Gleanings of the Week Ending November 30, 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 the Groundbreaking Suez Canal Forever Transformed the World’s Shipping Routes – The official opening ceremony was on November 17, 1869. It had taken 10 years to build on the path of an ancient canal and was called “the greatest service to the commerce of the world since the discovery of America.” The project was funded mostly by Western Europe.

'Jekyll and Hyde' leaders do lasting damage - When supervisors swing between good and bad behavior, they do even more damage to their employees than ones that are abusive all the time. And there are some indications that this kind of leadership could be contagious, with a leader's volatility fostering volatility in others

Scientists find a 35,000-year-old saber-toothed kitten in the Siberian permafrost - The cat was just three weeks old when it died, but its cause of death is unknown. The kitten still had its whiskers and claws attached when it was pulled out of the permafrost, and was covered in a coat of short, thick, soft, dark brown fur. Its hair was about 20 to 30 millimeters long. When looking at the mummified cub, scientists found some interesting differences between the kitten and a modern lion cub, particularly, in their paws: the saber-toothed kitten had wider paws, but no carpal pads — that's the wrist joint that's help modern day felines absorb shock.

Hatchling Alligators at the Fort Worth Nature Center – The Dallas/Fort Worth area is at the edge of American Alligator range…but the Nature Center has confirmed that it has a breeding population there. The Fort Worth Nature Center is 3,650 acres of mixed habitat, owned and operated by the City of Forth Worth; it is one of the largest city-owned nature centers in the US. There is an alligator research project ongoing there now that the breeding population has been discovered.

Sitting too long can harm heart health, even for active people - 10 hours or more of sedentary behavior per day is associated with heightened risk of heart failure and cardiovascular death. I am so glad that I decided years ago to use a Swopper chair (without a back…bouncing) at my computer desk….so I am moving most of the time that I am there!

Bone marrow in the skull plays a surprisingly important role in ageing - Studies in mice and humans showed that ageing results in skull bone-marrow expanding, and in mice this marrow was more resistant to inflammation and other hallmarks of ageing.

Glaciers Reveal When Volcanoes Are on Brink of Eruption - New research shows that glaciers near active volcanoes flow faster than other glaciers. The findings suggest it would be possible to predict volcanic eruptions by tracking the speed of glaciers.

Can we live on our planet without destroying it? - With eight billion people, we currently use a lot of the Earth's resources in ways that are likely unsustainable. Research shows that humanity can stay within the planetary boundaries. But it seems that there is little political will to do so. A depressing commentary on humanity.

Memories are not only in the brain - In the future, we will need to treat our body more like the brain -- for example, consider what our pancreas remembers about the pattern of our past meals to maintain healthy levels of blood glucose or consider what a cancer cell remembers about the pattern of chemotherapy.

Astronauts of the underworld: The scientists venturing into the deep, dark Earth - Hundreds of cave entrances are known on Earth, the Moon, even Mars. Many have never been explored.

A Walk in our Neighborhood

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It has been so hot recently, that I try to get any outdoor activities done as early as possible. Walks at 7 AM are good even if the humidity is high enough to make mid-70s temperatures feel sticky. I take along my camera – in case I spot something I want to photograph. On one recent morning I paused for photography several times:

The morning light on the base of some pine trees on my route to the ponds made the pine needles look almost orange. I liked the contrast with the white rock and the green of some volunteer plant near the base of a pine.

There were galls on some leaves that had fallen on the path – probably some insect larvae. I took pictures of them and then looked up in the tree and saw leaves still on the tree that had them too.

There were pots of native water plants in the water near the inflow to the main pond. I wondered when they would get planted in the shallow water at the edge of the pond.

Further along there was a bullfrog sitting in some shallow water.  I took several pictures from different angles.

There was an ‘arrangement’ of debris in some water on the path. The colors and shapes appealed to me.

There is an old stump near the street on my path back to my house that I often notice. This time it had 3 different kinds of fungus!

Overall – a good walk for exercise…and photography!

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.

Ten Little Celebrations – June 2024

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June 2024 ---- the transition to the heat of summer ---- celebrating June days.

Sunflower in the window…following the sun. I cut a sunflower from my wildflower garden and put the vase on the windowsill in my office…and celebrated when that it followed the sun!

Peachicks. I had never seen a peachick before and had walked more than halfway around the Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield, MO before I spotted three peachicks with a peahen. Celebration! The young birds already had the beginning of the topknot on their heads but none of the iridescent color.

Corn muffins. Sometimes deciding to make a food remembered from childhood is about celebrating more that the food itself. The dash of cayenne pepper in the batter provided an extra flavor pop.

Mowing the whole yard. My plan at the beginning of the season was to mow the front yard on one day and the back another…but I am doing great mowing both on the same day. I am celebrating that I am physically able to do more than I anticipated!

Blueberries. Picking blueberries was another first this June. I celebrated the experience – and that the orchard is less than 30 minutes from my house.

