Gleanings of the Week Ending November 09, 2024

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.

Old Growth – Mitch Epstein photographs of very old trees.

The true story of a famed librarian and the secret she guarded closely – Belle da Costa Greene, the first director of New York's historic Morgan Library and Museum.

Inside Turkey’s Mysterious Ancient City That Once Sheltered Thousands—Underground - The Derinkuyu underground city is a sort of gargantuan anthill, except made by and for humans—up to 20,000 of them at a time, in fact. The city descends 280 feet into the earth, divided into eight levels. Upper levels were primarily used for living and sleeping, while lower levels were used for storage, even housing a dungeon. The far-stretched system of interconnected rooms was carved out of the Cappadocia region’s tuff rock. People didn’t live in these underground quarters year-round, however, as they were mainly used for shelter during times of conflict or extreme weather.

Climate change will affect food production, but here are the things we can do to adapt - Farmers can pick crop varieties best suited to different climate condition...production can shift to places with more optimal temperatures…planting and harvest times can shift as the seasons shift…focusing on the right irrigation, fertilizer, pesticides synchronized to climate change. We have the chance to build a more productive and resilient food system, but it’s not guaranteed that we will. It depends on whether the seeds, irrigation, and adaptation practices will be available. That will require real and sustained investment from governments, donors, and private companies.

Toothbrushes and showerheads covered in viruses ‘unlike anything we’ve seen before’ - We live in a richly microbial world. Interactions with bacteria and other microbes in our homes are an integral part of our human biology.

The monarch butterfly may not be endangered, but its migration is - Migrating monarchs don't fly at night, so they spend their evenings in bunches on trees or shrubs, known as roosts. The study relied on 17 years of data from more than 2,600 citizen scientist observations of monarch roosts along the butterfly's migration route. The researchers found that roost sizes have declined by as much as 80%, with these losses increasing from north to south along the migration route. The evidence shows that when monarchs are reared in a captive environment, either indoors or outdoors, they're not as good at migrating.

World’s Rivers Are Driest They - In 2023, the hottest year on record, the Mississippi River and Amazon River basins were at all-time lows, while the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Mekong rivers, which all have their headwaters in the Himalayas, were also unusually dry. Across nearly half the globe, rivers were drier than normal.

The worrying puzzle behind the rise in early-onset cancer - Over the past 10 years, rates of colorectal cancer among 25- to 49-year-olds have increased in 24 different countries, including the UK, US, France, Australia, Canada, Norway and Argentina. Perhaps the most obvious explanation points to the role of obesity and metabolic syndrome, conditions which have been associated with driving cancer risk through increasing inflammation throughout the body and causing the dysregulation of key hormonal pathways. Or maybe changes in sleep patterns is part of the explanation. Combined with shifts in lifestyle, many cancer scientists believe that a key driving force for these illnesses is the consequences of various toxic changes within the gut (from microplastics). Antibiotics might be involved too. The bottom line…it’s a looming public health crisis.

New research reveals how large-scale adoption of electric vehicles can improve air quality and human health - Computer simulations show that aggressive electrification of the U.S. vehicle fleet, coupled with an ambitious rollout of renewable electricity generation, could result in health benefits worth between US$84 billion and 188 billion by 2050. Even scenarios with less aggressive grid decarbonization mostly predicted health benefits running into the tens of billions of dollars.

New study explores how universities can improve student well-being - Six guiding principles for improving student well-being:

• Embedding well-being into curricula for broader, more accessible adoption.

• Having each initiative only focus on one or two aspects of well-being, making it easier to create instruction that can also be more immersive.

• Tailoring initiatives to the student body and university culture.

• Securing buy-in from faculty.

• Ensuring new offerings are accessible and don't create additional financial burden for students.

• Employing an iterative assessment framework at the beginning to make it easier to change or scale up a program.

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 21, 2023

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.

Intact Roman-Era Sarcophagus Discovered in France – From the 2nd century AD, sealed with iron clasps, weighs about 1,700 pounds. It hasn’t been opened yet, but x-rays and an endoscope camera have revealed the contents.

Selective removal of aging cells opens new possibilities for treating age-related diseases - Aging cells, known as senescent cells, contribute to various inflammatory conditions and age-related ailments as humans age. The researchers created technology that specifically targets organelles within aging cells to initiate the cell’s self-destruction. There is still a lot of work to be done (and preclinical and clinical trials).

Cloud Rings Around a Volcano Takes Top Prize in ‘Weather Photographer of the Year’ Contest – Capturing dramatic weather moments…

Brainless Jellyfish Are Capable of Learning - Experiments that provide evidence that box jellyfish are capable of associative learning, or the process of linking two unrelated stimuli together.

How maps can protect children from extreme heat - Heat is becoming increasingly dangerous and it's a threat that is not going away. Community heat maps may not solve the long-term problem, but they are a step in the right direction, by providing awareness and empowering vulnerable children and their families.

