Gleanings of the Week Ending September 14, 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.

The Mysterious Turkish Megaliths That Predate the Pyramids - Göbekli Tepe or “Potbelly Hill” in Turkish…it may be the world’s oldest calendar.

Planes, trains and monster diggers: The vehicles pushing the limits of electric power - BBC Future Planet recently went on a hunt for some of the biggest electric vehicles in the world – by size and weight. There is no shortage of impressive examples, from giant mining machines to trains and cargo ships. Often the largest excavators are connected to an electric power source by a cable, rather than using an on-board battery. But in terms of weight, heavy goods vehicles are among the largest EVs you might find yourself sharing the road with. Volvo's FH Electric truck, if you include its double trailer and load, is among contenders for the heaviest battery-powered electric road vehicle. Though research suggests we might one day see electric passenger aircraft capable of carrying as many as 90 people. The biggest electric planes today can accommodate a maximum of around nine passengers. The most powerful electric train in the world is perhaps the Shen24 in China. It is capable of carrying more than 10,000 tons – of coal – at up to 120km/h (75 mph).

Maine! Ghost Flower, the inside view – I’ve seen Ghost flowers a few times…but never the inside of the flower.

Crested Rats & Hairy Porcupines: Meet 7 of the World’s Coolest Rodents – The only one of the 7 I’ve seen is the Capybara (at the Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield, MO).

A photographer captures life in America’s last remaining old-growth forests – What a great project photographer David Herasimtschuk had undertaken!

Plankton mark seasons in the sea, just like leaves and flowers on land – The seasonal flux of phytoplankton and zooplankton. The photo of diatoms (algae) in this post was what caught my attention; I’ve always enjoyed finding them in water samples.

14 Extraordinary Highly Commended Photos From the 2024 Wildlife Photographer of the Year Contest – My favorite was “Leaving the Nest” …two tawny owlets.

The Ancient Temple Carved Out of a Single Rock - Kailasa Cave, one of 34 in the Ellora Caves complex that has been cut and dug from the basalt rock of the Deccan plateau. 100 feet high and 300 feet long would make it the world’s largest—with all four sides liberated and sculpted into pavilions, halls, vestibules, towers, and courtyards by 800 hardy monks over 150 years beginning in the 7th century BCE. It was once painted white to mimic the Himalayan peak.

Thracian horseman’s grave unearthed in Bulgaria - The man was buried wearing clothing decorated with gold appliqués. A gold necklace, a gold diadem, a gold ring, and a knife decorated with gold and semiprecious stones were recovered from the burial, in addition to the remains of a horse and full battle gear, including a breastplate, sword, scabbard, and other knives and spears

Microplastics Found in Human Brains - The brains of people who suffered from dementia contained significantly more plastic than the brains of healthy people. Troublingly, the new study found more plastic in brain samples gathered in 2024 than in samples gathered in 2016.

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 19, 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.

Risk of fatal heart attack may double in heat wave and high fine particulate pollution days – A study from China that included 202,000 heart attach deaths.

July Was Likely Earth’s Hottest Month on Record – The last sentence of the article: ‘Well, this is probably one of the coolest summers you’ll ever see in your life.’ ... It is quite scary to put it this way.

Climate Change Temperatures Killing Death Valley's Bristlecones – 70% mortality rate over the past decade.

The Australian town where people live underground – Coober Pedy…where most of the people live underground in abandoned opal mines or intentionally excavated spaces!

Looking Down on the Andes – Pacific Ocean, Atacama Desert, Andes…Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia. Image taken from the International Space Station.

Supermarkets to the Rescue — Coles Joins Virtual Power Plant – A grocery chain in Australia. Maybe some supermarkets (and other big box stores) in the US will do similar things.

In a Chilean Forest Reserve, the Remarkable Darwin’s Frog Endures – The endangered frog is a smallish leaf mimic with a pointy nose. Males whistle to attract mates. After females lay their eggs on the ground, males swallow them, holding them in their vocal sac as the young metamorphose. Six to eight weeks after hatching, small adults make their exit through the males’ mouths!

Moths With 11-Inch Tongues? - More than 150,000 recognized moth species, though likely another 150,000 or so, give or take, remain undescribed. Many of these species feed birds and bats like some form of “aerial plankton.” Out of the hundreds of caterpillars one moth might produce, few survive to metamorphose into moths. But those that do provide a critical service both as food for nighttime predators and as pollinators, often evolving to be the only ones that can get the job done. Every species of yucca in North America, including the famous Joshua Tree, requires pollination exclusively from yucca moths.

