Gleanings of the Week Ending November 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.

How Tucson, Arizona is facing up to a 1,200-year drought – Harvesting rain!

The demented gift American politicians handed to China – About electric buses….and more. The suggested acronym by the author: GAGA (Give American Greatness Away).

New clues into a serious neurodegenerative disease – So many sources of cognitive decline….and we are just beginning to understand some of the mechanisms (and thus effective treatment). The research described in this post is about frontotemporal dementia.

World headed in wrong direction one 5 key mechanisms of climate progress – And the 5 are: share of unabated fossil gas in electricity generation, carbon intensity of global steel production, share of kilometers traveled in passenger cars, mangrove loss, agricultural production of GHG emissions.

Researchers reveal why shingles can lead to stroke - The risk of stroke is elevated for a year after having shingles. This study found that prothrombotic exosomes which can cause blood clots are found in those with shingles…and persist after the outward symptoms of shingles are gone. Using antiviral agents longer with the addition of antiplatelet and anti-inflammatory agents could help reduce the risk of stroke.

Will we ever…. live in city sized buildings? – Maybe. But would it be pleasant? Maybe an apocalyptic event would force us to do it to survive.

Vitamin D deficiency linked to premature death – The study evaluated 307,601 records from the UK Biobank. Take away message from the results: ensure that vulnerable and elderly maintain sufficient vitamin D levels throughout the year.

Omicron keeps finding new evolutionary tricks to outsmart our immunity – Variants within a variant!

Powerful Aerial Photos Show the Consequences of Drought on the Colorado River – The dry situation in the western US.

Cats react to ‘baby talk’ from their owners, but not strangers – And does this mean we are more than just a food provider in their world?

Gleanings of the Week Ending May 29, 2021

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 COVID is changing the study of human behavior – Hopefully we are learning something beneficial in the long run from the pandemic….there are also some very depressing aspects of our society that the pandemic has highlighted (that are negative for at least the near term).

Top 25 birds of the week: Bird Migration – I am missing the birds I see most during migration times in Maryland this year since I am in Texas.

Kestrel Cam: A Story from Egg to Falcon – Moving from the 25 pictures…to a detailed picture of a small falcon’s life beginning.

Climate change threatens one-third of global food production – We have lots of reasons to make changes…to stop mistreating our planet and let it recover. This is another one.

Saint Petersburg Keeps the Sea at Bay – A big project started in 1979 and operational in 2011…built to withstand a storm surge from the Baltic Sea of 5 meters.

Thirteenth-Century Angkor was home to more people modern Boston – I was surprised….recent studies have shown other ancient population centers were more populous that previously estimated too.

How cities will fossilize – From BBC Future. Thought provoking…using Shanghai Tower as an example to illustrate what could happen.

Flashy plants draw outsize share of scientists’ attention – ‘Aesthetic bias’ when it comes to choices for research (and probably extends beyond plants).

New Monarch butterfly breeding pattern inspires hope – Signs that the monarch butterflies in the western US might be adapting to changing climate. It’s good to see a little positive news about monarchs.

Egyptian Archaeologists Accidently Discovers 250 Ancient, Rock-Cut Tombs – Still new sites to study even in a country that has been intensively studied for many years. This time the tombs are not ‘royal’ – may provide more insight into how ordinary people lived in ancient Egypt.

Sandwiched

I am sandwiched between elderly parents and an early career daughter. Many of the articles about being in this situation seem to focus on the stress of being pulled between the two generations. My perception of it – so far – is how lucky I am…not the stress it might cause from time to time. Yes – I can’t be everywhere at once – but I am not the only one involved. I am married and have three sisters…all in the situation with me!

The distance between Maryland (me) and Texas (my parents) requires a two day drive…it’s slightly shorter but still 2 days to Missouri (my daughter’s). Flying is easier between my home and my parents since both are major cities; the flights to my daughters all require at least one stop.  Overall – it is a challenge to get to them fast. Virtual is helpful but not the same as being there in person.

I was fortunate that neither generation of my sandwich had an emergency during the pandemic. Traveling the distance quickly (driving or flying) is already a challenge…it would have been incredibly traumatic to not be able to travel at all; I’m glad we are all vaccinated now so the travel restriction is lifting.

The pandemic year has probably increased the need to travel to my parents more frequently. Maybe I will feel the pull more acutely…or not. I going to stay with the idea of savoring the time with both generations!

Gleanings of the Week Ending April 17, 2021

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 of the week: Forests! – Photographs and birds….always a great start to the gleanings list for the week.

Regulators Ban Fracking Permanently in the Four-State Delaware River Watershed - Yale E360 – The watershed provides drinking water to 13 million people in Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey and New York….critical to not have toxic leaks into that supply….and the fracking industry does not have good track record when it comes to water quality.

Scientists stunned to discover plants beneath mile-deep Greenland ice -- ScienceDaily - Long-lost ice core provides direct evidence that giant ice sheet melted off within the last million years and is highly vulnerable to a warming climate.