Stunning 16th-Century Turkish Bath Reopens in Istanbul - Called the Çinili Hamam, the revitalized site won’t offer traditional bathing until 2024. In the meantime, however, it will feature private gardens and contemporary art in the newly discovered Byzantine cisterns that originally fed the baths. Nearby, a new accompanying museum will display objects associated with traditional bathing rituals—including towels, bowls and ornately decorated wooden shoes—and explain the baths’ original water and heating systems. It will also showcase artifacts from the Byzantine, Roman and Ottoman periods uncovered during the restoration.

The Resiliency of Urban Wildlife - Four distinct sets of traits that help urban wildlife adapt and survive in environments that seem hostile to animals: diet, body size, mobility, and reproductive strategy. Important to know since if you look at the traits animals are adopting to survive in urban environments, you can see how cities could be modified to become more habitable to a wider variety of species.

See the Trove of Ancient Treasures, including a Shrine to Aphrodite, Just Discovered in an Underwater City Off the Coast of Egypt - Thonis-Heracleion was Egypt’s biggest port for centuries, before being surpassed by Alexandria. The city was eventually lost thanks to a combination of rising sea levels, earthquakes, and tsunamis, disappearing beneath the waves along with a large section of the Nile delta. It was largely forgotten for centuries, until 21st-century archaeologists began investigating.

New Patch Inspired by Octopus Suckers Could Deliver Drugs Without Needles - A tiny, drug-filled cup that sticks to the inside of the cheek like an octopus sucker. The device is easily accessible, can be removed at any time and prevents saliva from dissolving the drug, which gets absorbed through the lining of the inner cheek.

Buried ancient Roman glass formed substance with modern applications - Photonic crystals were created by corrosion and crystallization over centuries. If we could significantly accelerate the process in the laboratory, we might find a way to grow optical materials (i.e. materials for communications, lasers, solar cells) rather than manufacture them.

Gleanings of the Week Ending April 22, 2023

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.

Home Electrification Incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act – Now to decide what to do first….

How mobile phones have changed our brains – Some research about the impact phones have on our focus.

Drug overdose fatalities among U.S. older adults has quadrupled over 20 years, research finds – Overdose is a problem across the lifespan. Most deaths are unintentional.

Macro Photography Captures the Delicate Dance of Mantises in Malaysia – Wonders of the insect world. We have mantises in North America…but not as colorful as these Malaysian species.

A Plateau in the Heart of Texas – The Edwards Plateau…one of the geologic features of Texas that makes for scenic drives.

The Shaman’s Secrets – A 9,000-year-old burial of 2 people (one adult, one very young child) with 100s of ritual objects. The grave was first excavated in the 1930s…and assumptions were made…the adult was a man, blond hair, blue eyes. But modern analysis tells a different and more complete story.

Winter Rains Bring Mushroom Boom in California – Extra rain….and there are a lot more mushrooms!

Protecting Nēnē, The Threatened State Bird of Hawai'i – We didn’t see in nēnē when we went to Volcanoes National Park in 2015….it was good to see pictures of them.

Want to Improve Your Outdoor Recreation? Try Birding. – Yes! It has certainly been true for my husband and me. There are so many good resources about birding (festivals, birding trails, apps)!

A must-see sunset spectacle at Monument Valley – Wow! We visited in 2013 at midday. Next time I’ll plan to go in late March or mid-September…and stay until sunset.

Older adults with dementia but without close family: Who are they? And who cares for them? – Thought provoking.

Gleanings of the Week Ending September 17, 2022

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.

Federal flood maps are outdated because of climate change – The challenge of record rainfall events becoming more common and resulting in flooding of places not seen as vulnerable previously.

Hundreds of Monumental “Kites” Spotted in Arabian Desert – Low stone walls that could be enclosures used to guide game for capture/slaughter as early as 8000 BC.

The mystery of the human sacrifices buried in Europe's bogs – Sacrifices or maybe burial for anyone that died mysteriously or unnaturally. I remember being fascinated about the ‘bog bodies’ back in 1970s…buying the book about them by P.V. Glob.

Diet change may make biggest impact on reducing heart risk in people with hypertension – Too bad that the study also found “the availability and affordability of healthy food sources does not easily allow people to follow the DASH diet.” Diets are hard enough to sustain without those extra challenges.

Despite its innocently furry appearance, the puss caterpillar’s sting is brutal – The don’t look vicious….but the hairs have poisonous barbs! There are other caterpillars that also have ‘hairs’ and can deliver painful stings – like the saddleback caterpillars. In general…I avoid handling caterpillars with hairs or bristles!

Cancers in adults under 50 on the rise globally – Earlier detection could account for some of the increase…but it is unlikely to be the sole reason. 8 of the 14 cancers on the rise are related to the digestive system. With those types of cancers, the hypothesis is that the food we eat has changed dramatically and has changed our microbiome composition…and eventual these changes influence disease risk and outcomes. There is still a lot of work to be done but it appears that the drastic rise in early onset cancer began around 1990.

The biggest myths of the teenage brain – Hopefully some of these findings will be factors in decision making for things like high school hours and how to help teenagers better understand themselves.