Breakfast with my daughter. My daughter wanted to try breakfast at a coffee shop she frequents…invited me to meet her there. I celebrated the serendipity of the event (and savored the breakfast  and spending more time with my daughter too).

Hummingbird. I’ve seen a hummingbird buzzing around our yard several times. I celebrate every sighting and am determined to plant some ‘big nectar’ plants for them for next year.

Young robin. I celebrated seeing a small robin – about half the size of the adult feeding it – on our backyard fence. And it could fly!

So many good books. There are so many books available electronically from my local library and Internet Archive that I am never without reading material. I celebrate living at a time when technology makes books so available.

Scissortail flycatchers in the neighborhood. I hadn’t seen scissortail flycatchers in our neighborhood during the two previous summers….so am celebrating seeing a pair of them this month!

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.

Gleanings of the Week Ending January 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.

Just how big can a snowflake get? It depends on what you mean by 'snowflake' - A snow crystal with six-fold symmetry is the kind of snowflake you might cut out of folded paper with scissors. But the word "snowflake" also can refer to white puffballs that drift down from the sky, which are made of many individual snow crystals that have collided and gotten entangled.

Treating tuberculosis when antibiotics no longer work - Substances that have a dual effect against tuberculosis: They make the bacteria causing the disease less pathogenic for human immune cells and boost the activity of conventional antibiotics.

Planning a city that gets people moving – Lake Wales, Florida has a plan to create a built environment that promotes mobility through walking, cycling, e-biking, or other means of transportation beside automobiles. One way to do that is through proximity—to a park, multiuse pathway, protective bike lane, or walkable destination. Another is to ensure that the environment is pleasant for walking or using a bicycle.

The qualities that are more attractive than our looks - When it comes to finding the right match agreeableness accentuates the benefits of other parts of our personalities. It really could pay to be kind after all.

Archaeologists Uncover ‘Exceptional’ Ancient Mural Near Colosseum - Crafted of shells, a special volcanic stone called pozzolana, marble, colored glass, and Egyptian tiles found in the remains of a house from more than 2,000 years ago. Its intricate designs show weapons and instruments hanging alongside ships and tridents. Archaeologists think a wealthy Roman officer commissioned it after a military success. Whoever the owner was, he may not have stayed wealthy for long. Evidence suggests that his family fell out of favor when the Roman emperor Augustus came to power. The building and its contents were later buried and replaced with a grain store built directly on top of it.

A Lake Born out of an Earthquake – Earthquakes can fundamentally reshape the landscape, reroute rivers, and even form new lakes. Consider the northwest corner of Tennessee in the early 19th century. Between December 1811 and February 1812, three earthquakes with magnitudes greater than 7 occurred in the New Madrid seismic zone, which encompasses southeastern Missouri, northeastern Arkansas, and neighboring parts of Tennessee and Kentucky. The last of these quakes, on February 7, 1812, centered near New Madrid, Missouri, was especially notable: It temporarily rerouted the Mississippi River, permanently dammed the Reelfoot River, and directed water to fill in a low-lying area to form Reelfoot Lake. More than two centuries later, Reelfoot Lake remains a persistent feature on the Tennessee landscape. An image from Landsat 9 shows the area in late 2023. The area of lake and surrounding wetlands is a state park and national wildlife refuge.

Cats Prey on More Than 2,000 Different Species - Scientists have long known that free-ranging cats—those that spend unsupervised time outdoors—can affect biodiversity by hunting and eating insects, birds, reptiles and mammals. Researchers sifted through hundreds of previous studies, books and reports to put together a database of every animal cats have been recorded eating, as well as the location. In the end, their list featured 2,084 species, which includes 981 birds, 463 reptiles, 431 mammals, 119 insects and 57 amphibians, plus 33 additional species from other groups. Some of the creatures that made the list—including humans—are too large for cats to hunt but reflect their scavenging tendencies. Though the findings are useful, some scientists say they distract from a much larger threat to biodiversity: humans.

Autistic people experience loneliness far more acutely than neurotypical people -Small adjustments to lighting, acoustics, decor and wayfinding, among other sensory factors, can significantly reduce the burden on people with sensory processing differences and open up more social spaces to them.

Inhalable sensors could enable early lung cancer detection - The new diagnostic is based on nanosensors that can be delivered by an inhaler or a nebulizer. If the sensors encounter cancer-linked proteins in the lungs, they produce a signal that accumulates in the urine, where it can be detected with a simple paper test strip. It could replace expensive CT scans for lung cancer (and be more accurate…not as many false-positives).

This Photographer Captured One Image of Cambridge (England) Every Day for 13 Years - After 5,000 photos, Martin Bond has decided to conclude his project, which showcased the city’s mundane and extraordinary moments. “The best thing about street photography ... is that it is possible for the final viewer of a picture to see more than the original photographer—proof, if any were needed, that there is more going on in any moment than a single person can understand.”

