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.

30 Years Ago – March 1990

30 years ago this month – my husband and I took our daughter on her first overnight trip. We went to Blackwater and Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuges on the eastern shore of Maryland/Virginia. At Blackwater we saw our first Bald Eagle in the wild while the baby was working on a bottle (i.e. she was weaned from breast milk). We used our new umbrella stroller on some grassy paths at Chincoteague; by the end of the trip, it was somewhat scuffed…no longer ‘new’ looking.

I was making plans to go back to work in May…had sent a note off to my manager about wanting a part time assignment for 4 months and then would go back to full time after that.

My parents came from Texas for a visit – being with us for my Dad’s birthday. We bought some soft balls for our daughter to give to him for his birthday and I remember taking this picture. She has a pillow behind her because she wasn’t yet adept at sitting on her own. My dad’s arm is in the picture and the red ball he is getting ready to roll to her is in his hand. He moved it several times before he let it go…training her to keep her eye on the ball!

Previous 30 years ago posts can be found here.

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 9, 2019

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

Infographic: How Air Pollution Could Affect the Brain | The Scientist Magazine® - A quick and disturbing summary. The evidence of harm: particles like those produced by vehicle engines found in frontal cortex (postmortem), reduced volumes of white matter, slowed development of children, inflammation related damage to brain cells, and higher accumulation of Alzheimer-associated proteins.

Happier Babies Have an Edge - Scientific American Blog Network – The more children experience happy emotions, the more time they spend building skills and relationships that help them in the future.

900 Pythons Removed from South Florida – That’s a lot of snakes. Kudos to the Python Action Team. There are other organizations (government and non-profits) working on this too. I wish the article would have included information about what they do with the snakes after they are captured. Presumable they are killed.

Study: 95 percent of baby food contains traces of toxic metals - UPI.com – Not good. The full report referred to in the article is available here. I wonder if pediatricians are changing their recommendation when it comes to some foods (like rice cereal for babies).

Newly discovered virus infects bald eagles across America -- ScienceDaily – Over 1/3 of America’s Bald Eagles are infected…and it might be causing a fatal disease – Wisconsin River Eagle Syndrome.

BBC - Future - What life might be like in alien oceans – Lots of possibilities. It will be interesting to get some probes (submersibles, etc.) out to the moons of other planets in our solar system that have alien oceans…maybe life.

From quills to typewriters: how the industrial revolution changed our writing culture | Europeana Blog – A little history lesson.

National Science Board highlights Skilled Technical Workforce shortage in new report - The Bridge: Connecting Science and Policy - AGU Blogosphere – “Without immediate action, the US risks falling behind other nations that are making significant investments in their Science and Engineering workforce and the Science and Technology enterprise.”  The whole report can be found here.

The Platypus Is Weirder Than You Ever Imagined – Cool Green Science – They don’t have a stomach, their venom can help treat diabetes, their milk can help fight antibiotic resistance….the list goes on.

Photography in The National Parks: Your Armchair Photography Guide To Olympic National Park, Part 2 – The Forests – National Parks….always a great destination for nature photography.

Gleanings of the Week Ending July 13, 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.

We organized a conference for 570 people without using plastic. Here’s how it went – It’s hard to do anything without plastic….but we’ll find ways eventually. I am focused on the ‘single use’ items first but when I can I choose materials other than plastic even for more durable items.

Arches National Park Recognized As "Dark Sky" Park – Now for my husband to find a way to get there with his telescope….

Timber Rattlesnakes: Cool Facts and an Uncertain Future – This snake is found in western Maryland….not in the county where I live. But we always mention it to students interested in snakes. This article provided some additional ‘cool facts’ to pass along.

Macro Photos of Water Droplets Reveal the Overlooked Beauty of Nature – Beautiful images in water droplets - And the artist included some pictures of the set up he uses to get the pictures!

In an Era of Extreme Weather, Concerns Grow Over Dam Safety – There have been dams in the news in recent years (like the Oroville Dam spillway failure in 2017). In our area, some small dams have been removed. But there are 91,000 dams in the US that are aging and need repairs. It’s going to be expensive…and the extreme weather we’ve been having probably makes it more urgent…but the funding is just not forthcoming so far.

Chiggers are the worst – Agreed.

Photo of the Week – July 5, 2019 – Milkweed in bloom. This is a blog post from The Prairie Ecologist…showing some bugs too. No Monarch butterflies though.

8 ways wild animals beat the heat – The mucous that hippos secrete was new to me…it’s acts as sunscreen, antibiotic, moisturizer, and water repellant. Now that we’ve learned that the sunscreen we’ve been using may be toxic to corals (and maybe to us too), perhaps we could develop an alternative by learning more about the hippo mucous.

Winter Bee Declines Greatest in 13 Years: Survey – Habitat loss, pesticides, Varroa mites….it adds up. Evidently in recent years the strategies that beekeepers have been using to deter mites have not worked as well. Some crops rely more on commercial beekeepers than others. Almonds, cherries, and blueberries are mentioned as examples.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week: Flowers – Last but not least this week…..birds and flowers. Enjoy the photographs.

Gleanings of the Week Ending December 1, 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.

How to feed a cat: Consensus statement to the veterinary community: Reducing stress-related eating problems -- ScienceDaily – Puzzle feeders and putting food in different places….make meal time more interesting!

Examining Grad Student Mental Health | The Scientist Magazine® - There are a lot of stressors during graduate school….and many students become depressed or develop other mental health issues. Students, faculty and university administrators are noticing that more needs to be done to help grad students through the challenges of this phase of their education.

Why Fall Color Has Been So Meh in Parts of the U.S. This Year | Smart News | Smithsonian – This article came out a few weeks ago….just getting around to putting in the gleanings. The explanation of why our area had such a lack luster fall is interesting and it might become the norm as the area gets wetter and warmer.

BBC - Earth News - Legless frogs mystery solved – Predatory dragonfly nymphs eat legs of tadpoles! This is an article from 2009…but it was news to me. We find dragonfly nymphs in almost all the streams and rivers around where I live…but I haven’t seen any legless frogs.

2 Solar Ovens Reviewed | CleanTechnica – I wonder how many people living in their RV or travel trailer make use of this type of oven to minimize propane and/or electricity usage.

Large-Scale Tar Production May Have Fueled Viking Expansion - Archaeology Magazine – Tar to waterproof ships. I was reminded of the ‘Connections’ series that often showed how a key technologic advance enabled something historically significant.

Yellowstone streams recovering thanks to wolf reintroduction -- ScienceDaily – The willows are growing taller along the banks of streams, making the banks more stable…since the wolfs are back and impacting elk browsing.

Gaudí's El Capricho, an Early Gem Located in North Spain – It’s hard to see it as a place that people would really live!

How invasive earthworm feces is altering US soils -- ScienceDaily – Asian jumping worms are changing the soils of the Midwest and East Coast of the US….and not for the better.

Why did Tutankhamun have a dagger made from a meteorite? – When Tutankhamun died, iron was rarer than gold. The Egyptians did not know how to process iron from ores…but they did know that iron meteorites came from the sky which might have made the material symbolic for them. Objects made from it would have been reserved for high-status people.