Gleanings of the Week Ending November 18, 2017

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 Acoustics of Ancient Greek Theaters Aren’t What They Used to Be | Smart News | Smithsonian – Legendary acoustics? Maybe not. But they are still very good even with the changes in the structures over time (pitting of smooth surfaces, no backdrops, etc.)

BBC - Future - The useless design features in modern products – copper rivets and watch pockets in jeans, cockpits with analog dials/leavers/knobs, and keyboard layout. The look of modern products has a lot to do with history!

Five Things to Know About the Yellowstone Supervolcano | Smart News | Smithsonian – I can remember my daughter being fascinated that Yellowstone is a Supervolcano when we visited. She was enthusiastic about finding a book about it and was puzzled when the person manning the bookstore seemed surprised that she wanted a book about super volcanoes!

Keeping Your Balance as You Age | Berkeley Wellness – Some reasons to do some balance exercises…and some easy ones that don’t need any equipment.

Some items about a favorite food around Thanksgiving: Pumpkin genomes sequenced, revealing uncommon evolutionary history -- ScienceDaily and 7 Pumpkin Recipe Ideas | Berkeley Wellness

Oldest recorded solar eclipse helps date the Egyptian pharaohs -- ScienceDaily – October 30, 1207 BC! A new calculation that, if accepted, could lead to an adjustment in the dates of the reigns of several pharaohs…enabling to date them precisely

Caribbean’s largest concentration of indigenous pre-Columbian rock art -- ScienceDaily - Artists before Columbus: New research on the Caribbean’s largest concentration of indigenous pre-Columbian rock art (how it was made, paint recipes). The pictographs are in very narrow spaces deep in caves. Follow the materials link at the bottom of the article to see some images. As I read the article, I realized that the research had probably been completed before the recent hurricanes.

Older Neandertal survived with a little help from his friends – Loss of a forearm, deaf…and he survived into his 40s…about 50,000 years ago.

The Weird Growth Strategy of Earth’s First Trees | The Scientist Magazine® - The first tree grew large very differently than modern trees!

4 Myths About Meditation and How to Overcome Them | Berkeley Wellness – For me – the ‘myths’ are no so important…the mediation is.

3 Free eBooks – November 2017

So many books….so little time!

Evans, Henry Herman. Botanical prints with excerpts from the artist's notebooks. San Francisco: Freeman. 1977. Borrow from Internet Archive here. This is a book available from Internet Archive that is loaned for 14 days. I loved the prints in this book…well work the look. I appreciate that a lot of books that were previous hard to access because they were still under copyright but out-of-print (and expensive if they were available on the used market) are being digitized and made available this way. Kudos to the Internet Archive and the people that are working to make it possible.

Godey, Louis A.; Hale, Sarah Josepha. Godey’s Lady’s Book. Published in Philadelphia. The Internet Archive has many volumes…particularly issues from 1864 available here. The illustrations are snippets of fashion history at the that the Civil War was ending; the magazine managed to stay surprisingly apolitical. What do you think about these bathing dresses from July 1864!

Wight, Robert. Icones plantarum Indiae Orientalis - or figures of Indian plants. Madras: Published by JB Pharoah for the author. 1840-1853. Six volumes (and other books by the same author) available from the Internet Archive here. I like the botanical drawings in these volumes as prompts for Zentangle patterns.

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 11, 2017

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.

Water striders illustrate evolutionary processes -- ScienceDaily – Water striders are one of the favorite of elementary school aged students on field trip hikes…next time I’ll have them look for ‘fans’ on the tips of their legs!

New Google Maps Feature Lets You Explore Planetary Maps – Google maps going outside of this world!

Virtual Library Card Gives Access to 2,000 Architecture Books Online – There are a lot of books on Internet Archive that are new enough to still be under copyright protection…but they are available for checkout modeled like physical libraries. This article points to the architecture books; there are other topics as well.

Why we still don’t understand sleep, and why it matters | Mosaic – Nacrolepsy…what has been discovered…but there is still happy ending for people with narcolepsy.

Photographer Captures the Beauty of Colorful Birds in a Series of Portraits – Pigeons, doves and cockatoos…what a trio!

(Some) Birds of the Pantanal – National Geographic Society – More birds. Couldn’t resist.

The History of Mincemeat Pies, from the Crusades to Christmas | Smart News | Smithsonian – A little history as we get closer to the winter holiday season.

