercise rather than a negative impact on my hearing and lungs!

US Cities Ranked by Vehicle Miles Traveled – As I read the article, I wondered where Dallas/Fort Worth fit since they were not on the top 10 list. I went to the source cited in the article and found that Dallas/Fort Worth was 19th.  Other Texas cities are high too – San Antonio at 14, Houston at 18 and Austin at 22.

See Frida Kahlo in Her Element in a New York Show of Rare Photographs – There is a picture of her (and Diego) viewing a solar eclipse in 1932 (Detroit)!

The apple detectives hunting for lost varieties - Apple fanatics across the UK are now taking samples from very old apple trees in hopes of learning more about antique varieties, and perhaps making some surprising discoveries. That's because there are apples, documented in 19th-Century books like Robert Hogg and Robert Bull Graves' The Herefordshire Pomona, that have slipped through people's fingers.

In North Macedonia, an Ancient Lake Faces Modern Threats – Lake Ohrid - 19 miles long, nine miles wide and 945 feet deep, teeming with fish, snails, leeches, flatworms, phytoplankton, crustaceans, and more. Of the lake’s roughly 1,200 known native species, 212 of them are endemic, occurring nowhere else. It faces growing threats, including from overfishing, nutrient pollution, invasive species, booming tourism, unregulated building, official neglect, and perhaps the most inexorable challenge of all, global warming.

Rare White Bison Calf Born at Yellowstone National Park - Photographed on June 4, as a group of bison crossed a road with traffic stopped.

A supermarket trip may soon look different, thanks to electronic shelf labels - This month, Walmart became the latest retailer to announce it’s replacing the price stickers in its aisles with electronic shelf labels. The new labels allow employees to change prices as often as every ten seconds. They haven’t come to the Walmart near me yet…I’ll be looking for them every time I shop there.

A new way to measure aging and disease risk with the protein aggregation clock - Although there are other "clocks" to measure ageing and health, most of them are based on nucleic acids like DNA. A biological clock based on proteins could be a useful complement to these existing clocks, as proteins are among the most abundant molecules in cells and are crucial for all cellular functions. With the help of such a protein aggregation clock, scientists and doctors might move one step closer towards helping people age healthily and preventing age-related diseases.

Tiny beauty: how I make scientific art from behind the microscope – Great illustrations…worth scrolling through.

New metric for blood circulation in brain to better understand dementia - By accurately measuring how pulsatility is transmitted in the brain, researchers can better understand the underlying mechanism of brain conditions (including Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia) and potentially guide development of new treatments.

Gleanings of the Week Ending June 22, 2024

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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.

Life in a heat dome: The American West is figuring out how to keep cool – Summer in US cities…strategies to mitigate the hotter temperatures caused by climate change.

Statins for heart disease prevention could be recommended for far fewer Americans if new risk equation is adopted – Not a lot of details in this article although I have suspected for some time that statins were being over-prescribed.

10 States Where the Gas Tax Is Highest – This post prompted me to compare gas taxes in the states I drive through to on my frequent road trips to Dallas (Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas)…and the decision to always buy the tank of gas required in each direction in Oklahoma!

Creating a throw-away culture: How companies ingrained plastics in modern life – Aargh! Despite growing public pressure, companies increased their use of new plastic by 11% between 2018 and 2022!

What happens when you take too much caffeine - When we consume caffeine, it's quickly absorbed into our bloodstream, where it out-competes adenosine by preventing it from connecting to these receptors and doing its job to make us feel tired. This is why consuming caffeine can make us feel more awake and alert. Caffeine can also boost levels of other neurotransmitters like dopamine and adrenaline, which can make you feel more stimulated. Research has associated caffeine consumption with up to a 60% reduced risk of developing Alzheimer's. One explanation for this is that caffeine improves blood flow to the brain. While caffeine enters the gut quite quickly, its effects can take hours to wear off. Scientists recommend having your last 'dose' of caffeine eight hours and 48 minutes before you go to bed.

