Gleanings of the Week Ending December 21, 2019

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: Waterbirds and Camouflage and Forests and Birds in Pairs – Starting out this week’s list with some bird pictures….catching up the backlog

Liver cancer deaths climb by around 50% in the last decade -- ScienceDaily – Survival rates are low too. Obesity and smoking are two preventable causes.

How Climate Change Will Affect Maryland's Birds | Audubon – I looked at the page for Maryland because that is where I live. The red-headed woodpecker is on the ‘high vulnerability’ list. The data is available for other states as well (scroll down on the ‘home’ page and select by state or zip code). The red-headed woodpecker appears on the high vulnerability list for Texas and Missouri too (those are two other states I checked).

First Global Map of Saturn's Moon Titan Reveals Secrets of Earth's 'Deranged' Twin | Smart News | Smithsonian – There are plains, sand dunes, mountains, labyrinthine valleys…and lakes of methane.

'Self-cleaning' concrete could keep buildings looking new -- ScienceDaily – Maybe a new building material…but can it be made in a ‘green’ way?

Everything You’ve Ever Wanted to Know About Turkeys – I’m just catching up on some reading…this would have been more appropriate for the Thanksgiving week gleanings…but better late that never. Turkeys are interesting birds!

Air Pollution Tied to Brain Cancer: Study | The Scientist Magazine® - Combustion-related nanoparticles can reach our brain! The concentrations of these particles in highly polluted areas are also causing other health related problems as well. For example, the air pollution in Kabul, Afghanistan may be causing more deaths than war in that area

Owling: A Field Guide to Finding Winter Owls – Seen any owls? They are often easier to hear than see.

Slideshow: Images from The World Beneath | The Scientist Magazine® - A few pictures from a new book about sea creatures and coral reefs. Lots of vibrant color and camouflage.

Eating in sync with biological clock could replace problematic diabetes treatment: An early-morning, carb-filled meal improves glycemic control among diabetics -- ScienceDaily – We are shifting our meals…largest one at midday…smallest one at night. If we eat a high carb meal it will be at breakfast. I had gingerbread cake this morning!

Flying Wild

Last Friday – I was in Annapolis for a Flying Wild class offered by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. It was a day to learn some activities that celebrate birds designed for age groups I normally encounter as a volunteer and Maryland Master Naturalist. The forecast for the morning drive was a little threatening (freezing rain) but it didn’t materialize. It was my first time at the Tawes State Office Building where the class was held do I took a few minutes for pictures of lobby area of the building (it was rainy and cold so no outdoor pictures): Maryland symbols, a frayed Baltimore Checkerspot (which is very rare these days), a garden drawing on one of the windows looking out onto a real courtyard garden and a sculpture of a tree planting.

We did a sampling of the activities available from Flying Wild. One of my favorites was nest building. In teams of 3, we used wire to make a frame for a nest and then used materials that we had scored for strength, flexibility, and space filler. We could use as much material as we wanted except for clay; we were only allowed a golf ball amount of that. After we constructed our nest, there were tests: 3 marbles were used as ‘eggs’ (did they fit in the nest and not roll out when the nest was shaken); then some weights were put into the nest to simulate the growing chicks. It was a lot of fun and our nest ‘passed.’ We all gained a healthy respect for birds building nests with just their beaks and feet!

20191213_122639.jpg

Of course, I come home with lots of stuff – handouts and the book…a poster and a ‘prize’ for being on the winning team for the nestling feeding relay. There were Black Eye Susan Seeds to plant next spring too!

I’m already thinking about doing some of the Fly Wild activities with summer campers!

Gleanings of the Week Ending December 14, 2019

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 Two Genomes in Every Eukaryotic Cell | The Scientist Magazine® and Infographic: How the Mitochondrial and Nuclear Genomes Interact | The Scientist Magazine® - A lot has been discovered about mitochondrial DNA (and genetics) since I was in college in the 1970s!

Yellowstone's Wolves: Infusing Wildness into The Landscape – The story of wolves in Yellowstone over the past 25 years – the positive impact on the ecosystem as a whole

Sunlight-Tracking Polymer, Inspired by Sunflowers, Could Maximize Solar Power | Smart News | Smithsonian – Another way that solar panels can gain efficiency.