Spooky, stealthy night hunters: revealing the wonderful otherworld of owls - Owls occur across all continents other than Antarctica, spanning an environmental gradient from the freezing Arctic (home of the stunningly beautiful snowy owl, of Harry Potter fame) to the hottest deserts (home of elf owls).

What to know about beech leaf disease, the 'heartbreaking' threat to forests along the East Coast – I remember this entering into Master Naturalist conversations in Maryland before the COVID-19 pandemic…but the cause was a total mystery at that point. It was interesting to get an update. There is still no known way to control or manage disease, but progress has been made; large numbers of foliar nematodes cause the disease (the interfere with chlorophyll production and the trees starve). It hasn’t been that long ago that the Emerald Ash Borer killed almost all the ash trees…before that wooly adelgid killed the Eastern Hemlocks….and earlier, in the mid-1900s, the American Chestnut succumbed to blight. The eastern US forests are very different than they were 100 years ago and the pace of diseases seem to be increasing.

Gleanings of the Week Ending July 25, 2020

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.

Native Americans Crossed the Pacific Long Before Europeans | The Scientist Magazine® - Using DNA to find more definitive answers.

Forest Surprise: A Wolf Story – West of Flagstaff ---- probably a Mexican grey wolf male…trying to find a new territory and exploring a restored forest appealing.

See Archaeological Treasures Unearthed by U.K. Residents During Lockdown | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – The uptick in gardening and yard work leads to finding things in or on the ground…and then people having plenty of time to find out more about what the objects are. Something positive happening during the pandemic.

You Can Now Explore All 48,000 Panels of the AIDS Memorial Quilt Online | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – I was glad to see this online version of the quilt is available – complete with search and zoom. I found the square for a person that I’d worked with in the 1970s and saw him at IBM sponsored conferences in the 1980s. Our early career crowd was scattered all over the country by the time he died in 1993.

Eleven Awesome Owls from Around the World – Good pictures and a short summary characterizing each bird.

Turmeric could have antiviral properties -- ScienceDaily – It’s already one of the supplements I take…as an anti-inflammatory. This study points to it being anti-viral as well.

Stain Solutions | U of I Extension – A good reference although in recent years the laundry detergents and cold water often get stains out.

Top 25 birds of the week: Wild Birds - Wild Bird Revolution – Enjoy the beautiful birds!

Solar Will Kick Most of Texas's Remaining Coal Fleet Offline – Good news for air quality in Texas. Evidently the growth of utility-scale PV production is rapid changing the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) market.

Infographic: How Breastfeeding Protects Mothers | The Scientist Magazine® - Research about the mechanism behind the observation that women that breastfeed their children have reduced long term risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

Circular voids. I am starting a series of Zentangle tiles that have circular voids in otherwise dense tangles. I got the idea from some Mordecai Ardon paintings (slideshow on Internet Archive here) like Fatal Eclipse shown at the right. My first two tiles are below.

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Compost bin. Between rain showers – I put on the boots I have for river field trips and got all my containers of kitchen scraps and spent flower stalks (mostly day lilies) out to the compost bin. It took 4 trips! There have been more things recently that produced more kitchen scraps than usual: fresh corn on the cob, cantaloupe, cabbage cores, and tough onion/leek tops. I’ve learned to save cucumber skins for use in smoothies so those get eaten these days and veggies like beets and carrots just get a thorough scrubbing rather than being peeled. I put all the new scraps on one side of the bin and then turned the other side over on top of it. I should deteriorate very rapidly.

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Fresh flowers in the house. There are now small bouquets from the CSA cutting garden in my office and on the kitchen table. The one below is the one in my office. I like having flowers in my field of view! It’s a way I show kindness to myself.

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!

Gleanings of the Week Ending March 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.

Salt Could Play a Role in Allergies | The Scientist Magazine® - Atopic dermatitis has increased more than 2-fold since the 1970s….and researchers do not attribute the increase to greater awareness or diagnosis. Now comes the observation that people with lesioned skin from atopic dermatitis (but not psoriasis) had a 30-fold higher salt level in their lesions than in their unlesioned skin or skin from healthy controls. The connection to diet is speculative at this point…but we do have higher salt in our diet now that most people had in the 1970s.