Why do 1 in 10 Americans get eczema? Is it too much salt? - Eczema, also known as atopic dermatitis, is a chronic disease that causes dry, itchy skin. It's one of the most common skin conditions, affecting more than 31 million people in the U.S., and one in 10 people will develop it at some point. It has become increasingly common in recent years, especially in industrialized countries, implicating environmental and lifestyle factors like diet.

A fierce battle is being fought in the soil beneath our feet – and the implications for global warming are huge - In some parts of the world, increased CO₂ means tiny bugs in the soil “hold onto” their phosphorus, making less available for trees.

Rock Art Found in This Saudi Arabian Cave Offers ‘Rare Glimpse’ Into Ancient Human Life – Sheep, ibex, and goats on the walls of a lava tube.

Depressive symptoms may hasten memory decline in older people – 16 years of data from 8,268 adults with an average age of 64. This study shows that the relationship between depression and poor memory cuts both ways, with depressive symptoms preceding memory decline and memory decline linked to subsequent depressive symptoms. So – interventions to reduce depressive symptoms might slow memory decline.

D-Day shipwrecks were a WW2 time capsule – now they are home to rich ocean-floor life – 80-year-old wrecks that line the coasts of Britain and France…reclaimed by sea life.

Gleanings of the Week Ending June 15, 2024

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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.

Could the world famous Roman Baths help scientists counter the challenge of antibiotic resistance? – A diverse array of microorganisms were found in the hot waters of the Roman Baths. Tests showed 15 of the isolated bacteria -- including examples of Proteobacteria and Firmicutes -- displayed varying levels of inhibition against human pathogens including E.coli, Staphylococcus Aureus and Shigella flexneri.

The Changing Nature of Wilderness - The U.S. government has begun to acknowledge the Indigenous history of ‘wilderness’ areas and, in some (very few) cases, restored land to native tribes or created co-management agreements.

Nearly 25% of land in Africa has been damaged – What’s to blame, and what can be done - The “big five” drivers of land degradation globally and in Africa are:

  • biological invasions, where plant species have spread outside their indigenous area and disrupted the services provided by ecosystems

  • climate change driven events, such as intense droughts and severe fires

  • extractive activities, such as mining and over-harvesting

  • habitat transformation or fragmentation, including deforestation and poor agricultural practices

  • pollutants such as sulfur dioxide, and eutrophication – where algae and other plants take over plant life.

The Hunt: Genghis Khan’s Final Resting Place - His last wish was to be buried in secret, something his soldiers accomplished in two ways: by killing everyone they met enroute to the gravesite, and then trampling that site under the hoofs of their horses until no trace was left. Although tomb culture, inherited from the neighboring Chinese, was well-established by the time Genghis Khan was born, many were constructed underground, some at a depth of more than 65 feet. Most Mongolians today would prefer that Genghis Khan’s tomb stayed hidden. Not because discovering it would unleash an ancient curse—a superstition that was actually quite widespread in Soviet times—but simply out of respect for the historical figure’s dying wish.

Airplane noise exposure may increase risk of chronic disease - Research has shown that noise from airplanes and helicopters flying overhead are far more bothersome to people than noise from other modes of transportation, and a growing body of research suggests that aircraft noise is also contributing to negative health outcomes.

New fossils show what Australia’s giant prehistoric ‘thunder birds’ looked like – and offer clues about how they died out - While the birds had broad, short toes and hoof-like claws for moving across open ground between bodies of water, their partial reliance on freshwater and new plant growth would have become more difficult as ponds and lakes shrunk and disappeared.

Phoenix Heat Deaths Rose by 1,000 Percent in 10 Years - Relentless heat led to 645 deaths last year in Maricopa County, the most ever documented in Arizona’s biggest metropolitan area. Almost half of the victims last year were homeless — 290 people. Twenty died at bus stops, others were in tents, and an unrecorded number of people were found on the pavement, prone as if on a baking stone.

Warming Brings Early Bloom to Bulgarian Rose Fields – Bulgaria is a top producer of rose water and rose oil. To produce these goods, pickers must harvest the flowers early in the morning, when their petals are richest in oil. After a mild winter and warm spring, pickers in Bulgaria’s Rose Valley have headed to the fields around three weeks earlier than normal.