Springfield Plateau: Yellowjacket Nest – A yellowjacket tale from Springfield MO. I was surprised that ice was the treatment for a sting. I’ve always used baking soda with ice as the backup plan if there isn’t any baking soda available.

Why biodegradables won’t solve the plastic crisis - BBC Future – There are only pieces of a solution at this point….nothing comprehensive. It seems like the best strategy for at home is to reduce all single use plastic as much as possible. There are some easy things like reusable shopping and produce bags, but it becomes hard quickly. So many groceries and toiletries only come in plastic containers.

Remote Sensing Data Advances Soil Health Science – Cover crops and no-till practices were an advantage in record-breaking rainfalls of spring 2019.

How the House Finch Conquered Your Feeder…and A Continent – A little history of House Finches – originally from the southwest and Mexico…now in found widely across North America.

How the Aztecs could improve modern urban farming: Chinampas: An old technique might provide new solutions to sustainable urban agriculture -- ScienceDaily – The article made the multiple harvests per season seem feasible in tropical wetlands…not so much in the temperate zone where the artificial islands would go through a real winter although maybe it would just mean the use of cover crops during that time period.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week: December – Bird photography to enjoy!

Listening to Nature: The Emerging Field of Bioacoustics - Yale E360 – An up and coming technology for remote sensing of birds, insects, frogs and other animals.

Maryland Water Monitoring Council Annual Conference

The 25th MWMC Annual Conference was held last week. It was my third time to attend and it was, once again, a great opportunity to catch up on water-related research and Maryland specific plans, activities, and accomplishments. The two themes in the sessions I chose to attend were watershed health and remote sensing. I am hoping the agenda with links for the presentation material will come out soon since my note taking is not all that legible.

I also enjoyed the vendor tables. One of the companies that did the stream restoration at Howard Country Conservancy’s Davis Branch had a table – and a post card picturing the project (before last summer’s drought)!

20191206_131411.jpg

One vendor had a great ‘Got Bugs? Banner and another had macroinvertebrate stickers.

20191206_131419.jpg

There were other giveaways too – lip balm, pens, a frog shopping bag, and a folding card Field Guide to Aquatic Macroinvertebrates.

20191208_082524.jpg

The conference was the largest every – with over 600 attendees.

Gleanings of the Week Ending December 7, 2019

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.

Red Tides Under the Microscope | The Scientist Magazine® - It’s surprising what we don’t yet know about the organism responsible for red tides – Karenia Brevis. Spanish explorers of Florida in the 15th and 16th centuries described fish kills in Gulf waters. The first official documentation was in 1882 – published in the Proceedings of the US National Museum. This article is about what we know….and where more research is needed.

The woman who reshaped maths - BBC Future – Hilda Geiringer…a refugee from the Nazis. A BBC Future column celebrating a ‘missed genius’ whose contributions are still notable in the world today.

NOAA weather balloons find no zero-ozone regions above South Pole during 2019 ozone hole season | NOAA Climate.gov – A little science…a little history…a projection. The positive message – if the trend continues, it’s estimated that the ozone layer will recover around 2070.

Abrupt shifts in Arctic climate projected: Likelihood of an abrupt increase in wildfires also noted -- ScienceDaily – With specific modeling of permafrost as it continues to degrade….it appears that the changes won’t be as gradual as  previously assumed.

Lake On Bottom Of Halema‘uma‘u Crater At Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park Now Bigger Than Football Field – The lake was noticed back in July….and is being studied with instruments on drones. More information is at the National Park Service site for the park.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week: Wild Birds – National Geographic Society Newsroom – I always enjoy the bird photography compiled by National Geographic every week.

Offshore Wind Has the Potential to Fulfill Global Electricity Demand 18 Times Over - Yale E360 – Hurray for this potential….the transition is the challenge.