In Siberia, Toxic Black Snow Reveals the Toll of Coal Mining | Smart News | Smithsonian – Yuck! Pollutions from open-air coal pits…in the extreme. Another reason, I’m glad we’re moving away from coal powered electricity generation. I wondered if the people living in the area of black snow develop terrible lung problems.  

See the best pictures from Bill Ingalls, NASA's official photographer – 30 years of photography

What makes joints pop and crack and is it a sign of disease? – A little lesson in joint anatomy

Piling Up: How China’s Ban on Importing Waste Has Stalled Global Recycling - Yale E360 – China’s plastic imports have plummeted by 99%, mixed paper has dropped by a 33%. Recycled aluminum and glass are less affected by the ban. So now we are sending plastics to landfills, incinerators or littering the environment. Communities across the US have curtailed or halted their recycling programs. That hasn’t happened (yet) where I live in Maryland. We must learn to produce less recycle (waste) and process it more locally…not ship is someplace else in the world.

Meet the Bizarre American Bittern – Cool Green Science – It’s a type of heron that makes a strange sound (listen to the recording in this post). It is so well camouflaged that you are more likely to hear it than see it!

Photography in The National Parks: Capturing the Grandness of The Grand Tetons – Reminds me that this is a National Park I want to see again. Last time we went, I wasn’t doing any photography yet.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week: Interactions – National Geographic Society – Pictures that are more than just a bird.

Prehistoric Microbes Inhabit an Oasis in the Northern Mexican Desert | The Scientist Magazine® - Fish, diatoms, and bacteria in lagoons in the Chihuahua Desert and cannot be found anywhere else on Earth. More than 5,000 species of bacteria and archaea have been documented.

Owls against owls in a challenge for survival: Researchers forecast interactions between two owl species and the quality of their habitat in the Pacific Northwest -- ScienceDaily – I learned at the Festival of the Cranes (New Mexico) last fall about Barred Owls moving into Northern Spotted Owl (NSO) territory….and winning the competition. That further reduces the NSO populations which is already endangered because of over-logging of the old growth forests.

Gleanings of the Week Ending December 29, 2018

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.

From High Above, A New Way of Seeing Our Urban Planet - Yale E360 – Cities – growing and growing. It is mind boggling that urban population has grown from 751 million in 1950 to 4,200 million today.

How changing labs revealed a chemical reaction key to cataract formation: Researchers studying eye lens find a new function for a protein previously thought to be inert -- ScienceDaily – Learning more about the chemistry behind cataract formation….not a treatment yet but better understanding can be the path toward slowing or more targeted treatment of cataracts.

Curious Kids: What are some of the challenges to Mars travel? – A series from The Conversation (in Australia) for children…but interesting to adults too. Kids ask the best questions!

A DOZEN WAYS FAMILIES CAN #OPTOUTSIDE EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR | Children & Nature Network – I’m on a role with the child focused gleanings right now…I would add to the list: find easy access natural spaces (near where you work or live) and visit them as often as possible.

VIDEO: We Hope Your Day Is As Great As This Snow-Loving Panda’s: NPR – Pandas are such a visual treat. This is Bei Bei at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo back in November.  My husband and I missed the snow (we were in New Mexico).

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week: Owls – National Geographic Blog – 2018 was my first sighting of barn owls in the wild…awesome.

Ragweed Is on The Move – National Geographic Blog – Not such a big change in the south….in Kansas City the season is prolonged by 23 days. For those people allergic to ragweed…that is a miserable trend.

Some health related posts: Blood pressure: Early treatment advised by US guidelines has no survival benefits -- ScienceDaily and Your heart hates air pollution; portable filters could help -- ScienceDaily – At least the second one was actionable; I now have a portable filter in my bedroom and I think it is reducing my cat allergy – maybe more.

Aerial photos of U.S. national parks from space – I love national parks. Everyone I have been to has had something spectacular to offer. It’s sad that they are all mostly closed (if the bathrooms and visitor centers are not open….they are closed) for this week (partial government shutdown).

How do different light bulbs work? – in C&EN | Compound Interest – Light bulbs have changed a lot during my lifetime. Hopefully now we are on track to have bulbs that are closer to the natural sunlight spectrum so that the light does not cause eye or sleep problems.