The legendary fabric that no one knows how to make - BBC Future – Dhaka muslin…with thread counts up to 1,200.

Diphtheria risks becoming major global threat again as it evolves antimicrobial resistance -- ScienceDaily – Resistance to antibiotics and vaccine escape becoming more common/likely….not a good prospect.

Climate Change Lays Waste to Butterflies Across American West | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – The total number of observed butterflies west of the Rocky Mountains has fallen by 1.6 percent every year since 1977….that adds up to over 65% decrease!

Reflecting on your own capabilities boosts resilience -- ScienceDaily – Thinking about memories of successfully overcoming past challenges may help us cope with crisis situations we are facing in the present.

Great Lakes people among first coppersmiths | Science – The Old Copper Culture began earlier and faded earlier that previously thought…starting about 9,500 years ago and ending about 5,000 years ago. A climate shift might have caused the culture to shift from using copper for tools to adornment at the end of the period.

Waste from making purple corn chips yields a natural dye, supplements, kitty litter -- ScienceDaily – I like processes that dramatically reduce the amount of agricultural waste. I wonder if the purple kitty litter would stain carpet if it was tracked out of the litter box though.

Why cats won’t punish a stranger who harms you - BBC Future – Evidently cats do form emotional bonds with their humans…but they probably don’t pick up on human social relationships….not as domesticated as dogs.

Gleanings of the Week Ending February 6, 2021

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.

Human egg cells are imperfect surprisingly often -- ScienceDaily – More than 7% of human oocytes contain at least one exchangeless chromosome pair…and the frequency is not affected by maternal age. Our species is hardwired to have significant numbers of miscarriages and babies with extra or missing chromosomes. The finding is interesting, but I immediately thought of some questions…has this changed over the past 100 years (i.e. have we changed our environment enough that we are impacting our reproductive success) and how does this frequency compare to other mammals?

Why our pursuit of happiness may be flawed - BBC Future – A thought provoking piece about how seeking ‘happiness’ often sets the stage for disappointment…rather than contentment.

Pollution from cooking remains in atmosphere for longer -- ScienceDaily – Eating deep-fat fried foods is not just unhealthy…the cooking of foods that way contributes to air pollution. In London, 10% of the PM2.5 particles are from deep fat frying….in Hong Kong 39%!

2nd Annual Threatened And Endangered Parks: Natural Darkness And Sounds – My husband and I are looking forward to more dark sky opportunities in national parks. So far – the ‘star parties’ we’ve been to have been at state parks and hosted by amateur astronomy clubs in the area. The dark sky venue requires a bit of infrastructure to support a field full of camping amateur astronomers with their telescopes (electricity for telescopes/computers and bath rooms with red tented windows).

Top 25 birds of the week: Colouration! - Wild Bird Revolution – Lots of color in this post to break up mostly brown and white winter color outside my window! 

U.S. Breaks Record for Billion-Dollar Climate Disasters in 2020 | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – Not a good record to be breaking…and they happened during a pandemic year too. There were 22 disasters that caused at least $1 billion in damages across America in 2020.

Q&A: Global Insect Declines Due to "Death by a Thousand Cuts" | The Scientist Magazine® - In every case researched….it’s not just one thing that caused the decline…it a cluster of primary factors (6 or more) and then other factors that are difficult to quantify.

Texas Wind Power Dominates Coal In Crossover Year – Hurray! Hopefully, the coal plants will begin to phase out in Texas and across the country as they become less and less competitive with renewable sources of power.

On the road to invisible solar panels: How tomorrow's windows will generate electricity -- ScienceDaily – I am always reluctant to consider replacement windows….but if they were cost effective solar panels…that would tip the decision toward ‘buy’!

Caligula's Gardens, Long Hidden Beneath Italian Apartment Building, to Go on View | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – A subterranean museum beneath the streets of Rome to open this spring.

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 22, 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.

Scientists Awaken Deep Sea Bacteria After 100 Million Years | The Scientist Magazine® - Learning more about the durability of microbes in extreme conditions….and thinking about how we look for life elsewhere.

How Ancient Monsoons and Tectonic Shifts Shaped This Flowering Mountain Hotspot | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – China’s Hengduan Mountains….a lot of rhododendrons and delphiniums

Idol of the Painted Temple - Archaeology Magazine – Pachacamac in Southern Peru…a place venerated even before the Inca Empire

5,000 Pythons Reportedly Removed from Everglades Ecosystem – A lot of pythons…but still more need to be removed.

How lockdown may have changed your personality - BBC Future – It might not have changed very much or permanently for most people. Most of us are resiliently adapting to lockdown…we’ll bounce back or continue the aspects we developed during this ‘timeout’ that are positive.

Alaska’s Vegetation is Changing Dramatically – The impact is still to be determined but rapid changes are rarely good for ecosystems….they decline because they can’t adjust fast enough to the rate of change.

Bees' buzz is more powerful for pollination, than for defense or flight -- ScienceDaily – There is not just one kind of buzz! And some bees (like honey bees) don’t buzz flowers at all.