Blood test can effectively rule out breast cancer, regardless of breast density: With over a 99 percent negative predictive value, a liquid biopsy test can help clinicians manage difficult-to-diagnose dense breast patients -- ScienceDaily – Hope this reduces the need for biopsies…and can be scheduled/processed more rapidly.

BBC - Future - An eco-friendly way to make smartphones – We have a long way to go to make smartphones in an eco-friendly way. The title of this article seemed hopeful but by the end, I was not sure that eco-friendly was motivating anything. Taking away China’s dominance of rare earth element production seemed the primary focus.

Transparent solar technology represents ‘wave of the future’ -- ScienceDaily – Wouldn’t it be nice?

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 4, 2017

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 Access Your Medical Records | Berkeley Wellness – I like the patient portal idea…just wish that every provider seems to have their own separate one.

First floating wind farm, built by offshore oil company, delivers electricity | Ars Technica – Hywind Scotland began producing power in September…now delivering to the Scottish grid. The turbines don’t require a firm attachment to the seafloor…using suction anchors like offshore drilling.

Germany Sees Drastic Decrease in Insects | The Scientist Magazine® - This story was reported in several my the feeds I monitor. A 27 years study….insect biomass declined by about 75% in that time. And the sampling was done in nature preseves!

Symmetrical Eyes Indicate Dyslexia | The Scientist Magazine® - Interesting….but what next.

The Millipede That Protects Itself with Cyanide – Cool Green Science – We found millipedes at the Belmont BioBlitz…but not these cyanides producing ones. Still – fascinating critters of the forest.

Stone Age Britons Feasted While Building Stonehenge | Smart News | Smithsonian – Pigs – maybe fattened with something sweet, like honey – that came from all over Great Britain. Cattle to a lesser extent.

The Real-Life Whale That Gave Moby Dick His Name | Smart News | Smithsonian – A little history behind the novel.

Compound Interest - Broccoli colour changes and cancer-fighting compounds – I tend to eat broccoli raw but have noticed the color change when it is cooked – never thought about why it did.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week #110 and  #109 – Birds and more birds…I can’t resist including them.

Prozac in ocean water a possible threat to sea life -- ScienceDaily – Medications can have unintended consequences far beyond out intent.

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 28, 2017

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.

Get Stuck on Band-Aid History | Smart News | Smithsonian – Patented in 1926….and still basically the same!

Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition 2017 Winners – The amazing natural world too small for us to see without technology…captured in photographs.

Beyond Biodiversity: A New Way of Looking at How Species Interconnect - Yale E360 – Going beyond simply counting species…understanding their role and importance to the ecosystem.

Pompeii vs. Herculaneum - Mountain Beltway - AGU Blogosphere – Both destroyed in AD 79 by an eruption of Vesuvius but excavated differently...body casts in Pompeii, skeletons in Herculaneum. Lots of pictures of both places.

Derinkuyu Underground City, the World’s Deepest Subterranean Metropolis – Discovered in 1963…an 18 story underground city that once houses up to 20,000 people in Turkey’s Cappadocia region. Started in the 8th to 7th centuries BCE….flourished in the Byzantine period from 780 to 1180….but there are alternative theories. There are over 200 other subterranean cities in the area!

BBC - Future - The great thaw of America’s north is coming – What happens when permafrost thaws? Infrastructure (houses, roads, airports, etc.) can crack or collapse. Whole villages will need to move…an expensive undertaking and it’s not clear that they would not have to move again when the new area became unstable.

Tower of human skulls found by archaeologists in Mexico, throwing Aztec history into doubt | The Independent – A tower of skulls was mentions in writings of the Spanish conquistadores. It was believed that the skulls belonged to male warriors killed in inter-tribal combat. Now that the structure is found and being examined with modern techniques – it is revealed that the skulls of women and children are included in the tower.

Do You Live in One of the Happiest American States? – I always enjoy looking at the graphics and trying to understand how the data was rolled up. However - I am always suspicious: summing up data about ‘well-being’ is not all that important because it is not something I would use to decide something for myself or my family.

Kitchen of the Future: Smart and Fast but Not Much Fun - The New York Times – I enjoy cooking….not sure I want or need something that prompts me for every step. Most of what I cook does not take very much time as long as the ingredients are in the house. I wonder how much of the technology mentioned in this article will become reality.