Glad to be Home

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As I write this, I have been home again for a week after being away almost 7 weeks. It had taken this long to get settle back into an at-home routine….to relax enough to feel truly rested! At first, I felt so exhausted that I took naps – which didn’t seem to help. It took me 5 days to fully empty my car. I needed the alone time after being so engaged with people all the time; I didn’t want to talk on the phone at all…had to force myself to check my text message. My emotions were still volatile, and I consciously started trying to unwind. Cutting back on caffeine, getting more exercise and quick neighborhood hikes (even though it was cold outside) finally worked.

It’s such a joy to just be home. I’ve enjoyed returning to spending more time just being in my house…cooking, reading, writing, making Zentangle tiles, and planning one or two vacation travels for the next 6 months. I pampered myself included burning a scented candle I’ve had for years, a facial (using supplies from a Christmas gift), hot apple cider rooibos tea, big red peppermint stick, and pumpkin oatmeal cookie bars.

As the days passed, I fell myself recovering…although there are some aspects of the past 7 weeks that might be a permanent change. I’ve learned more about how I deal with stress --- holding off its effects until the crisis is ‘over’ --- and then requiring time to recover. It is a strategy and provided enough resilience, but I might need to bolster by stress reduction techniques in preparation for the next crisis; more self-care during a crisis might make recovery easier (or unneeded).

I’ll be taking off for another trip to Carrollton TX soon, but the trip will be only 6 days this time! Much easier!

Our Missouri Neighborhood – November 2023

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I am planning to do a lot more walks around my neighborhood – get some quality outdoor time/exercise…maybe even what the Garmin calls ‘intensity minutes’. I’ll take a small camera with me…just in case I spot anything interesting. My daughter called me just as I was heading out so I didn’t photograph the great blue heron that was in a sunny spot at the edge of the pond; I just watched until it flew away while I talked to her.

I did some power walking almost to the furthest bridge before I stopped to photograph some oak leaves that had caught in the grass at the edge of the pond. The tree still had quite a few leaves to drop!

The willow seems to still have mostly green leaves!

A little further along there was debris on the walk; looking closer I realized it was seeds rather than leaves!

Even though the temperature was only about 40 degrees. The sunshine must have made the bank warm enough for a turtle to leave the water.

After I got to the other end of the ponds, I noticed a lot of maple leaves had fallen in the drainage channel and the grass along the path.

A short length of sidewalk on my route was almost covered with pine needles. I enjoyed photographing some cones that had fallen as well.

There was a stump at one end of the row of pines that must have been cut several years ago – maybe before we moved to the neighborhood. The color of the pine needles stands out against the gray of the wood and the powdery green of lichen/moss.  

A big plus – I accumulated 29 intensity minutes!

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 4, 2023

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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.

Oldest fossil human footprints in North America confirmed – New research that supports the dating of the footprints found in White Sands National Park to between 21,000 and 23,000 years old.

Downtown Dallas Gets a New Park – Harwood Park. It reminded me of a field trip with my parents – taking the light rail train from Carrollton to downtown Dallas to visit Klyde Warren Park and have lunch in 2014. I’m glad there is another park added to the downtown area.

BLM Releases New Plan for Moab Area - The plan limits motorized recreation to protect natural and cultural resources. I hope the BLM can succeed in reducing the impact of off road vehicles….requiring ORV users/organizations to take precautions to protect the environment for themselves and everyone else to enjoy in this area.

Active children are more resilient – Interesting….I’ve assumed this but the way the researches went about confirming the idea was worth knowing and reassuring.

A Road Trip Along the Northern Shore of Lake Superior – The Trans-Canada Highway from Thunder Bay to Marathon in June. Maybe a place we’ll go one summer?

What your hands say about your health – I wish the article had better pictures!

Trouble in the Amazon - In the southeastern Amazon, the forest has become a source of CO2….and maybe more will cease to be a carbon sink as well. Large-scale deforestation… plus even intact forest is no longer as healthy as it once was, because of forces such as climate change and the impacts of agriculture that spill beyond farm borders. Data has been collected every two weeks for 10 years! The selective logging permitted by the Forest Code in Brazil is often not sustainable. That’s because the trees that are removed are generally slow-growing species with dense wood, whereas the species that grow back have less-dense wood, so they absorb less carbon in the same space.

A Summer Light Show Dims: Why Are Fireflies Disappearing? – Habitat destruction (clear cutting, fragmentation of forests), water pollution (in Asia many firefly larvae are aquatic), pesticides and yard chemicals, light pollution (it blinds males so that they can’t find females). On a positive note: firefly ecotourism is increasing in Mexico and Malaysia….and around Great Smokey Mountains National Park in the US.

Large herbivores keep invasive plants at bay - Native plants have evolved such that they can withstand brutal treatment from species of herbivores they have co-existed with for millennia, while invasive plants usually cannot.

The Amazon May Be Hiding More Than 10,000 Pre-Columbian Structures - Based on a new aerial survey and modeling study, archaeologists suggest at least 90 percent of sites known as earthworks remain undetected. Also found - high concentrations of 53 domesticated tree species near earthwork sites. These include cacao, Brazil nut, breadnut and Pará rubber trees, plus dozens of others. This demonstrates how the region’s inhabitants altered the natural landscape, likely so they would have a steady supply of food and useful materials.