15 Awe-Inspiring Images of Our Galaxy from the 2024 Milky Way Photographer of the Year – From around the world.

See the Rare Neolithic and Viking Treasures Returning to Scotland for Display – Artifacts from the Isle of Lewis. The scoop or ladle made from horn is my favorite.

Gleanings of the Week Ending June 8, 2024

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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.

Picture this: Snapping photos of our food could be good for us – A study that showed that when people take pictures of what they eat…a more accurate food record (than people’s memory) is obtained and can be analyzed to improve diet! I might try this…do a little self-analysis.

People Are Spotting Rare, Blue-Eyed Cicadas Around Illinois – Most periodic cicadas have red eyes….but this year some have blue! We aren’t hearing cicadas yet at our house even though our area of Missouri is in the range of Brood XIX.  

The people racing to build shelters outside tornado alley – It does seem like there have been more violent storms outside of the traditional tornado alley recently. Even in tornado alley – many houses are built on slab foundations (i.e. no basement) and don’t have storm shelters. My husband was the first to voice the requirement for a basement when we were looking at houses in Missouri…and we ended up buying one with the storm shelter too (in the basement and reenforced).

Relics of a Warmer Past, Some Species May Be Suited to a Hotter Future - By the end of this century, the planet is expected to be approximately as warm as it was 130,000 years ago. Species that arose during this time (like the African grass rat) would be able to withstand a hotter climate. A new model projects that there will be a 39% drop in the number of resident species in tropical lands due to excessive heat.

In a Seismic Shift, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Elevates Nature-Based Solutions – Finally! Some examples of solutions that are nature based include: Floodplains, Living shorelines, Beaches, Dunes, Wetlands, Reefs, Islands, Green roofs, Tree canopies, Rain gardens, Bioswales, Retention basins, and Permeable and pervious pavements. The upcoming rule issued by the Army Corps is expected to further institutionalize the nature-based future landscape architects have pushed for. But more advocacy will be needed to spread the benefits of designing with nature across all the communities with which the Army Corps engages.

7 Strange Species from the Ocean’s Depths – How many of these have you heard about before? I’d heard of 6 of the 7…the one that was new to me was the Yeti Crab. I didn’t know the Greenland Shark was the same as Ommatokoita though.

Women are 14 times more likely to die in a climate disaster than men. It’s just one way climate change is gendered – And women represent 80% of people displaced by extreme weather. The reasons include women’s pre-existing social and economic disadvantage…and their responsibility for caring for other vulnerable groups, such as children or older people. The author is writing about Australia…but this probably is happening around the world too.

Giant Pandas are returning to D.C.'s National Zoo – Hurray! The new pandas are due before the end of the year and the zoo is upgrading the building and outdoor space now to be ready for their arrival.

Cool Pavements Show Promise as Part of Urban Climate Resilience Strategy – Results from a pilot project in LA that applied a solar-reflective pavement coating, to more than 700,000 square feet of neighborhood streets and another special coatings to basketball courts, parking lots, a school playground, and a colorful community mural by a local artist in July 2022. The study results were published in April 2024: reductions in ambient air temperatures by as much as 3.5°F during extreme heat events and a 25-50 percent reduction in the local census-tract urban heat island index during daytime temperature peaks. The research also indicated notable reductions of up to 10°F or more in surface temperatures following the application of solar reflective pavement coatings, which directly correlated to a reduction in air temperature and felt temperature in the community.

Riverdance at 30: how Riverdance shaped Irish dance, and reflected a multicultural Australia – The history of Irish dancing….and the impact of Riverdance. The article includes multiple videos.

Gleanings of the Week Ending June 1, 2024

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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.

How Storm King Art Center Became One of World’s Top Sculpture Parks – Adding to my list to consider seeing if I travel to New York (state).