Guide to Greener Electronics 2017 - Greenpeace USA -My laptop manufacturer is a C+; smartphone manufacturer is a D-; and Amazon is an F. I have started keeping my laptops for a longer time but they are not built to last. My oldest laptop has a somewhat broken case so it no longer is no long moved from its place in my office.

Staunton River Star Party Solar Observations

Most of the action at a star party is in the dark…but there are a few daylight activities as well. The sunset on the first night was scenic – with a few clouds near the horizon and tree line.

On Thursday morning I took sunrise pictures. Clouds helped make it more interesting. The picture below was taking about 15 minutes after the one to the right.

My husband brought his solar telescope and used it on 2 days. There were solar prominences on both days! On the second day – the prominence seemed to be changing as we watched it. I put my camera up to the eye piece of the telescope and got some pictures. The prominence on the first day was toward the bottom of the disk. On the second day, the prominence was in the upper left.

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The Staunton River Star Party Observing Field

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Staunton River State Park hosts two Star Parties each year – one in the spring and one in the fall. We’ve gone to the fall Star Party for 3 years but have always decided that the one in March is too cold or too wet. Maybe we’ll go in 2018. The park has a large field that has been used long enough that the soil is packed down almost as hard as the asphalt road (where the Visitor Center….and bathrooms (hurray) are located). The ‘road’ to our camp site started between the orange cones and was the closest we’ve ever been to the Visitor Center – something I noticed every time I made the trek to the facilities in the dark.

There are lots of different set ups but probably the most honed for astronomy is a tent that has an opening for the telescope (the black patch on the top). They are relatively expensive and probably not something we’ll ever do but I can still appreciate the idea.

There are power cables from central posts out to hubs that are covered with big buckets on the field and everyone picks a spot close enough to one of them to have the power they need. There are many kinds of tents and campers…some people brought their gear in a small trailer and then used the trailer to sleep in. There is also a lot of variety of telescopes and covers for them during the day. Almost everyone has a computer along with their telescope – and the associated table and chair for it. Awnings help with the sun during the day and dew at night.

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For the first couple of days, there were fewer people than I remembered from previous years. By Thursday the numbers were increasing, and people were still arriving when we left on Friday – before Saturday when there were more lectures and public observing in the evening. I wondered who would get the spot we left open on the field….a prime location.

Our Camp at Staunton River

We set up our new tent on the observing field as soon as we got there. It was large enough for all our camping gear inside and had a screened section on the end for my husband’s observing chair and laptop. When he’s observing he spends more time in front of his computer than he does outside at the telescope. The new tent worked very well since the screened portion protected everything in it from dew almost as well as being inside the tent proper.
 

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We had luxuries such as air up mattresses, pillows, warm sleeping bags….and a small coffee maker to heat water for tea on the cold mornings. Once the sun came up the tent became warmer than the outside temperatures very quickly – which was welcome since the days started out in the 30s. We opened the window covers as the day warmed into the 60s. There was enough breeze in the afternoon that the tent never became overly hot.

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The field had electrical cables all we needed was an extension cord to connect out outlet strip – power to charge batteries (the telescope itself ran off batteries), laptops and phones. The telescope was the only item outside the tent…and it had its own cover for after the observing for the night was done.

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The car seemed very full when we left home and was full to the brim coming back since we didn’t manage to pack as well. It’s a good thing we has freed up space by eating the food we took!

Tomorrow’s post will be about the other types of tents and campers and telescopes on the observing field.

Staunton River Star Party

Last Monday, we headed down to Virginia for the Staunton River Star Party. The event is held at the state park – a dark sky site. We waited until most of the morning rush hour was over since our route included the Washington DC beltway. There was still traffic, but it was moving at highway speeds even around the Mormon Temple. The rain from earlier in the morning had stopped and the clouds were beginning to break up.

We made a stop at the first rest area we came to on I95 south of the Washington Beltway – anticipating easy traffic for the rest of the way.

Lunch at a Chipotle was our mid-point break.

We arrived at the park about 3 and began setting up. I always enjoy the creative pumpkin carving that sits beside the door of the cantina. All the windows on the park buildings are covered with red cellophane and lights to mark paths are red as well.

I’ll be posting about the events of the week in the next few days….but I’m wrapping up this most with the road trip home last Friday.

We left the park about 10 and stopped at a fast food place for our first rest stop since we were not on an interstate yet and it was cool enough that my husband wanted something hot for brunch. We stopped for lunch at an Arby’s later then got on I95 shortly thereafter.