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 5, 2023

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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.

Four key questions on the new wave of anti-obesity drugs – Several of the drugs were originally developed to treat type 2 diabetes but now are popular weight loss drugs.

Sweet smell of success: Simple fragrance method produces major memory boost – A study done by the University of California, Irvine on older adults…participants reaped a 226% increase in cognitive capacity compared to the control group. A product based on their study and designed for people to use at home is expected to come onto the market this fall.

How the US is fighting back against deadly floods – Identifying flood plains…not building back in them after a flood.

Old-Growth Trees, Some Dating To 17th Century, Protected at New River Gorge – The Burnwood Loop – where I want to hike first in the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve!

Does Cooking with Gas Stoves Hurt Indoor Air Quality? – Yes…but how much is the better question. 12.7% of current childhood asthma in the United States is attributable to gas stove use.

A quick look inside a human being – Magnetic Particle Imaging (MPI)…using a portable scanner to visualize dynamic processes in the human body such a blood flow.

Why it's so important to figure out when a vital Atlantic Ocean current might collapse - Humans are changing the fundamental processes of the Earth faster than we can understand them. The collapse of the current would have effects around the planet: temperatures in Europe would fall, heat in the tropics would rise, rainfall would decrease across the Sahel in Africa, the summer monsoon would weaken across Asia, and sea levels would rise even faster in the eastern US.

New Thermal Activity on Geyser Hill in Yellowstone National Park – Short video from the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory.

‘Perfectly Preserved’ Glassware Recovered From 2,000-Year-Old Shipwreck – The shipwreck was located 1,148 feet below the surface in waters between Italy and France. Two remotely operated vehicles (ROV) were used to scan the site and recover artifacts.

Short bursts of daily activity linked to reduced cancer risk - A total of just 4.5 minutes of vigorous activity that makes you huff and puff during daily tasks could reduce the risk of some cancers (i.e. cancers associated with physical activity such as liver, lung, kidney, gastric cardia (a type of stomach cancer), endometrial, myeloid leukemia, myeloma, colorectal, head and neck, bladder, breast and esophageal adenocarcinoma (cancer of the esophagus) by up to 32 percent.

Ten Little Celebrations – July 2023

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Celebrating is often linked with appreciation. When I notice that I am celebrating something – I almost always notice that I appreciate that it happened or how beautiful it is…or just that it is a brilliant positive in my day.   Noticing little things to celebrate/appreciate every day is a habit that builds mental resilience!

Miniature pumpkins on the vine. I planted the seeds back in May, not confident that they would be more than vines. They started to bloom – and I enjoyed the flowers. I am celebrating the recognizable little pumpkins now.

A new low weight of the year. Slowly but surely…I am getting to the ‘normal’ weight for my height. Every time I reach a new low for the year, I celebrate!

Ozark (Missouri) farmers market. I was overwhelmed by the crowd at the farmers market in Springfield and underwhelmed by the sparse number of vendors in Nixa. I celebrated that the Ozark farmers market was the Goldilocks (i.e. ‘just right’).

2 ‘hens and chicks’ planted. I finally planted something new in the front flower bed; it wasn’t a simple task since it required moving rock and cutting away landscaping fabric underneath. I celebrated the completed project…and am enjoying the anticipation of ‘chicks’ appearing before fall.

Getting the lawn mowed. Avoiding high temperatures…rain..heavy due. I celebrated that the night was dry, the light dew in the morning, and the temperatures still in the 70s when I did the mowing.

Intensity minutes while gardening. This summer I have increased my ‘intensity minutes’ rather than simply sustaining my low sedentary time. Mowing generally results in ‘intensity minutes’…but I celebrated when some of my general gardening did too!

Lake Springfield meadow. There is something different to celebrate every time I go. In July the uptick in dragonflies and butterflies was the high-point.

Sprinklers all working. We noticed that one zone of our sprinkler system was not working when the grass started turning brown…so we celebrated when it was fixed (and also that we got rain too) and the grass started its recovery.

Rounding of 3 corners in our yard. I had an idea to round the corners of our yard to make mowing easier (curves rather than right angles) and celebrated that the actions I took for 3 corners (planting some and putting down landscaping cloth to kill grass so that I can plant something) is working!

Test at doctors office shows all OK. Its always worth celebrating when a test comes back with the desired result….of course, with some measure of relief too.

Settling in, developing new routines – 1st month

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A new house – neighborhood – city – state (Missouri)…a lot has changed for us this past month. We are still unpacking but have done enough to live comfortably…do the rest of the opening of boxes and distribution of ‘stuff’ at a slower pace. I am starting a monthly post to document the new routines we are establishing.

