Gleanings of the Week Ending August 29, 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.

Home births save money, are safe, study suggests - I wonder how long it will be before the ideal location for low risk births will be at home. My daughter’s colleagues seem to lean toward birthing centers already (rather than a hospital). Eventually the only people going to a hospital to have a baby will be the high risk pregnancies.

Slow-Mo Lets Us See How Hummingbirds Use Their Tongues like Pumps - Wow! Not something you can see with just your eye. It takes filming with a high speed camera then slowing down the action. This article includes a video.

Glass paint could keep metal roofs and other structures cool even on sunny days - Originally developed for ships….but there are a lot of applications for a paint that is inorganic (will not deteriorate rapidly) and reflects all sunlight (passively radiates heat).

How clean is your spinach? - I think I’ll start washing greens even if the package says they are already washed (not just spinach, it seems like kale would have the same issue).

If These Bones Could Talk: The Stories Human Skeletons Can Tell - A brief article about the collection of skeletons at University of Tennessee at Knoxville.

Inside the mind of a maze maker - Adrian Fisher builds mazes…all kinds of them.

Study: Air Pollution Implicated In 1.6 Million Deaths A Year in China - That is - 17% of the annual deaths in China are related to air pollution.

Warm, pleasant, LED lighting developed: LEDs cut energy use and greenhouse gas emissions - I like lighting that comes closer to nature light rather than being ‘harsh’ like the fluorescents and the LEDs that came on the market earlier. This might actually be the improvement that has me moving my reading lamp to and LED bulb.

Top Protein Sources for the Plant-Based Diet - I am not totally vegetarian but I am getting there. I eat vegetation more frequently that just Meatless Mondays! This is a good reference for protein sources which is one of the more substantial changes when making the transition.

Here be dragons - A collection of images and historical perspective of dragons in art/culture from Europenea.

Gleanings of the Week Ending May 9, 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.

How to Make Fresh Ginger-Lemon Tea - I modified the recipe a bit - made a slurry of the ingredients (with less water) in a smoothie maker then boiled it. After cooling - I strained the liquid into ice trays and am savoring a few cubes at a time for ginger-lemon flavored water.

No-Bake Breakfast Cookies - An option to try instead of purchasing breakfast bars? This way - I would know exactly what is in them.

Baroque organ performance of works by Johann Sebastian Bach - Listen to the music….and watch how a German baroque organ looks and is played!

This Is How Fast America Changes Its Mind - Some historical perspective…but there are always portions of the population that do not change their mind for many years afterward.

As the river rises: Cahokia's emergence and decline linked to Mississippi River flooding - I have visited Cahokia…and realized there is still a lot to learn about the site.

The Lake Mead Water Crisis Explained - The drought is causing the late to drop lower than it has ever been. At some point the lake will not be able to provide the water allocation to Nevada and California and Arizona…and it won’t generate as much electricity either.

Can Elon Musk's battery really cut your power lines? - The technology may or may not be ready for prime time and cost effective…..but I cheer that the discussion is happening and hope that we are reaching a tipping point where the majority of people in the US realize that we need to move off fossil fuels as fast or faster than the rest of the world or we will lose whatever competitive edge our society has at present. And another story about solar power policy: MIT says solar power fields with trillions of watts of capacity are on the way.

The first self-driving 18-wheeler hits the highways - The Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles granted it a license to operate on public roads in the state! It is self-driving but not driverless. Drivers are still required for exiting the highway, on local roads and in docking for making deliveries.

A Brief Guide to Atmospheric Pollutants - A nice summary (click on the graphic to enlarge) from Andy Brunning at Compound Interest.

Record global carbon dioxide concentrations surpass 400 parts per million in March 2015 - Not good. This article provides a history of how and where the 400 ppm gets measured.

Gleanings of the Week Ending March 28, 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.

A Visual Guide to Chemistry Glassware - A vocabulary lesson in glassware!  Probably everyone knows the difference between a test tube and a beaker…but what about a conical flask and volumetric flask?

From soda bans to bike lanes: Which 'natural experiments' really reduce obesity? - Which changes have made an impact? Studies that included longer follow-up periods after a change showed stronger results. Two examples of changes with strong impact were trans-fat bans and active transportation infrastructure improvement.

50% Driving Ban for Paris Due To Air Pollution - Weather conditions in Paris cause spikes in air pollution this time of year. We normally thin of the larger cities in India and China having the worst air pollution problems. The World Health Organization estimated that air pollution contributed to the deaths of 7 million people in 2012…so it is not an insignificant issue for the world.

Science Photographer Reveals Beauty of the Microscopic World - Manipulation of light through the microscope: transmission, differential interference contrast, optical staining, or dark field contrast.

Adapting to climate change will bring new environmental problems - Can we adapt in a sustainable way…or will our adaptation be short-sighted - and bad for the planet in the long term?

Archaeologists discover Maya 'melting pot' - Evidently mobile groups of hunter gatherers came together with settled groups for construction projects and public ceremonies --- they interacted much more than previous thought. They eventually became more uniformly sedentary.

Genome Study Predicts DNA of the Whole of Iceland - The DeCode project has collected enough full DNA sequences from Icelanders to extrapolate to the whole population (because the people are related). From this analysis, they know that 2,000 people in Iceland have the BRCA2 gene….but cannot tell them. The ethics associated with new technology is complex. In this particular case there is a “right ‘not to know’ of genetic hazards.” With more and more genome data being collected - other nations will soon have the same issue Iceland is facing now.

The Last 200 Years Of U.S. Immigration In One Chart - Click in the upper left corner to enlarge the plot. The overall trend is as interesting as where people came from. World War II had quite an impact while World War I did not.

SolarCity to build its own power grids - The market for solar technology seems to be developing very quickly. There are so many more options now than there were 5 years ago. When will the tipping point come…when more people will have solar - or some form of renewable energy where they live and work.

Compulsive Behavior Sells - Habit-forming technology….a little scary. How quickly will people train themselves to realize that it is happening?