Gleanings of the Week Ending March 21, 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.

Nine superfruits and super seeds to add to your diet - I eat 3 of the 9 frequently (chai, flaxseeds, and blueberries)!  There is only one that I haven’t added to my diet (yet): Acai berries.

There May Be More Water on Jupiter's Largest Moon than on Earth - Subterranean oceans - on Ganymede. It wasn’t so long ago that we assumed that the Earth’s oceans were unique…and now we are thinking that maybe they aren’t.

World's most iconic ecosystems: World heritage sites risk collapse without stronger local management - These sites have importance to world…the researchers argue for stronger local management. That is needed but these ecosystems are connected to other ecosystems are not iconic but may be critical to sustaining these designated iconic areas. We have to start thinking about how we sustain the Earth - worldwide - more often than we’ve ever done before.

Cherry Tree that needs pruningPrune Trees like a Pro - This post has good diagrams. I noticed it this week just as I was thinking about what I need to do first in my yard and decided pruning was high on the list; our cherry and plum both need it.

Archaeologists Uncover Ancient Egyptian Tombs with Stunning Murals - They were found near Luxor. Isn’t it amazing that there are still things like to be found in places that have been intensely searched for over a century? Hopefully they will be preserved in a way that the colors remain as vivid as they are now.

Towels top kitchen contamination hazards list - Ugh! I think I’ll start putting out a fresh towel every day.

The World’s Largest Solar Energy Projects - Some projects from India and California…these are huge installations.

Oncologists reveal reasons for high cost of cancer drugs in U.S. - There is a list of some potential solutions at the end of the article. One that sticks out is to allow the FDA or physician panels to recommend target prices based on the drug’s magnitude of benefit (i.e. value based pricing). Why has our system allowed something other than value based pricing to be the norm? Hurray for the doctors that are standing up for their patients!

10 National Monuments you’ve never heard of - Vacation ideas. I always like to keep these in mind to add to the itinerary of a trip to the area. I’ve been to El Malpais several times. Maybe next time I visit Tucson - Chiricahua will be a day trip.

Chitin, a structural molecule associated with allergy response, is identified in vertebrates - A few weeks ago, I learned that chitin (the material of insects’ exoskeletons) is in the cell walls of mushrooms…and then this article about chitin in fishes and amphibians! And chitin has been shown to be an excellent material for biodegradable plastics!