Trash/recycling. I like that we have a bin for the weekly trash collection rather than just putting big plastic bags at the curb like we did in Maryland. The downside is that recycling comes every other week rather than weekly like it did in Maryland…and the first cycle was cancelled because they were short a crew! Another difference: neither trash or recycle curbside collection take yard waste. So – I’ve been to the recycle center 3 times already (twice for boxes there were not reusable and once for yard waste after I cut down a Callery pear that was taking over a crepe myrtle in my front flowerbed); fortunately, the recycle center is not that far away from our neighborhood.

The mini-kitchen in the basement near my office is perfect for making my favorite snack: popcorn! What a luxury to have it close rather than a flight of stairs away.

It is also a luxury to do my back exercises on the twin bed near my office rather than getting down (and then up) from the floor.

Groceries are different too; the closest store is a Walmart which does not have as much selection as Wegmans in Maryland. I may look further afield for groceries eventually even though the close location of the Walmart is a big plus. I get to the store about 6:30 AM just as I did in Maryland; shopping in a store with more stockers than customers is something I’ve grown accustomed too…prefer!

Laundry has been an adventure. There is still a flight of stairs between the laundry room and the bedroom, but our Missouri house has a laundry chute! We’ve added handles to the doors of the chute (not sure why they didn’t have handles before) and bought large baskets to catch all the laundry at the bottom. And what a luxury it is to have so much room to hang up clothes that we don’t want to put in the drier!

Barn swallows. When we moved into the house, we noticed almost immediately that we had bard swallows nesting under the deck….easily viewed from our patio or through the windows around it. The babies hav since fledged and I’ve tried to clean up the bird poop that fell from the nest onto the patio…the price for having an easily observable nest. We didn’t have barn swallows at our Maryland house, so this is a new bird for our yard. We put out two bird baths but they haven’t been used very much….the neighborhood ponds are too close probably. We haven’t put up bird feeders yet.

More new routines next month….

Gleanings of the Week Ending January 23, 2021

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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.

Ice sheet uncertainties could mean sea level will rise more than predicted -- ScienceDaily – There are warning signs that the current models aren’t accurately predicting ice sheet dynamics.

How mail-order frogs could save Colombia's amphibians - BBC Future – Carefully breeding frogs to keep them from going extinct in the wild.

Meet Amanda Gorman, the U.S.' Youngest Inaugural Poet | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – Leading with eloquence and hope for the future….pushing us to strive for a country that is a ‘more perfect union.’

House Agrees Saguaro National Park Should Grow By 1,200 Acres – Hope this happens…when my daughter was in Tucson we enjoyed this park many times.

Diet and lifestyle guidelines can greatly reduce gastroesophageal reflux disease symptoms -- ScienceDaily – Exercise seems to be important – perhaps because it helps clear stomach acid that causes heartburn symptoms.

Top 25 birds of the week: Wild birds Photos! - Wild Bird Revolution – Birds – always great to look at in the wild and in photos.

How Codebreaker Elizebeth Friedman Broke Up a Nazi Spy Ring | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – Some history…about how a woman did work she wanted to do…made significant contributions…didn’t get credit or pay that she should have. It happens again and again. We can’t assume that it isn’t still happening just because we have some very visible examples of women with power, recognition, and pay.

Are sleep trackers accurate? Here's what researchers currently know – It’s not always good to track sleep….particularly if it causes anxiety. I am in the group that generally has good sleep, so the tracker data doesn’t cause me anxiety, but it probably doesn’t improve anything either!  I might get a much simpler tracker next time that doesn’t provide sleep metrics.

The Wintertime Wonder of Unusual Ice | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – The short video of hair ice forming is interesting.

How Africa's largest city is staying afloat - BBC Future – Lagos, Nigeria. Part of the city is known as the ‘Venice of Africa.’ And there is a ‘Great Wall of Lagos’ to reinforce the coast.  The claim is that Africa’s largest city is leveraging its ingenuity to stay afloat….but whether it succeeds in the coming decades will be the real test.

Filling a Day of Social Distancing - 5/1/2020 - Gleanings

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Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….

Here are the unique activities for yesterday:

Downloading Woody Plants of the Northern Forest by Jerry Jenkins.  The Northern Forest Atlas organization has 3 digital atlas guides: woody plants, mosses and sedges. They are available as free downloads (PDFs). The images are wonderful…the downside is that the guides are HUGE because of the high quality images. The woody plant guide is 630 MB. Put the download in a place you will remember to retain it as a reference (and avoid downloading it again).

Browsing the books illustrated by Frederick Richardson on Internet Archive. He illustrated books in the early 1900s. The samples below are from Edith Ogden Harrison’s The Enchanted House and Other Fairy Stories.

Walking laps. It’s been very wet here, so I’ve been indoors more. I’ve plotted various circuit paths through my house to get some exercise! I do laps for 5 or so minutes every hour…or that is the general goal.

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Receiving a new office chair. My constant bouncing on the Swopper stool at my computer had recently started to bother my back rather than sustaining my back muscles….so I opted to move to a more traditional office chair. We had one that was over 30 years old that I thought might work but the height adjustment no longer functioned. My husband found a new chair from Staples…ordered it…and it came to our front porch within a day or so. It’s now assembled and will be the chair at my computer. The Swopper will still get used daily….but not as heavily as it has for the past 10 years!

