Gleanings of the Week Ending April 30, 2016

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.

Sharing a Passion for ‘beautiful’ bees – A nature photographer’s project to tell the story of North America’s native bees. There is some information about how he gets his images without stressing the bees too.

Getting to the Root – 18 genes are related to hair related traits --- but we are only beginning to understand how they work.

How do we get our drinking water in the US? – With Flint, Michigan’s water problems, awareness is increases across the country that we should not take our drinking water ‘goodness’ for granted. For a more chemistry perspective – take a look at Water Treatment – from Reservoir to Home from Compound Interest.

Sugar: The Benefits of Cutting Back – The results of a study involving children and teenagers.

7 Tips to Reduce Food Waste (and Save Money) – Nothing truly new in this list…but all good ideas. Now to just apply them all the time.

Genetic Resilience – A study of half a million human genomes, reveals 13 adults that had mutations for 8 different severe childhood genetic disorders…yet had no reported signs of the disease. We have a way to go in understanding how genes work as a system; none of them work in isolation and our studies of them in a standalone fashion is a simplification too far.

Are hazardous chemicals in your cosmetics? – The 4 to look for and avoid are: phthalates, parabens, triclosan, and oxybenzone because they interfere with the body’s natural hormones.

Thyroid tumor reclassified to curb over diagnosis of cancer – The detection of tumors has outpaced the research about what tumors need treatment versus those that are relatively benign. This is a case where a type of thyroid tumor previously classified as ‘cancer’ is being reclassified as non-invasive and with a low risk of recurrence. Are there more tumor types that patients are worrying about now that will eventually be reclassified along these same lines?

America’s Ten Most Endangered Rivers of 2016 – The one near me is the Susquehanna but the 10 rivers on the list are all across the country.

Dirty Dozen Update! Fruits and Veggies Worth Buying Organic – The latest list from the Environmental Working Group.