AP: At least 1,680 dams across the US pose potential risk – There is a link to an interactive map that shows where the 1,680 dams are located. The last paragraphs of the article are the most troubling. There are a lot of dams with unknown status. Roughly 45% of Texas dams are exempt from regulation…in Missouri safety inspections are only done on 650 of its more than 5,000 dams. And states that know about problematic private dams often can’t identify the owners to address the dam’s issues.

Aging in good health: The inequalities are widening -- ScienceDaily – A study with over 11 million people tracked for 25 years!

Susquehanna Sediment in the Chesapeake Bay – Imagery of big rivers and the Chesapeake Bay after a storm at the end of October…. close to where I live. On a positive note - the sediment (even after the record rains earlier this year) has not damaged the underwater grasses on the Susquehanna Flats as much as was initially feared.

eBotantical Prints – November 2019

All the books added in November were from the same authors. Charles and Edouard Morren were a father and son. They produced 35 volumes of La Belgique Horticole from 1851-1885. Both men died in their early 50s and there was no continuation of the publication after the death of the son.  This monthly post has sample images from 28 of those volumes and I will continue the series into December (posting the images for those volumes in early January). The illustrations are quite varied. They are often illustrations rather that full botanical prints – still beautiful and particularly appealing this time of year when our gardens here in Maryland are mostly brown. I’m looking forward to the upcoming volumes. The list for the individual volumes from this month is after the sample images; for a list of all the volumes Internet Archive has – check here.

The volumes are all freely available on the Internet. The whole list of more than 1800 books can be accessed here. Sample images and links for the 28 new ones are provided below. (click on the sample image to see a larger view) Enjoy!

La Belgique horticole : Journal des jardins V1 * Morren, Charles; Morren, Edouard * sample image * 1851

La Belgique horticole : Journal des jardins V2 * Morren, Charles; Morren, Edouard * sample image * 1852

La Belgique horticole : Journal des jardins V3 * Morren, Charles; Morren, Edouard * sample image * 1853

La Belgique horticole : Journal des jardins V4 * Morren, Charles; Morren, Edouard * sample image * 1854

La Belgique horticole : Journal des jardins V5 * Morren, Charles; Morren, Edouard * sample image * 1855

La Belgique horticole : Journal des jardins V6 * Morren, Charles; Morren, Edouard * sample image * 1856

La Belgique horticole : Journal des jardins V7 * Morren, Charles; Morren, Edouard * sample image * 1857

La Belgique horticole : Journal des jardins V8 * Morren, Charles; Morren, Edouard * sample image * 1858

La Belgique horticole : Journal des jardins V9 * Morren, Charles; Morren, Edouard * sample image * 1859

La Belgique horticole : Journal des jardins V10 * Morren, Charles; Morren, Edouard * sample image * 1860

La Belgique horticole : Journal des jardins V11 * Morren, Charles; Morren, Edouard * sample image * 1861

La Belgique horticole : Journal des jardins V12 * Morren, Charles; Morren, Edouard * sample image * 1862

La Belgique horticole : Journal des jardins V13 * Morren, Charles; Morren, Edouard * sample image * 1863

La Belgique horticole : Journal des jardins V14 * Morren, Charles; Morren, Edouard * sample image * 1864

La Belgique horticole : Journal des jardins V15 * Morren, Charles; Morren, Edouard * sample image * 1865

La Belgique horticole : Journal des jardins V16 * Morren, Charles; Morren, Edouard * sample image * 1866

La Belgique horticole : Journal des jardins V17 * Morren, Charles; Morren, Edouard * sample image * 1867

La Belgique horticole : Journal des jardins V18 * Morren, Charles; Morren, Edouard * sample image * 1868

La Belgique horticole : Journal des jardins V19 * Morren, Charles; Morren, Edouard * sample image * 1869

La Belgique horticole : Journal des jardins V20 * Morren, Charles; Morren, Edouard * sample image * 1870

La Belgique horticole : Journal des jardins V22 * Morren, Charles; Morren, Edouard * sample image * 1872

La Belgique horticole : Journal des jardins V21 * Morren, Charles; Morren, Edouard * sample image * 1871

La Belgique horticole : Journal des jardins V23 * Morren, Charles; Morren, Edouard * sample image * 1873

La Belgique horticole : Journal des jardins V24 * Morren, Charles; Morren, Edouard * sample image * 1874

La Belgique horticole : Journal des jardins V25 * Morren, Charles; Morren, Edouard * sample image * 1875

La Belgique horticole : Journal des jardins V26 * Morren, Charles; Morren, Edouard * sample image * 1876

La Belgique horticole : Journal des jardins V27 * Morren, Charles; Morren, Edouard * sample image * 1877

La Belgique horticole : Journal des jardins V28 * Morren, Charles; Morren, Edouard * sample image * 1878

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 30, 2019

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.