Links to my previous “filling a day of social distance” posts  here.

And now for the weekly gleaning list….

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.

Deep Sea Squid Communicate with Glowing Skin: NPR – The video is a little over a minute…deep sea footage of Humboldt Squid taken by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Institute off the California coast.

To Cut Carbon Emissions, a Movement Grows to ‘Electrify Everything’ - Yale E360 – All-electric new construction…preparing the way for dramatic reduction of fossil fuel consumption.

Top 25 birds of the week: April 2020 - Wild Bird Revolution and Top 25 birds of the week: Blue Feathers - Wild Bird Revolution – A double dose of bird photographs this week!

Enjoy the Red-Winged Blackbird Show – I saw red-winging blackbirds on one of my walks in the neighborhood – at the storm water retention pond. There was a bit of drama I’ll share in a post next week.

The Hidden History in My Backyard – A history of a Florida backyard/neighborhood. I am content with the idea that my back yard was a forest….and that there is still a swath of forest down to the river.

Skulls from the Yucatan Peninsula a Clue to Early American Settlers | The Scientist Magazine® - Analysis of Quintana Roo skulls from people that lived 13,000-8,000 years ago…found in underwater caves that were above sea level at that time.

Pictures of Redwood National and State Park – Huge trees – always awesome.

Southwest Drought Rivals Those of Centuries Ago, Thanks to Climate Change - The New York Times – The last sentence is the bottom line: ‘We don’t have the whole story on Southwestern hydroclimate nailed down.’ The article talks about the analysis we have now….it probably means that the population growth in the Southwest happened at a time that was unusually wet, and that it won’t be supportable into the future.

Insect wings hold antimicrobial clues for improved medical implants -- ScienceDaily – Beginning to understand how nanopillar structures in cicada and dragonfly weeks kill bacteria on contact.

What chemical analyzes of human bones tell us about kitchen utensils in the Middle Ages - HeritageDaily - Archaeology News – Copper in bones….shows continuous exposure for cooper from AD 800 to AD 1800…consumed in daily diet prepared in copper cookware!

Filling a Day of Social Distance – 4/10/2020 - Gleanings

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Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….

Here are the unique activities for yesterday:

Finishing Vermont Life issues. I finally browsed through the last of the Vermont Life issues. The magazine was published from 1946-2018 and most of the issues are available on Internet Archive. I started at the beginning back in July and just finished the last one (from summer 2018) yesterday. Every issue contains great photography…of beautiful places. It’s a great armchair travel to a place…and through time. I had a friend that had family in Vermont when I was growing up in Texas; she visited there almost every summer. I found myself looking at the pictures from the 1960s and realizing that she probably saw some of those places. I remember her talking about picking blueberries.

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IDing a plant for my sister. She sent me a picture from her Texas yard. I found a reference from Texas Master Naturalists easily enough – and passed along the id: Southern Dewberry (p. 23 of the reference).

Cleaning the filter on the air purifier. We’ve been running the air purifier more in our bedroom to keep the pollen allergies at bay – at least while we sleep. The red light came on to tell use the filter needed to be cleaned….it was an easy job…but we were without it for a couple of nights while everything dried. My husband and I both noticed the difference when we began running it again yesterday afternoon.

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Hearing the wind sweeping through the forest. Yesterday afternoon was very gusty – not stormy…it was a mostly sunny day. The wind came roaring through the forest ripping off small pieces of leaves and bud coverings from the tulip poplars; some of the bits ended up in our gutters.

The red maple is full of seeds – looking golden from afar but reds/greens show when looking closer; the seeds are mostly staying put; they are not ready to helicopter away from the tree.

Links to my previous “filling a day of social distance” posts  here.

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 to avoid touching your face so much - BBC Future – Something we are all trying to learn to do along with making masks for whenever we venture away from the house.

A more balanced protein intake can reduce age-related muscle loss -- ScienceDaily – My take away -older people (me included) need to have a high quality protein at lunch…not leave it for the evening meal!

Bald Eagles and the Unfortunate Power of Forgetting – When I was growing up, bald eagles were rare. They are not now because people took action and stuck with it. Remembering will keep Bald Eagles around and maybe provide a blueprint for the way we all move forward to a healthier Earth.

Scientists find Earth and moon not identical oxygen twins -- ScienceDaily – The finding may challenge the current understanding of the formation of our Moon…..future modeling will need to explore that possibility. Previously models have tried to account for complete oxygen isotope homogenization between the Earth and Moon.

How to escape the tyranny of the clock - BBC Future – Now that I am retired…the tyranny of the clock is not as overwhelming as it was during my career. Right now – there is even less requirement for me to do anything at a particular time….maybe a Zoom meeting or when my shopper is collecting my groceries. Otherwise I set my own time. Text messages or telephone calls or my husband wanting to talk/assistance with a project are interruptions that are easily handled with whatever I am doing. It’s an easy time to enjoy a loosening of the tyranny of the clock.

