Gleanings of the Week Ending December 5, 2015

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.

Indestructible Water Bears Have a Genome That Is Seriously Weird – Over 17% of their genome comes from other organisms! 9% of rotifer genome is from other organisms. Now that we are sequencing genomes nothing is as absolute as we’d once assumed.

Discover Jordan’s past and present in Google Maps – Take a look at Petra and other sites in Jordan.

5 Root Vegetables to Put on Your Radar – Parsnips, turnips, Jerusalem artichokes, jicama, and daikon radish…have you tried any/all of these? There are 3 that I have not so maybe they will be part of a food adventure this winter.

Farming Sped Eurasian Evolution – And it was a migration of people not a diffusion of ideas that spread farming into Europe.

London Was Diverse Even Its Early Roman Days – In 50 AD…London was already a cross roads with people from other parts of Europe and as far away as North Africa living alongside people that had been in Britain for longer.

Loss of mastodons aided domestication of pumpkins, squash – Mastadons ate pumpkins! The wild pumpkins of that time was bitter and maybe even toxic to humans. Initially the plant may have been used as containers or fishnet floats. Gradually (and in multiple locations) the cucurbitas were domesticated and we have the squashes we eat today.

1,400-Year-Old Gingko Tree Sheds a Spectacular Ocean of Golden Leaves – Even the smaller gingko trees can be spectacular. The shape of the leaves is unique too.

New treatment potential for heart attack sufferers – I was intrigued by the title but even more in statement that was buried more than halfway through the article: “Currently, 5-10% of the population is believed to have mildly elevated levels of bilirubin in their blood – a condition with no negative side effects….People with this syndrome have a 30-60% reduced chance of having cardiovascular disease…” I’m one of those 5-10%!

The grim and gory reality of surgery in space – It has some similarities to any remote exploration…with the added challenge of weightlessness.

Inside Each Flu Shot, Months of Virus Tracking and Predictions – I’ve been getting flu vaccines regularly for the past 10 years or so…and haven’t gotten the flu a single time. And now it is easier than ever – no visit to the doctor required now that pharmacies provide flu shots.