Dirt Cheap Batteries Enable Megawatt-Scale Charging Without Big Grid Upgrades Right Away – Hope the technology trend continues…that this idea helps us transition to more electric trucks and other vehicles.

Extreme Birding: Shorebirds at the Sewage Lagoon – Maybe a great place for birding….if you can stand the smell. The same thing happens at landfills.

The human brain has been shrinking – and no-one quite knows why - The brains of modern humans are around 13% smaller than those of Homo sapiens who lived 100,000 years ago. Exactly why is still puzzling researchers. I was a little surprised that the authors did NOT consider the challenge of birthing babies with larger heads (i.e. until C-sections allowed mother and baby to survive if the baby’s head was too large, both mother and baby died) which would result in natural selection of genes for smaller heads.

Climate change is most prominent threat to pollinators - Pollinator populations are declining worldwide and 85% of flowering plant species and 87 of the leading global crops rely on pollinators for seed production. The decline of pollinators seriously impacts biodiversity conservation, reduces crop yield, and threatens food security. Changes in water and temperature associated with climate change can lower the quantity and quality of resources available to pollinators, decrease the survival of larvae or adults, and modify suitable habitats.

The deep ocean photographer that captured a 'living fossil' – In 2010, Laurent Ballesta was the first diver to photograph a living coelacanth. In 2013, Ballesta and his team returned and encountered multiple coelacanths, spending up to half an hour in their presence. Thanks to Ballesta's work, we now know the coelacanth is among the longest-living fish species, with a lifespan of around 100 years, and has one of the slowest life histories of all marine fish – so, like deep-sea sharks with a reduced metabolism, the coelacanth grows slowly, taking as long as 69 years to reach sexual maturity, and with a gestation period of around five years.

Under stress, an observer is more likely to help the victim than to punish the perpetrator - It takes more cognitive effort to punish others than it does to help them. Studies show that when witnessing an act of injustice while stressed, people tend to behave selflessly, preferring to help the victim than to punish the offender.

Stunning Aerial Photos Capture the Abstract Beauty of Iceland’s Glacier Rivers – Iceland….blue.

These tricks make wind farms more bird-friendly – Migratory birds can crash into wind turbines…but there are ways to reduce the carnage: adding high visibility reflectors and spirals to cables, not building wind farms in flight paths, painting one blade on each turbine black (or stripes of black on each blade), and sound.

Swarms of miniature robots clean up microplastics and microbes, simultaneously – Interesting idea. While the bots were decontaminated and reused…they were not as effective…so more work is needed.

Gleanings of the Week Ending May 25, 2024

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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.

Shasta Lake Filles Up Again - After consecutive wet winters in Northern California, Shasta Lake filled up for the second year in a row, in time for summer 2024. The healthy cache of water in back-to-back years was a welcome turnaround from drought conditions and low lake levels in 2019–2022.

The chemistry of hydrangea colors – This works for the Asian hydrangeas….not the North American natives (oak leaf and wood hydrangeas).

Are there long-terms health risks to using Botox? - Botox is the most common cosmetic procedure performed worldwide, with nearly three million injections estimated to take place each year. It works by blocking signals from the nerves that control the facial muscles. The muscles relax, and fine lines and wrinkles disappear. Very little is known about the long-term health effects of taking Botox, as most clinical trials only follow up on patients for six months or so. However, some studies have found that long-lasting cosmetic use of botulinum toxin can trigger permanent changes in facial expression, with persons no longer able to flex their facial muscles.

How a Small Herd of Romanian Bison Is Locking Away Thousands of Tons of Carbon - European bison were reintroduced to the Țarcu Mountains, at the southern end of the Carpathian range, in 2014. Now numbering 170, the bison are reshaping the mountain landscape in ways that are helping clean up emissions: the Țarcu grasslands are capturing roughly 10 times as much carbon as they were before bison were reintroduced.

Preserving The Thermal Springs And Bathhouses Of Hot Springs, Arkansas – This post from National Parks Traveler came out while my daughter and I were in Hot Springs. I saw it after I got home.