We stopped at the last rest stop on I95 before the Washington DC – obviously in Virginia.

But this rest stop has something I had not seen before – a toddler potty! I wonder if these are going to become more common as rest stops are remodeled.

We were glad to get home after crawling through the Friday afternoon traffic from 2-4. We waited until the next day to put the tent up in the backyard to dry out (we had to pack it up before the dew dried).

More to come about the Staunton River Star Party in upcoming posts.

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 21, 2017

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.

What’s With That Dam? : The National Wildlife Federation – We got to Conowingo to see bald eagles….so I was interested in learning more about it. Evidently - the dam’s current impact on the Chesapeake Bay is not a positive one.

On Bee-ing – Cool Green Science – About the Minnesota Bee Atlas.

Stunning Video Captures Humpback Whales Catching Fish with Nets of Bubbles | Smart News | Smithsonian – I’d heard of this phenomenon but the video is still thrilling! Well work the 40 seconds!

How honeybees read the waggle dance -- ScienceDaily – The field trip the Howard County Conservancy does for 3rd graders includes a segment on the waggle dance….so I read this article to find out more about it….both the history of its discovery and the current research on the neurons responding to the dance.

Bathtub Bloodbath, 1793 | The Scientist Magazine® - A famous painting of Jean-Paul Marat murdered in his bath…what he was before his revolutionary activities.

Adaptation as Acceptance: Toward a New Normal in the Northwoods – Cool Green Science – Forests are changing – with climate change and invasive insects like emerald ash borer and woolly adelgid culling some trees that were, until recently, common in our forests. There is a grief for those lost trees that will not make a comeback. This article is about finding hope via adaptation. The forest will be different…but still forest.

Meet the Transgenic Silkworms That Are Spinning out Spider Silk | The Scientist Magazine® - Spider silk combines elasticity and strength but has been difficult to produce. Now the fiber is produced by silkworms and the increased availability makes it viable for a host of applications. It will be interesting to observe how the market develops.

Treetop Walkway Provides an Elevated Path Through Danish Forest – What an awesome way to observe a forest!

National Mall and Memorial Parks – Hope the laser ablation of the biofilm on the Jefferson Memorial works as well as the test spot. The dome has gotten a lot grayer over the years from ‘biofilm.’

Seeing Big Changes in Baltimore: The National Wildlife Federation Blog – Hurray for the schools and students in Baltimore provided wildlife habitat!

Stream Assessment – October 2017

I had planned to volunteer at two stream assessments by 9th graders in October.  Both assessments were scheduled to be at the Middle Patuxent Environmental Area but one was cancelled after a heavy rain caused a dangerous situation at the stream – so I only have pictures from one stream assessment. The stream was smaller than the two other locations along the Middle Patuxent that were assessed in September. We crossed it on some rocks (the path came to the river  near where the big log is lying on top of the rocks).

All the gear for the abiotic and biotic assessments was set up on the side of the stream across from the path. It was very calm and shady as we set up.

Then the students arrived…60 in the first group…a little break…and then another 60. I took a few pictures of critters during the break.

One last picture before the second group…what a great place to escape into nature. I’m not sure that the students experience the psychological rejuvenation I often feel in places like this when they come with the larger group (and they are teenagers) - although it was obvious that most of them enjoyed being outdoors and in the stream. When we finished the assessment, the students helped carry all the gear – including the boots – on the 15 minute hike back to the road where they got on their buses and we packed up everything into cars….another stream assessment day complete.

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 14, 2017

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.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week #107 – National Geographic Society (blogs) and #108 – kestrels and hummingbirds and kingfishers…oh my!

What Skills Will You Need to Be Employable in 2030? – It’s hard to predict the direction of technology…but we know that some types of jobs are easier for machines to do than others. What is left that humans will need to do?

13 Ways to Cut Cancer Risk | Berkeley Wellness – Hopefully none of these are new…they have all be publicized before but maybe not in a consolidated list.

Century-old cactus used for target practice in Saguaro National Park – Very sad. I hope the culprit is cost. It seems like penalties should be higher for this kind of vandalism in a national park.

National Audubon Society Offers Great Educational Resources -  I find myself checking in on the puffins and hummingbirds!

Rome's Colosseum Is Reopening Its Upper Tiers to Visitors | Smart News | Smithsonian – The upper levels have been closed for 40 years due to structural concerns. Now restoration efforts have allowed then to be re-opened.