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Top 25 birds of the week: Yellow Feathers - Wild Bird Revolution – Just as I was looking at this group of pictures – an American Goldfinch flew to our feeder! I even got a picture! It has quite got the full summer plumage yet.

See Seven New Dazzling, Dancing Peacock Spiders | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – A 1.5-minute video.

Does Equinox Sunset Highlight Egypt’s Sphinx? - Archaeology Magazine – The sun sets over the right shoulder on the spring and fall equinoxes!

Regular Exercise Helps Patients Combat Cancer | The Scientist Magazine® - It may benefit both mental and physical health. This is an example of exercise helping – even when you are sick and probably don’t feel like doing it.

Watch Seven Medieval Castles’ Digital Reconstruction – A animated way to learn about castles…and some history.

Filling a Day of Social Distance – 3/21/2020

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Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….

Here are the unique activities for yesterday:

Cooking corn on the cob and hamburger patties on the grill. It was a cool cloudy day…but not too windy for grilling.

  • Walking in the neighborhood. It felt good to get out of the house and get some exercise outdoors. It is easy to keep social distance…even more than 6 feet! I took some pictures along my way: bent reeds and their reflections in water, a squirrel at attention, some red maple samaras that fell from the tree too early to mature (beautiful color though) and cattail stalks from last season at the edge of the water retention pond.

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Celebrating birds finding our feeder again. They are still not back in the numbers before the seed was gone from the feeder. A titmouse is in the first video from the feeder cam. I’ve already seen red-bellied woodpeckers, Carolina chickadee, titmouse, eastern phoebe (not at the feeder…on a nearby tree branch), dark-eyed junco, and goldfinch.

Previous “filling a day of social distance” posts: 3/15, 3/16, 3/17, 3/18, 3/19, 3/20

Filling a Day of Social Distance – 3/15/2020

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I normally do a daily blog post…but during this time, I might do an extra post from time to time. Since I am ‘staying at home as much as possible’ to reduce our COVID-19 exposure (and potentially slow the spread of the virus), I have more time at home.

Normally this time of year I travel, get training for upcoming volunteer activities, and take day trips---as spring is unfurling. This year was no exception, but it all came to a screeching halt last week. So – what am I doing with this extra time at home? Fortunately, I have a house that I enjoy and there is a lot to do. If you are at home and getting a little low on ‘things to do’ maybe these extra posts will give you some ideas.

There are the usual things that I always try to work into my day (but don’t always succeed when I have a lot of other things going on):

  • Zentangle (more than one)

  • Breathing App (this is an smartphone app that provides tones for breathing – in and out – in a rhythm that people meditating achieve….I find it very relaxing for 15 minutes…better than a substantial nap and makes me even more focused on whatever I do afterward)

  • Yoga (I’ve already built up my routine in the past week!)

  • Browse through 3-4 books on Internet Archive and other online sources. (I like variety. Today I am still working my way through 1) The Vermont Life magazines – I am up to Autumn 2011; 2) Starting The English Home magazines; 3) Working backwards through the Quarterly Journal of the Audubon Society of Missouri – I am back to 2013 now…getting to know to birds found in the state where my daughter is living; and 4) Keeping in reserve the Internet Archive collection by or about Alphonse Mucha.)

  • 12,000 steps (this one is a little harder being at home all the time although I am taking walks around the neighborhood or working in the yard on days that the weather is good)

  • Pictures of birds at the feeder or birdbath – right now the feeder is empty because we are discouraging a hawk from frequenting our back yard and it’s been raining so the birds don’t need the birdbath as often

But what I am doing more than the usual today…what are some ‘different’ things that I did today to keep boredom at bay?

  • Cleaned the foyer and kitchen floors. I don’t do this often enough.

  • Dusted the top of all the door frames. It might have been over a year since I did it. They were dusty!

  • Photographed the plum tree (once the rain was over). There were blossoms at different stages of development and the day was cloudy enough to avoid the harsh shadows of sunny days.

  • Read a chapter in a physical book (I usually read online these days but have a stack of books I’ve been meaning to read for several years)

  • Started soaking some pinto beans (the bag has been in the pantry for over a year, their ‘best if used by’ date was December 2020...I’m going to cook them to use in chili…we have plenty of time to do slow food!)

  • Watched Are Viruses Alive? Video by an astrobiology professor from University of Edinburgh (recorded at home for his “Life in the Universe Pandemic Series”). I enjoyed his Coursera course several years ago.

What I am trying not to do?

  • Eat more than usual

  • Spend too much time looking at COVID-19 news and analysis

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 10, 2019

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week: Green – National Geographic Society Newsroom – Starting off the gleanings list with birds this week – green ones.

Indigenous Maize: Who Owns the Rights to Mexico’s ‘Wonder’ Plant? - Yale E360 – The nitrogen fixing maize --- farmed in Mexico – but who will profit if the trait is replicated in corn to feed the rest of the world.

Vast majority of dietary supplements don't improve heart health or put off death, study finds -- ScienceDaily – Massive analysis…277 clinical trials. The supplement industry is large and advertises; how do studies like this counteract that even if the supplement in many cases is having only a placebo effect.