How Can You Stop a Disease-Carrying Mosquito? – Hawaiian honeycreepers are dying of avian malaria spread by mosquitos. Now there is a project that is releasing male mosquitoes (they don’t bite and don’t spread diseases, females are the ones that bite/feed on blood) that causes breeding to fail – thus causing the mosquito population to crash. Even if this is successful, there is more to do for the birds to thrive: forest restoration, keeping weeds out, eliminating invasive pigs, some captive breeding of the birds.

Blood pressure drugs more than double bone-fracture risk in nursing home patients - The medications tend to impair balance, particularly when patients first stand up and temporarily experience low blood pressure that deprives the brain of oxygen. Interactions with other drugs and low baseline balance in many nursing home patients compound the problem. A combination of less medication and better support could significantly reduce the problem.

Hurricanes, heatwaves and rising seas: The impacts of record ocean heat - Every day since late March 2023, global ocean surface temperatures have set new records for the hottest temperature ever recorded on that date….and the repercussions are already beginning.

Fewer Than 100 Cigar Orchids Found In Big Cypress National Preserve - A months long search for rare cigar orchids in Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida has turned up 85 of the plants the state of Florida considers endangered. No plant had produced any fruit in the 2021 and 2022 seasons.

Lead Pipes Make Up Nearly One Tenth of US Water Service Lines - Improvements to the 1991 Lead and Copper Rule proposed in late 2023 could finally require water systems to provide accurate information and enforce the replacement of lead pipes. However, a proposed exemption would give cities like Chicago an extension, letting them take multiple decades to replace infrastructure.

Gleanings of the Week Ending May 18, 2024

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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.

25 Years, 25 Images – Celebrating twenty-five years since the launch of NASA Earth Observatory (EO) on April 29, 1999 and the EO website with a slideshow!

Insurance Companies: Consider Climate Risk Events As “Constant Threats” - Up until recently, most people weren’t concerned with how their ability to be insured would change — until catastrophic climate disasters began to wreak havoc on communities around the country. I am very glad I don’t own property in Florida or south Texas or California!

New Constitution Gardens (in Washington DC) Will Be a Biodiversity Mecca – Glad there are plans to improve the area. I always enjoyed it even though it was beginning to show its age in the 1990s and early 2000s when we lived in Maryland and visited with our young daughter.

Stunningly Preserved Ancient Roman Glassware Turns Up in a French Burial Site – Found during construction of a new housing development. I am always amazed at how durable a material we normally thing of as ‘breakable’ can be!

Cicada dual emergence brings chaos to the food chain - Cicada emergences can completely rewire a food web. For predators, these emergences are a huge boom in resources. It's basically like an all-you-can-eat buffet for the hungry predator. A study, published in 2023, found the emergence of periodical cicadas changes the diets of entire bird communities. Scientists have found that wild turkeys, for example, will capitalize on the bounty, leading to a wild turkey boom. However, caterpillars, usually preyed on by birds, were left off the dinner menu and their numbers more than doubled. This in turn led to damage to trees caused by out-of-check caterpillar populations. Rising temperatures will lead to periodical cicada emergences starting earlier in the year, experts believe, as well as an increase in unexpected, "oddly-timed" emergences.

Earlier Springs Cause Problems for Birds - As climate change warms our planet, causing spring to arrive weeks earlier than it has historically, birds are struggling to keep up. It’s not just the green vegetation they miss, but the pulse of protein-rich insects many bird species consume on both their breeding grounds and their migratory stop-over points. Birds will still breed but not quite as successfully because food will be more limited. Instead of chicks hatching as insect populations boom, those chicks may catch the end of the insect pulse.

Why you should let insects eat your plants – I skew the additions to my yard toward native plants….and let whatever insects show up enjoy. My community sprays for mosquitos so there probably is some reduction of other insects because of that. But there are enough left to support a barn swallow (and other insect eating birds) flock in our community.