Top 25 Birds of the Week: Raptors  - The birds of prey…some are powerful looking, some are cute, some a ugly…but that’s just overlaying our stereotyping onto birds like we do with other people.

Why Plastic Waste is an ideal building material – We need a strategy to upcycle all the waste plastic that is accumulating since we don’t seem to be able to wean ourselves from plastic packaging at all.

Grand Canyon's Prehistoric Past Appears In 313-Million-Year-Old Tracks -  Sandstone rockfalls….near the trail…first spotted by a Norwegian geology professor on a field trip to the Grand Canyon with his students.

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

Clothes dryer working. Our 20-year-old clothes dryer has a new heating element and the dust/lint has been cleaned out from around the innards. The first loads we did were towels!

Doe and 2 fawns in our back yard. My husband noticed the deer in our back yard in the afternoon. They stayed around long enough for me to get some pictures. In past years we’ve had a doe and 2 fawns in our yard more frequently. This year their main path back into the forest must be through another yard because we haven’t seen them as often…and so it is a special day when we do.

The fawns are good size now, but their spots are still noticeable…not quite as well defined as earlier in the season.

Gleanings of the Week Ending September 29, 2018

The Amazing Ancient Fishes of Africa – Cool Green Science – Lungfish, butterfly fish, bichir, bonytongue…most of them are air breathers!

Thinking beyond yourself can make you more open to healthy lifestyle choices -- ScienceDaily – Maybe we need to psyche ourselves to make better choices!

Japan's Hayabusa2 Spacecraft Successfully Deploys Landers to Asteroid Ryugu's Surface and Bouncing robots land on asteroid 180m miles away amid mission to fetch sample for Earth • The Register  – Exciting stuff from a rover on an asteroid! And the return mission in 2020 will be exciting too.

Molecule with anti-aging effects on vascular system identified -- ScienceDaily – A ketone body was identified that is produced during fasting or calorie restriction. It appears to delay vascular aging.

Free Technology for Teachers: A Good Resource for Learning About the Science of Food – 14 short videos about food research.

Scientists investigate how DEET confuses countless critters -- ScienceDaily – Evidently DEET interferes with organisms’ response to odors thus confusing the organism rather than repelling it!

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week: Birds with Yellow Plumage – National Geographic Blog – I always enjoy the bird photographs

BBC - Future - How to use seawater to grow food – in the desert - An experiment in Jordan to farm with solar powered desalination of Red Sea water for greenhouses cooled as part of the desalination process. Jordan currently imports a high percentage of its food…if this type of farming can be cost effective the country might be able to feed itself and even export some foods.

How leaves talk to roots -- ScienceDaily – When I was in college taking biology courses in the 1970s – micro RNA was not in our vocabulary!

Well-Preserved Roman Road Uncovered in the Netherlands - Archaeology Magazine (more details at https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2018/09/roman-road-artifacts-found-during-digging-for-a-new-motorway/ ) – New finds like this are always a little surprising…things that were there for a very long time but covered over by a few feet of soil.

Gleanings of the Week Ending May 12, 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.

Why I Speak Up for Science – National Geographic – A short piece about the need for science in everyday life….why science is important for everyone.

From property damage to lost production: How natural disasters impact economics -- ScienceDaily – The economic impact is more than just a single point of property damage and lost production…there is a ripple effect that can increase the overall impact significantly over what insurance covers and it beomes a very complex problem to estimate.

European Union Bans All Outdoor Uses of Neonicotinoids - Yale E360 – Shouldn’t we in the US be at least this concerned about the health of bees and other pollinators? Why have we not done more to curtail the use of neonicotinoids?

Top 25 Urban Birds – National Geographic – Some birds are thriving in the cities of the world.

Common Eye Disorders Explained: Cataracts, Glaucoma, AMD | Berkeley Wellness – Prevention, signs and symptoms, treatment…well organized and easy to understand.

These daggers made from human bone were a deadly asset on the battlefield | Science | AAAS – They are from New Guinea….and decorated. Most of the time they were made from cassowary leg bones….but sometimes human thigh bones were used.

US gains in air quality are slowing down: New study indicates challenges of meeting ozone goals -- ScienceDaily – I live in an area that has an increasing number of ‘code red’ days (high ozone). This study indicates that emissions from cars and power plants are understood well enough…but not other sources and that is probably why the trend toward better air quality is slowing down.

BBC - Future - How prison changes people – Evidently the personality change that dominates is an inability to trust others….but there are other common changes as well. Prisons almost seem design to change personalities for the worse.

City upbringing, without pets, boosts vulnerability to mental illness -- ScienceDaily – We need to figure out how to make cities a healthy place for everyone --- including children.

BBC - Future - Why pristine lakes are filled with toxins – A study done on Lake Geneva revealed cadmium, mercury, lead…sometimes in high concentration…from decades of plastic build up in the lake. Other studies of the microplastics in the water (and in water that has been processed for drinking) and then beer and honey from the area. Lots more research is needed on the impact to wildlife in and around the lake.