Brothers Use Drone to Reveal Beauty of Ordinary Objects – Art of objects seen from above.

Making HVAC heat exchangers five times better -- ScienceDaily – We’re going to need all the innovation we can muster to get air conditioning more efficient…and power it with renewable energy.

BBC - Future - Do we need to walk 10,000 steps a day? – Hint – 10,000 is not a magic number at all. I’ve had my goal set at 12,000 steps for quite some time. I make it when I am home but am usually challenged when traveling.

Toyota plans to launch its first full EVs, in a deal with China’s BYD - MIT Technology Review – I hope by the time I get ready to replace my Prius Prime there are a lot of EVs to choose from!

What it Means to Design with Nature in 2019 - News | Planetizen – Is this the thinking of all design going forward?

A Fungus Is Now Infecting Humans & Global Warming May Be to Blame | CleanTechnica – Candida auris started showing up in humans in 2009 and it is multiple drug resistant already. New research is indicating that the fungus might have adapted to warmer temperatures until it can now multiply in the human body…which it couldn’t before.

Water Cycle is Speeding Up Over Much of the U.S. – Lots of changes in the time period between 1945 and 2014.The article includes a color-coded map. It will be interesting to see if the trends continue over the next decade

Gleanings of the Week Ending February 02, 2019

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week: Camouflage – Lots of birds can hide in plain sight! Owls are the ones I think of first in this category.

When 'alien' insects attack Antarctica: Terrestrial ecosystems are vulnerable to single introduced insect species -- ScienceDaily – A threat from a tiny flightless midge

Anak Krakatau: Planet Labs imagery of the aftermath of the landslide - The Landslide Blog - AGU Blogosphere – Imagery of the landslide that caused the deadly tsunami just before last Christmas.

What is the most commonly found ocean litter? – Yuck! Another reason that cigarettes are a bad thing.

A series of posts from NOAA’s 2018 Arctic Report Card: Visual highlights , Multi-year stretch of record and near-record warmth unlike any period on record, Reindeer and caribou populations continue to decline, Less than 1 percent of Arctic ice has survived four or more summers, Red tides and other toxic species expanding across the Arctic, increasing risks to marine mammals and humans – Quantifying the changes occurring in the arctic

Image of the Day: In Sync | The Scientist Magazine® - Infants playing with their parents…syncing of brain activity

New Ultima Thule discoveries from NASA's New Horizons -- ScienceDaily – A space mission to something we’ve never seen before….the aptly named ‘New Horizons’

Why are biology classes ignoring insects? · john hawks weblog – When I was in high school, insects were a big deal for biology classes; many students created an insect collect the summer prior to the biology year. I don’t remember too much about insects in my first courses as an undergraduate in biology I the 1970s…but there was probably more coverage than in the more recent textbooks.

Keeping fit: how to do the right exercise for your age – A good summary…although the key message is to keep moving…sustained exercise is the best strategy.

Our bodies may cure themselves of diabetes in the future -- ScienceDaily – It’s at the basic research level…but could be an approach to ‘diseases’ caused by cell death in the future (diabetes, Alzheimer’s and cells damaged by heart attacks, etc.)

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 17, 2018

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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.

1.8 Million Clean Energy Workers Employed in Top 50 American Metro Areas | CleanTechnica – Jobs that are future leaning rather than in anchor industries like fossil fuels.

USDA Approves Edible Cotton | The Scientist Magazine® - Edible? I wonder if many people will have digestive problems with the seeds even if they are approved for human consumption.

The rise of sponges in Anthropocene reef ecosystems – Coral is impacted by higher temperatures and acidification more than sponges and there are already some ‘reefs’ that are dominated by sponges rather than coral. These reefs function differently and are expected to become more prevalent.

Study explores infant body position and learning -- ScienceDaily – I am always fascinated about studies with babies…observational but trying to be objective.

$31 Billion Hurricane Protection Plan Proposed for Texas - News | Planetizen – A hefty price tag…and who will pay for it? Would it work for very much of the area if they had another Hurricane like Harvey?

A Day in The Park: Hot Springs National Park – I visited this park years ago…before many of the more recent renovations. Maybe it’s time to see visit again.

'Wildlife Photographer of the Year' awards: Here are the best animal photos of 2018 – Great photography…nature…art. My favorite was the last one – the treehopper guarding her family.

Passive Radiative Cooling Moves Out of The Lab & Into the Real World | CleanTechnica – Cooling without consuming massive amounts of electricity….but is it really ‘out of the lab’ yet.

The Armchair Photography Guide to Bryce Canyon National Park – Part 2, Inspiration Point to Rainbow Point – There seem to be several articles in my feeds that are prompting thought of future travel. This is another place I’d like to go. The last time I was in Utah, the Federal government was closed so the national parks were not open!

Infographic: Exercise’s Effects on the Brain – Understanding the molecular mechanisms that connect exercise to cognitive benefits.