Quantifying U.S. health impacts from gas stoves - Even in bedrooms far from kitchens, concentrations of nitrogen oxide frequently exceed health limits while stoves are on and for hours after burners and ovens are turned off. All the houses I’ve purchased as an adult, have had electric stoves/ovens except one and I only lived there for 3 years. But – in the 1950s and 1960s, my parents had gas stoves/ovens. Back then the houses were not as airtight as they are now so that might have reduced our exposure; my sisters and I never had asthma or other breathing problems, fortunately.

Inside the exquisite Tibetan monasteries salvaged from climate change – Built in the 1300s, the monasteries are impacted by a significant increase in the intensity of storms and rainfall across the region. Increased rainfall saturates the rammed-earth buildings, as moisture in the soil is drawn upward into the walls, leading to issues such as leaking roofs and rising damp. Local people have gained diverse skills, from reinforcing walls to crafting metal statues and restoring paintings. Over the past 20 years, a team of local Lobas trained by Western art conservationists have replaced the old, leaky roofs of the temples with round timbers, river stones, and local clay for waterproofing, and have restored the wall paintings, statues, sculpted pillars and the ceiling decorations, giving these centuries-old monuments a new life.

Possible Conch Shell Communication in Chaco Canyon Explored - The settlements of Chaco Canyon that spread around each sandstone great house fit into the sphere of sound produced by conch shell trumpet blasts; perhaps the settlements were designed to ensure that every resident could hear the notifications.

Gleanings of the Week Ending May 11, 2024

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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.

A new way to quantify climate change impacts: 'Outdoor days' - Noting the number of days per year that outdoor temperatures are comfortable enough for normal outdoor activities. In the North, in a place like Russia or Canada, you gain a significant number of outdoor days. And when you go south to places like Bangladesh or Sudan, it's bad news. You get significantly fewer outdoor days.

Is filtered water healthier than tap water? - Water filters, it seems, are having a heyday – particularly in North America, Europe, and China. I was a little surprised that the article did not mention microplastics in water – even in countries that have relatively high standards for their water supplies.

Baltimore’s Toxic Legacies Have Reached a Breaking Point – “Normal” southwest of the collapsed Frances Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore…one of the most polluted places in the U.S. – a different perspective on the bridge collapse.

European ruling linking climate change to human rights could be a game changer — here’s how - On 9 April, the European Court of Human Rights delivered a groundbreaking ruling: states are obliged to protect their citizens from the threats and harms of climate change. And in that regard, judges said, Switzerland’s climate action has been inadequate. Without prescribing specific years or percentage reductions, the ruling set out how a nation can show it is compliant. It must set out a timetable and targets for achieving carbon neutrality, and pathways and interim targets for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. Measures must be implemented in a timely, appropriate, and consistent manner. Governments must also provide evidence that they have complied with targets, and update targets regularly.

Positive perceptions of solar projects - A new survey has found that for U.S. residents living within three miles of a large-scale solar development, positive attitudes outnumbered negative attitudes by almost a 3-to-1 margin.

18th-Century Foundation Uncovered at Colonial Williamsburg – Even in much studied areas, there are still new things to discover!

Metabolic health before vaccination determines effectiveness of anti-flu response - Metabolic health (normal blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol levels, among other factors) influences the effectiveness of influenza vaccinations….even in people with obesity which the vaccine had previously been documented as being less effective.

The environmental cost of China's addiction to cement - Today, China still accounts for just over half of the world's total annual 4.1bn tons of cement production (52%) – followed by India (6.2%), the EU (5.3%) and the US (1.9%). Little of that cement produced in China is exported. In 2020 the country used an estimated 2.4 billion tons of cement, 23 times the amount used in the US in the same year.

Teotihuacan's Pyramids Damaged by Ancient Earthquakes – Damage from megathrust earthquakes at the site between about AD 100 and 600: fracturing and dislodging of large masonry blocks used to construct the buildings, as well as chipping of blocks that comprised the pyramids' outer stairs.

Mini-colons revolutionize colorectal cancer research - Scientists have combined microfabrication and tissue engineering techniques to develop miniature colon tissues that can simulate the complex process of tumorigenesis outside the body with high fidelity, giving rise to tumors that closely resemble those found in vivo….offering a new path to research colon cancers and their treatment.