A Little Calm in a Noisy World | The Prairie Ecologist – The restorative power of spending a little time out in the natural world.

Incredible Macro Photography of Peacock Feathers by Can Tunçer – I am a fan of peacock feathers; one of my grandmothers raised peacocks and I have some feathers she sent to me from the 1980s.

"Living" Chandelier is a Green Lighting Piece Filled with Algae – I like items that are beautiful and serve another function at the same time. I hope eventually that light fixtures are available…and affordable.

BBC - Future - Anti-ageing: Is it possible, and would we want it? – An update on science…and prompting for thoughts of the domino changes that would occur if anti-ageing was reality.

Squarespace 7 after a month

It’s been a little over a month since the transition of my blog from Squarespace 5 to Squarespace 7. I am still not totally comfortable with the new interface…but it’s getting better all the time. It seems like it was easier to become accustomed to Squarespace 5 but maybe that is just the memory being 5 years old! We always gloss over the hard parts after we figure out how to do something.

There are more options for formatting pictures in Squarespace 7…and it isn’t necessary to create a gallery every time I want to use a slide show in a blog post. The posts look better on the small screen of my smart phone than the old Squarespace 5 posts.

I’m still grumbling to myself sometimes…but I’ll get over it. It is just going to take longer than a month.

Belmont BioBlitz – Fall 2017 (Part II)

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The second day of BioBlitz, the area my group was assigned had some native trees planted as landscaping (one was just beginning to display it fall colors) and long row of white pines. We found mushrooms under the pines; one of the chaperones used the clip on macro lens to photograph underneath the bright yellow mushroom (with the phone in selfie mode).

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Of course there were insects and small flowers too….with pinecones to examine while we were enjoying the shade under the pines before heading to the front of the manor house for their picnic lunch.

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The third day of BioBlitz, my group was in the woods. We found several types of fungi growing on rotting wood.

Millipedes seemed to be everywhere. We talked about taking a video as we watched how their legs moved in ‘waves’ to push them forward.

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And then there were lots of small insects we tried to capture in the magnifiers so we could get good pictures!

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This was probably the best Belmont Bioblitz I’ve participated in: the weather cooperated (dry and not too hot) and the 5th graders were enthusiastic observers!

Belmont BioBlitz – Fall 2017 (Part I)

Last week, 5th graders from 3 Howard County elementary schools participated in a BioBlitz organized by the Howard County Conservancy at Belmont Manor and Historic Park. The three mornings were quite busy. I enjoyed the calm before the buses arrived – watching the birds at the feeder and photographing the generally calm early morning scene. Then someone would spot a bus starting up the tree lined drive to the manor house – and all the volunteers would spread out and wait for their group of about 10 students and at least one chaperone to be assigned. Then we headed out into the field.

The area my group was assigned on the first day was meadow rimmed with trees. We used iNaturalist to record observations of what we found: horse nettle, pokeweed, worms, spiders, wooly bear caterpillars, and black walnuts. iNatualist helped us identify things better – particularly if the pictures were good. One of exciting things we found but couldn’t photograph well was tiny worms feeding on the black walnut! We also found a birds nest in the tall grasses of the meadow…and lots of multi-flora rose bushes with thorns that seemed to grab pant legs. In two hours…the students were ready for their picnic lunch in front of the manor house and the return to school – tired from a great BioBlitz day.

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More on the other two BioBlitz days in tomorrow’s post….

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 7, 2017

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.

Ancient Roman Mosaic in England Discovered by Amateur Archaeologists – A 4th CE Roman mosaic near the village of Boxford in Berkshire….discovered and then covered up to protect the mosaic until decisions are made about what to do next.

Fall Color In-Depth: Maple Trees Offer New Answers to Diabetes, Alzheimer’s – National Geographic Society  - I like maple syrup and often us it in cooking….it adds more than sweetness and – evidently – is better for you because of those other elements!

Electric Car S-Curve Adoption by Country (Fun Chart!) | CleanTechnica – Norway followed by Iceland and Sweden lead…The US is behind China.

Question: Can People Use Rooftop Solar Power During an Emergency? Answer: It Depends | CleanTechnica – As more battery storage becomes available…the problem of having solar panels but not being able to utilize them if the power grid is down may go away.

Spectacular Shots of Summer Fireworks Festivals in Japan - Hanabi Taikai – Wow! What a huge display.