NREL Study Identifies Opportunities & Challenges of Achieving the U.S. Transformational Goal of 100% Clean Electricity by 2035 – No single solution….having multiple pathways to the goal is probably a good thing.

Arctic lakes are vanishing a century earlier than predicted – Warmer temperatures and more abundant autumn rainfall have caused permafrost around/beneath Arctic lakes to melt…and the lakes shank between 2000 to 2021. The reduction in lakes impacts migratory birds and other wildlife…and human communities in the Arctic.

Fall Foliage Prediction Map – My road trips this fall will offer many opportunities to see fall foliage: 1st week in October in Michigan and Canada, the rest of October around Missouri, then Texas later in October into November.

Gleanings of the Week Ending March 5, 2022

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 develop long lasting anti-fogging coating for plastic surfaces that 'self-cleans' – It seem like the current antireflective coating on my glasses is a little ‘sticky’ – making my glasses collect particles easily…need cleaning frequently. It would be great to have something that is self-cleaning! Somehow I doubt this would eliminate the need to clean my glasses but it would be good to get back to the way glasses were before the fancy coatings!

Rare Baby Ghost Shark Caught in New Zealand’s Chatham Rise – What an odd-looking animal. There is a 3-minute video that shows adult sharks.

Deer Mice: Get to Know North America’s Most Abundant Mammal – So small we might not notice them most of the time. A good overview of deer mice. They are vectors for Lyme disease and hantavirus….but provide food for hawks, eagles, and owls…coyotes and foxes.

Lichens Are in an Evolutionary Race Against Climate Change – They can be found almost everywhere…but are very slow growing. That slow growth makes it more challenging for them to adjust to changing temperatures.

Nearly 300 Million Visited National Park System in 2021, But Most To Just 25 Parks – I’ve been to 17 of the 25!

An insulin patch that sticks inside a person’s cheek – I’m sure most diabetics that must take injections would welcome an alternative.

Covid-19 Community Levels – In case you haven’t seen it already – this site has a map of the US with the counties color coded. The county where I live and the counties around it are green.

Bronze Age burial mound discovered in England – In Oxford…under traces of St. Mary’s College built in the 15th century.

Surprise small-cell lung cancer discovery suggests new treatment – New work from University of Virginia Health System (which was designated a Comprehensive Cancer Center on Feb. 1).

An Ornate, 5,000-Year-Old Stone Drum Is the U.K.’s Most Significant Prehistoric Art Find in a Century – Found buried alongside skeletons of 3 children cuddled together.  

Gleanings of the Week Ending January 1, 2022

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.

Spruce Tree House – extreme rockfall management – It’s been decades since I visited Mesa Verde, but I’m still drawn to any articles about it. This one was a reminder of the fragility of the place from a geologic perspective.

4 of the biggest archeological advancements of 2021 – including one ‘game changer’ – I always browse these end-of-year summaries…catch up on any big things that I somehow missed when they were originally in my news feeds.

No more annual flu shot? New target for universal influenza vaccine – Wouldn’t it be nice if this could happen? Even if they did develop a vaccine effective against all strains of influenza…would we still have to get boosters (i.e. would our immunity fade over time)?

With omicron, you need a mask that means business – I’ve been wearing KF-94 masks since February. My Christmas present from daughter was some patterned ones…although I still have a good supply of the black (the Ninja look) ones. I wear one anytime I am indoors (and not at home) and if I am outdoors with a lot of people around. Now that it’s cold, I wear them for warmth too; it’s surprising how much the mask keeps the nose and face comfortably warm….and the mask seals well enough that my glasses don’t fog!

Climate Clues from the Past Prompt a New Look at History – Some examples of the outsized role of climate in human affairs….and the interdisciplinary contributions to papers on the topic.

As Wetland Habitats Disappear, Dragonflies and Damselflies Are Threatened with Extinction – Maybe we need to start thinking about having wetland/ponds in our gardens as well as pollinator gardens…reduce the ‘lawn’ part of the area around our houses.

Forest Keepers: The National Park System is an essential laboratory—and also a battleground—in the management of invasive pests – The invasive pest pictured at the top of this article is woolly adelgid…something a learned to recognize in our area of Maryland…that has killed most of the hemlocks. Some of the trees growing in parks were saved with aggressive treatment, but the ones in the forest behind our house are gone.

New smart-roof coating enables year-round energy savings – A technology that changed the reflection/absorption properties of the roof based on temperature would be another step toward increasing the energy efficiency of buildings….reducing the heat island that plagues cities.

Study shows critical need to reduce use of road salt in winter – This has been a topic in several water quality sessions I’ve attended overthe past few years in Maryland. I have noticed the spraying of brine prior to storm events in our area so maybe some jurisdictions are already following the suggestions in this article.

Inside Idaho’s Campaign to Include Indigenous History in Its Highway Markers – Good idea; history of the US is more than European colonization. This article also prompted me to wonder if there are web sites that document the location and text of highway markers. I did some web searches and found several at the state level…and a general one: https://www.hmdb.org/