3 Free eBooks – November 2019

So many wonderful books available online. Here are three I explored this month.

Freer Gallery of Art. Arthur M. Sackler Gallery; Smithsonian Institution. Annual Records for 2003-2010. Asiatica 2003-2010. 8 volumes available from Internet Archive here. Images (and short articles) from the annual record of these museums. I choose a sample image from each of the 8 volumes.

Mason, Otis Tufton. Aboriginal American Basketry: Studies in a Textile Art without Machinery. Washington: Government Printing Office. 1904. Available from Internet Archive here. A large book – over 800 pages with over 200 plates (a few in color). Some of the baskets are simple and utilitarian…other are works of art (and maybe still utilitarian as well).

2019 11 book2.jpg

Cort, Louise Allison. Seto and Mino Ceramics. Washington: Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution. 1992. Available from Internet Archive here. Dark-glazed, conservative Chinese-inspired ceramics from two Japanese ceramics centers.

2019 11 book3.jpg

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 23, 2019

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

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.

Staunton River State Park sunset and sunrise

Continuing the posts about our trek to the Chaos Star Party at Staunton River State Park….

The sunsets were not spectacular because the sky was clear. I took a few pictures the first night we were camping just before sunset…when the light on the trees was golden and the campground was buzzing with activity – getting telescopes and other equipment set up for observing.

The last morning in camp was the best sunrise – because the clouds were rolling in. The forecast was for the clouds to remain for the duration of the star party and we were going to pack up. These pictures were taken from the door of our tent. It was a cold morning and I went back in to drink hot tea, put my feet on a warmer pad, cover my legs with a flannel sheet…huddled in my camp chair to eat some breakfast and read.

Once the sun came up there was enough direct sunlight through the clouds for, the tent to warmed up and the dew to start drying. It was still cold outside the tent. The deflated our mattresses and stuffed the sleeping bags into their containers. By 11 AM we were loaded up and heading to the showers to clean up before we started the trek home.

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 9, 2019

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.

Staunton River State Park – Chaos Star Party

Continuing the posts about our trek to the Chaos Star Party at Staunton River State Park….

The Virginia LOVE theme cares to the state parks. Staunton River’s included the date the park was established…1936.

2019 10 IMG_1949.jpg

There were various signs for the star party in the areas of the park dedicated to it. The field was full of tents and campers and trailers. We were in our roomy tent with a screened area for my husband’s electronics and chair….with the telescope just a few steps away. Some people probably were staying in the cabins and coming to the field with their telescope at night. We preferred a place to sleep near the telescope…makes it easier to lay down once the clouds roll in or the dew gets too heavy for observing. My husband had two clear-sky nights and had some observational successes (I slept relatively well through it all).

2019 10 IMG_1953.jpg

Someone did an excellent job with a pumpkin near the cantina.

We managed a short hike. We’d been hearing a lot of birds, but they must have been migrating through – stopping for the night on the water. They’d flown off by the time we were up and about. We did see a juvenile Red-headed Woodpecker making a hole in a dead branch (hanging upside down). I didn’t know what it was until after I got home and could check references. It was the drabbest woodpecker I’d ever seen! It will eventually have the distinctive red head.

2019 10 IMG_1959.jpg

The woodpecker was in some trees that were around the cabins at the park. Most of them were oaks and the acorns were plentiful….lots of food for the woodpecker and squirrels. There were some other nests around too but we weren’t seeing many other birds.

2019 10 IMG_1963.jpg

The sweet gums were full of color – reds and yellows. And the seeds…prickly.