Gleanings of the Week Ending May 4, 2024

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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.

Do societies grow more fragile and vulnerable to collapse? - The world is hardly immune to increasing inequality, environmental degradation, and elite competition – all factors which have been proposed as precursors to collapse earlier in human history. Industrialized production, enormous technological abilities, as well as professional bureaucracies and police forces will all likely create more stable, resilient states. However, our technology also brings new threats and sources of vulnerability, such as nuclear weapons and the faster spread of pathogens. We also need to be wary of celebrating or encouraging the entrenchment of authoritarian or malevolent regimes. Resilience and longevity are not de-facto positive.

Solving the riddle of the sphingolipids in coronary artery disease - Boosting levels of a sphingolipid called S1P in artery-lining endothelial cells slows the development and progression of coronary artery disease in an animal model.

“Porcelain Gallbladder” Identified in Mississippi - Identified among a woman's 100-year-old bones exhumed from the cemetery at the site of the Mississippi State Lunatic Asylum. A porcelain gallbladder forms through calcium build-up in the wall of the organ, which causes it to harden.

World's chocolate supply threatened by devastating virus – Oh no! About 50% of the world's chocolate originates from cacao trees in the West Africa countries of Ivory Coast and Ghana. The damaging virus is attacking cacao trees in Ghana, resulting in harvest losses of between 15 and 50%. Farmers can combat the mealybugs the spread the virus by giving vaccines to the trees to inoculate them from the virus. But the vaccines are expensive, especially for low-wage farmers, and vaccinated trees produce a smaller harvest of cacao.

WHO redefines airborne transmission: what does that mean for future pandemics? - Virologists now acknowledge that SARS-CoV-2 spreads mostly by airborne transmission of small particles that are inhaled and that can remain in the air for hours — a method that was previously called ‘aerosol’ transmission. It also spreads by larger ‘droplets’ of virus-containing particles on surfaces, including hands, or ejected over short distances. The WHO document sets an important benchmark for how the world responds to the next pandemic. “The next pandemic will most likely be a respiratory virus again because that’s normally the pathogen that mutates the fastest.” The report’s clarity around transmission will help public health providers to respond appropriately. “They will then consider masking early, they’ll consider ventilation early, they’ll consider all these precautions early because a precedent has been set already.”

Human muscle map reveals how we try to fight effects of aging - As we age, our muscles progressively weaken. This can affect our ability to perform everyday activities like standing up and walking. However, this study also discovered for the first time several compensatory mechanisms from the muscles appearing to make up for the loss.

USDA announces new school meal standards that call for less sugar, salt in students' food - Schools also have the option to require locally grown, raised or caught agricultural products that are unprocessed, while the new standards limit the percentages of non-domestic grown and produced foods that schools can serve to students.

Plastic-choked rivers in Ecuador are being cleared with conveyor belts - Azure system's simple design has the capacity to stop and collect around 80 tons of plastic per day. At this particular point in the San Pedro River, the most it's collected in a day has been 1.5 tons of plastic and synthetic fabrics – that's roughly the same weight as a female hippopotamus. The Azure system is a boom device that stretches across the river to stop objects floating on the surface. It extends down 60cm (2ft) into the water, allowing fish and other organisms to move freely below, and is placed at an angle allowing the natural water flow to direct all debris into one corner of the riverbank.

First glowing animals lit up the oceans half a billion years ago - Some 540 million years ago, an ancient group of corals developed the ability to make its own light. Bioluminescence has evolved independently at least 100 times in animals and other organisms. Some glowing species, such as fireflies, use their light to communicate in the darkness. Other animals, including anglerfish, use it as a lure to attract prey, or to scare away predators. However, it’s not always clear why bioluminescence evolved. Take octocorals. These soft-bodied organisms are found in both shallow water and the deep ocean, and produce an enzyme called luciferase to break down a chemical to make light. But whether glowing octocorals use their light to attract zooplankton as prey or for some other purpose is unclear.

