Gleanings of the Week Ending May 2, 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.

The Best Vegan Milk (Non-Dairy) Alternatives - A good reference about how the non-dairy ‘milks’ are made. My current favorite in unsweetened vanilla almond milk.

Babies as young as 6 months using mobile media - Wow! This is scary. A lot has changed in 25 years. Then again - a lot changed in the 25 years before that. How many 3 year olds watched television on a daily basis in the 1950s…almost none. There were cartoons on Saturday morning by the 1960s. Quite a few children were watching shows like Sesame Street (and other shows too) almost daily 25 years later. Has mobile media replaced television or is it in addition to television?

A New 'Livability Index' to Help Americans Age in Place - AARP has a new tool that takes a number of factors into account to assess ‘livability’ (tool is here….enter your zip code in the box in the right side frame of the page.

Every Breath You Take: State of the Air 2015 - Read the post and then go to the State of the Air site and put in your state. Most cities get an ‘F’ which does not bode well for the health of a majority of the US population.

7 things we've learned about Earth since the last Earth Day - This was posted for Earth Day but I saw it a little late. I’m sure it was hard to choose 7 things…the ones picked were pretty significant.

 Gut Microbes Influence Circadian Clock  and Circadian Clock Controls Sugar Metabolism - Two articles about circadian clock importance to the way our bodies handle food. I’ve noted these articles more since I took a Coursera course on the circadian clock.

The Octopus’ Birthday: Understanding an Intelligent & Elusive Marine Creature - These creatures are so different that they evoke almost the same fascination as dinosaurs with children…and maybe adults too. Did you know that the age of an octopus can be determined by counting the rings in its stylet (rudimentary shell); the number of rings = the number of days the octopus lived.

Why the Tiniest of Fossils Mean Big Things to Scientists - A 6 minute video from the American Museum of Natural History about foraminifera….how beautiful they are and what they tell us about Earth’s past (and maybe the future too).

Living to 100: Lifestyle advice for would-be centenarians - The results from a study of 855 men born in 1913…10 of them lived to 100.

Seven of the Most Beautiful Botanical Mazes on Earth - A collection of videos of mazes.

Gleanings of the Week Ending March 7, 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.

'Bionic' eye allows man to see wife for first time in a decade - The system is not yet advanced enough to provide high resolution vision - but it is enough to improve quality of life….and sets the stage for more development of similar devices. Certain types of blindness (caused by retina problems, not the optic nerve) are candidates for this type of ‘bionic’ eye.

Global Pesticide Map Shows Large Areas of High Water Pollution Risk - Enlarge the map in this article; what is the risk in the area where you live? In mine is high/very high…..that’s not good.

Economic models provide insights into global sustainability challenges - Making decisions based on simplifying assumptions - which is what we normally do - may not be wise. The advent to models that can help us integrate what we know about global economics, geography, ecology and environmental sciences may provide some surprising insights and lead to better decisions.

Twelve Milkweeds for Monarchs - Wow! There are a lot more different kinds of milkweed than I anticipated.

Food Additives Linked to Inflammation - Yet another reason to reduce the amount of processed food you consume.

Special Tours Offered At Mesa Verde National Park - Something to remember about Mesa Verde. My husband I enjoyed our visit almost 40 years ago and have been talking about visiting again.

Lab-on-paper developed for rapid, inexpensive medical diagnostics - Point-of-care testing is projected to expand over the next few years. Imagine not having to wait for several days to get lab results for your annual physical!

Nine steps to survive 'most explosive era of infrastructure expansion in human history' - Bottom line: The builders of infrastructure need to consider the full context of their projects….not just who will benefit.

The Chemistry of Colored Glass - Glass is one of my favorite materials. This post includes a graphic that talks about what is added to the basic soda-lime glass to create different colors of glass.

Seven strategies to advance women in science - Good points. We’ve been trying some of these things for at least the past 40 years…..maybe it is doing ALL of them that will make the difference.

F. Kaid Benfield: How to Create Healthy Environments for People - There seem to be quite a few articles this week with lists. Here is the last one! All these ideas seem to make sense….so why are they not already part of the way development takes place?

Gleanings of the Week Ending January 17, 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.

Under-the-Radar Environmental Stories for 2015: The Furtive Five - Five stories and some comments about trends in environmental reporting in mainstream media. Did you know that 33% of the children living the Tehran have asthma or air-pollution related allergies?

Technology to recycle all type of plastics without using water - This sounds like a good technology for the future…and in areas where water is already scarce.  The research/development was done in Mexico.

Chitosan: Sustainable alternative for food packaging - Chitosan is made from shells of crustaceans. The process for manufacturing is not currently economical but could become so….and the material biodegrades much faster than the 100-400 years it takes for most plastic packaging today. I wondered if the packaging would cause people with allergies to shellfish a problem. The research/development was done in Spain (Basque Country). This and the article just above caused me to wonder if countries other than the US are surging ahead when it comes to enablers for a sustainable Earth.

Sweet potato leaves a good source of vitamins - I just discovered that sweet potato leaves are edible from my CSA last fall. It’s thrilling that they are very nutritious as well. I liked them a lot in salads; they are best if eaten within a few days of being picked so I don’t anticipate they will find their way into grocery stores very often.

6 Birds That Are Champion Flyers - Champion flyers from different perspectives: Arctic Tern, Bar-tailed Godwit, Peregrine Falcon, Grey-headed Albatross, Hummingbird, Purple Martins.

The Chemistry of Decongestants - This was a timely post on the Compound Interest site.

Lose Yourself in These Photos Of Europe's Most Magnificent Libraries - Books and buildings….what will they be in 100 years? They already have a museum quality.

The 19th-Century Photography Trick That Changed How We See Snow - How William Bentley made his famous images of snowflakes….spurs me on to try more snowflake photography next time in snows in my area. I may add a feather to my supplies!

The Daily Routines of Famous Creative People, Charted - Is your daily pattern similar to any of these ‘famous creative people’?

‘Kitchen of the future’ here, now - I like the idea of a high definition backsplash! There is a film available from the location of the materials for the Science Daily story here. I already use my ceramic cooktop as working surface when I’m not cooking on it…so I agree that there are certain components of the ‘kitchen of the future’ that are now.

Six ways city landscapes can be more flood resilient - in pictures - With rising sea levels - more cities will be looking at flooding mitigations. These are some beautiful solutions. In our area of Maryland - rain gardens are often included in new housing developments.