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 24, 2018

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.

Drug pollution concentrates in stream bugs, passes to predators in water and on land: Animals that eat insects in or near streams at risk of being dosed with pharmaceuticals -- ScienceDaily – Wow – the existence of macroinvertebrates in our local rivers is an indicator of water quality (the focus of the field trips with high schooler’s I’ve been doing in recent years) but those same macroinvertebrates are probably getting a healthy dose of pharmaceuticals from the water…the fish that eat them act as concentrators….and some of those fish are eaten by people.  I hope reserarchers in the US are doing similar studies to the one described in this article. It would also be good if pharmaceutical companies would develop drugs that were not excreted in a still active form.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week: Flocks – National Geographic Blog and Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week: Seed Eating Birds – National Geographic Blog – Two bird photograph collections for this week’s gleanings. Enjoy!

RIP Kepler: NASA’s exoplanet-hunting space telescope is finally dead - MIT Technology Review – The Kepler mission that discovered 2,662 exoplanets in our galaxy finally ran out of fuel. There is already a new satellite picking up the mission and the James Webb Space Telescope will launch in 2021.

Premature Birth Report Cards | March of Dimes – Only one state gets an ‘A’ – and many areas of the country are getting worse when it comes to premature births.

High levels of previously unsuspected pollutant uncovered in homes, environment -- ScienceDaily – An organophosphate that is known to be toxic was a surprise find in household dust…more study needed on its impact on humans that live with it at that level. The chemical is used as a flame retardant or plasticizer in consumer products…and may also form as other chemicals degrade.

Wildlife Populations Have Shrunk by 60 Percent Since 1970 | The Scientist Magazine® - The impact of less and less space for habitat for any species other than those directly related to humans.

BBC - Future - Why the flu of 1918 was so deadly – There have been flu strains that have been just as contagious as the 1918 strain…but none as deadly.

Infographic: What Makes a Brain Smart? | The Scientist Magazine® - There are several models that are being studied.

11 Wildly Colored Moths to Brighten Your Day – Cool Green Science – Most of our moths are in cocoons for the winter. There are several of these that I’ve seen on Maryland…will be looking for them next spring.

Owls help scientists unlock secret of how the brain pays attention -- ScienceDaily – A study using barn owls to figure out how the brain chooses what most deserves attentions.

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 18, 2018

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 Birds with Red Plumage – National Geographic Blog – Starting out this weeks gleanings selections with some eye candy…..bird photographs. I was disappointed that the pileated woodpecker was not one of the 25.

Going Quietly into the Night: The Unseen Plight of Africa’s Giraffes – National Geographic Blog – Did you know that there are 4 species of giraffes? And most of them are in trouble.

10 Questions About Nut Butters | Berkeley Wellness – There is a segment near the end of the article that expands to show a table of “What’s in your ‘Nut Butter’?” – worth taking a look. I use almond butter more than peanut butter these days….but may explore some of the other options (not the high sugar ones).

Chemists discover how blue light from digital devices speeds blindness -- ScienceDaily – If this research is confirmed by other labs is seems like we should be demanding screens that are ‘less blue.’

A Tough Plant, Not A Weed | The Prairie Ecologist – Ironweed in the prairie…and the insects that it attracts.

Life Scientists Cut Down on Plastic Waste | The Scientist Magazine® - Hopefully every field/business is consciously reducing plastic waste. We are being overwhelming by single use plastics! The same type of thinking needs to happen at the individual level in our homes as well.

Sharpen your science skills with NOAA’s webinars for educators | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – Webinars created for teachers….but open to everyone. They’re archived too.

Archaeologists identify ancient North American mounds using new image analysis technique -- ScienceDaily -Analyzing new satellite and aerial sensor data with Object Based Image Analysis (OBIA) more than 160 mound features have been identified in Beaufort County SC….and there could be many more along the east coast of the US. This analysis pinpoints areas for archaeologists to look at on the ground.

BBC - Future - How do you treat someone who doesn’t accept they’re ill? – A thoughtful article about how communities are responding to people suffering psychoactive disorders…and refuse treatment.

Owl Underground: A Summer Encounter with Burrowing Owls – Cool Green Science – A short video from the side of an interstate highway in Idaho….and an article about burrowing owls.