2019 10 IMG_1967.jpg

A Great Blue Heron was one of the few birds we saw on the water. It was at the limit of the zoom on my camera.

2019 10 IMG_1971.jpg

I turned around on the beach and caught some motion in the leaves. A spider moving over the sand and onto a leaf where it was not as well camouflaged.

2019 10 IMG_1976.jpg
2019 10 IMG_2007.jpg

On the way back we noted the solar system model that has been set up starting with the sun (yellow orb) close to the observing field and extending along the road.

2019 10 IMG_2002.jpg
2019 10 IMG_5810.jpg

The morning we were getting ready to leave there was a sun dog. What a great serendipity for our last morning at the park!

eBotanical Prints – October 2019

It took be almost 3 months to few all the Revue Horticole volumes available on Internet Archive. The last 26 were in October! This month includes primarily volumes from 1897 to 1922. The last volume I looked at was from 1860 which did not have color plates (or maybe it was the scan that made everything black and white. This publication was for gardeners…encouraging introduction of new plants into the gardens of France. This publication was for gardeners…encouraging introduction of new plants into the gardens of France. Some of the plants would require conservatories or greenhouses…others were new varieties of vegetables (see the potato plate).

The volumes are all freely available on the Internet. The whole list of almost 1800 books can be accessed here. Sample images and links for the 30 new ones are provided below. (click on the sample image to see a larger view) Enjoy!

Revue Horticole (1897) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1897

Revue Horticole (1898) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1898

Revue Horticole (1899) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1899

Revue Horticole (1900) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1900

Revue Horticole (1901) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1901

Revue Horticole (1902) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1902

Revue Horticole (1903) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1903

Revue Horticole (1904) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1904

Revue Horticole (1905) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1905

Revue Horticole (1906) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1906

Revue Horticole (1907) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1907

Revue Horticole (1909) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1909

Revue Horticole (1910) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1910

Revue Horticole (1912) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1912

Revue Horticole (1913) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1913

Revue Horticole (1914) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1914

Revue Horticole (1915) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1915

Revue Horticole (1918) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1918

Revue Horticole (1919) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1919

Revue Horticole (1920) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1920

Revue Horticole (1921) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1921

Revue Horticole (1922) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1922

Revue Horticole (1911) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1911

Revue Horticole (1908) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1908

Revue Horticole (1916) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1916

Revue Horticole (1860) * Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique * sample image * 1860

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 2, 2019

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

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).

Free eBooks – October 2019

Beautiful images from 3 books published in the mid to late 1800s….

Takahashi, Eiji. Kodai moyo shikizu ko. Tokyo: Santokukai. 1850. Available from Internet Archive here. This book was a mix of scenes from nature and designs. I enjoyed both. The scene with herons reminded me of birds in the snow (I remembered years ago the Heron Cam at Cornell’s Sapsucker Pond showing a bird hunkered on their nest during a late season snow…keeping eggs warm. The design pages gave me lots of ideas for Zentangle® patterns!

17r 19 10.jpg

Colling, James Kellaway. Examples of English mediaeval foliage and coloured decoration, taken from buildings of the twelfth to the fifteenth century. London: author and BT Batsford. 1874. Available from Internet Archive here. More potential Zentangle® patterns…and I like the botanical skew…so many leaf and petal shapes! Colling was an architect that was well known for his architectural and decoration drawings and art.

Picard, Edmond. El Moghreb al Aksa : une mission belge au Maroc. Bruxelles: F. Larcier. 1889. Available from Internet Archive here. The author was a Belgian jurist and writer…and patron of the arts. I happened upon this book about Morocco (written in French so I was browsing for the pictures) while the Arab world was in the news again with the Turkish surge into Syria. Of course, the scenes in much of the Arab world have changed considerable since the 1890s…and much of what was historically precious and valued by inhabitants is pockmarked or destroyed with weaponry that didn’t exist until well after the 1890s. The main emotion, even from afar, is sadness for the peoples and the places.

88u 19 10 clip.jpg

--

The Zentangle® Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. It was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. "Zentangle" is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc. Learn more at zentangle.com.

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 19, 2019

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

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

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.