Peatlands Are One of Earth’s Most Underrated Ecosystems - Peatlands are spongy, waterlogged soils composed in part of decaying plant matter. They’re found all around the world, and despite covering only 3% of Earth’s surface, store around 30% of all the carbon on land.

Gleanings of the Week Ending April 27, 2024

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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.

Meet the World’s Largest Freshwater Crayfish – The Tasmanian giant crayfish. Their numbers are declining due to fishing and disturbance.

FDA urges Congress to pass bill mandating food manufacturers test for lead – I am surprised Congress did not pass this already. According to the U.S. Disease Control and Prevention, there have been at least 519 confirmed, probable and suspect cases of lead and chromium poisoning traced to imported applesauce pouches produced by brands WanaBana, Schnucks and Weis. Lead exposure in children is associated with learning and behavior problems, as well as hearing and speech issues and slowed growth and development.

Retention ponds can deliver a substantial reduction in tire particle pollution - The presence of wetlands and retention ponds alongside major highways led to an average reduction of almost 75% in the mass of tire wear particles being discharged to aquatic waters. Tire wear particles significantly outweighed other forms of microplastics, such as plastic fibers and fragments.

Climate change is fueling the US insurance problem – I’ve seen more articles about this recently….there is no good news re insurance…nothing that can overcome what climate change is doing. One state-level action that could help mitigate the impacts of climate change is the implementation of flood disclosures. Organizations like the Natural Resources Defense Council have urged states to require flood disclosure polices during property sales to help buyers decide whether buying is worth the risk. Research has shown disclosure can devalue flood-prone properties and discourage development in risky areas. Even though the number of states requiring flood disclosure policies is slowly increasing, Florida remains noticeably absent, and one-third of states still have no requirement that sellers must disclose a property's flood risk to potential buyers.

Does the time of day you move your body make a difference to your health? – Maybe – for people living with obesity.

How the iron lung paved the way for the modern-day intensive care unit – The iron lung was first used to save the life of a child in 1928. It swiftly became a fixture in polio wards during the polio outbreaks of the subsequent decades, particularly from 1948 until the vaccine was developed in 1955. And its creation paved the way for many subsequent medical innovations. Some patients spent just a short time in the iron lung, perhaps weeks or months until they were able to regain chest strength and breath independently again. But for patients whose chest muscles were permanently paralyzed, the iron lung remained the key to survival.

Food security in developed countries shows resilience to climate change - Data on American wheat production, inventories, crop area, prices and wider market conditions from 1950 to 2018, together with records of annual fluctuations in the weather for the same period reveals strong evidence of an increase in weather and harvest variability from 1974 onwards. However, Wheat prices remain relatively stable, along with the price of associated goods mainly due to farmers and agricultural industries providing a buffer, smoothing out any bumps in the supply of grain to retailers and consumers.

Where the Xerces Blue Butterfly Was Lost, Its Closest Relative Is Now Filling In - Silvery Blues collected 100 miles south of San Francisco were released at a restored a swath of dunes in the Presidio, a former military base, trying to bring back native wildlife. They will pollinate native flowers and form a critical link in the food chain there.

Colorless, odorless gas likely linked to alarming rise in non-smoking lung cancer - 5-20% of newly diagnosed lung cancers occur in people who have never smoked, many of whom are in their 40s or 50s.  Non-smoking lung cancer cases is likely linked to long-term, high exposures of radon gas. This colorless, odorless gas is emitted from the breakdown of radioactive material naturally occurring underground that then seeps through building foundations. The gas can linger and accumulate in people's homes and lungs silently unless they know to test for it. We had our Missouri house tested and radon remediation installed before we moved it!

Contents of Roman Lead Coffin Examined in England - The examination of the contents of a Roman lead coffin discovered in 2022 in the city of Leeds has identified the partial remains of a child (about 10 years old). The initial evaluation of the coffin’s poorly preserved contents found the remains of a woman between the ages of 25 and 35 at the time of her death some 1,600 years ago, a bracelet, a glass bead necklace, and a finger ring or an earring.