Infographic: Brain Infection and Alzheimer’s Disease Pathology | The Scientist Magazine® - Evidence of infection (biofilms) in the hippocampus and temporal lobe in brains from people that have died with Alzheimer’s neurodegeneration….several theories about their relationship to Alzheimer’s.

These Breathtaking Natural Wonders No Longer Exist – 18 landscapes that no longer exist…including a beach in Hawaii…some sights in US National Parks.

Free Technology for Teachers: Historical Patterns Animated – A site from the University of Oregon…worth browsing even if you aren’t a teacher.

Interactives from NASA…Exoplanet Exploration – Create your own Earth-like planet….or a hostile world.

LED Lights, All-Electric School Buses, Hydroponic Gardens ... (Cleantech in Action Series) | CleanTechnica – A roundup of cleantech press releases that came out in September.

Macro Lens on a Smartphone

I bought a clip-on macro lens for my smart phone – something to use when I want to photograph macroinvertebrates in the field (or river). The lens (a 15x macro and 0.63 wide angle combo) is attached to a clip that is easy to position on my phone…and then take off again when I don’t want it.

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I experimented a little this weekend – with an earring and a peacock feather. I discovered that it is easier to get the focus right without the case on the phone.

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I am looking forward to trying it during the break between sessions in the river with students…hope they find a lot of macroinvertebrates that I can photograph!

Gleanings of the Week Ending September 30, 2017

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.

What If the Oil Industry Leaves the Gulf Coast? - CityLab – After Hurricane Harvey – there is more recognition of the country’s energy infrastructure.

Clues to Africa’s Mysterious Past Found in Ancient Skeletons - NYTimes.com – 8,100 year old DNA recovered from bones….and other finds that are enlarging our understanding of ancient population movements within Africa via DNA analysis.

Ancient Gem-Studded Teeth Show Skill of Early Dentists – An elaborate example of dental bling from 2,500 years ago from Chiapas, Mexico.

Satellites that Measure Ice Loss to Go Dark - Yale E360 – The two satellites that collect detailed information about earth’s ice sheets will be decommissioned in the next month or so. The replacement satellite is scheduled to be launched in early 2018…but that will still leave a gap in the data.

BBC - Future - The ships that could change the seas forever – Monster ships, remotely piloted, built of futuristic materials and partially powered by renewable energy….so many possibilities.

How a Satellite Just Used Earth Like a Slingshot | Smart News | Smithsonian – OSIRIS-REx in the news. We were in Florida a year ago to see it launched!

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week #106 – National Geographic Society -  There is a picture of a Peregrine Falcon at the very end of this set…one bird that has managed to take advantage of urbanized environments.

5 Things We Learned from The Newly Updated “Heat Maps” Developed By Sustainable Energy For All | CleanTechnica – Follow the ‘heat maps’ link to look at them directly or think about the 5 facts highlighted in the article about clean cooking, electrification, rural/urban divide, enabling policies and energy efficiency.

Five Fascinating Facts About the Amazing Cassowary | Smart News | Smithsonian – Big birds…that are fascinating but not very friendly.

This Tiny Country Feeds the World – Food production in The Netherlands. Is this the future of food production to feed the world’s increasing population?

Home Alone

I never lived alone so it is unusual to have some days to just be at home by myself – having no reason to be anywhere else. It happened this past weekend when my husband was away at the Black Forest Star Party at Cherry Springs State Park in Pennsylvania. I would not like it to happen frequently, but what a luxury for a few days! I got caught up on so much and enjoyed the quiet house.

And I still enjoyed some views of the star party my husband sent. They had relatively clear skies for 2 of the nights making it a worthwhile endeavor for the 500 or so people that were there camping on the field with their telescopes.

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Gleanings of the Week Ending September 23, 2017

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.

Celebrate Cassini’s Historic Voyage in Eight Incredible Images | Smart News | Smithsonian – Cassini has crashed into Saturn’s atmosphere (intentionally) and there have been quite a few retrospective articles about its long mission. I liked this one…so am including in the gleanings for this week.

Eighteenth century nautical charts reveal coral loss -- ScienceDaily – The study compared the coral documented in the Florida Keys in nautical charts from the 1770s to satellite data. More than half the coral reef has disappeared completely. Nearer to land, the loss is closer to 90%.

What We Still Don’t Know about the Health Benefits of Nature – THE DIRT – I noticed this article first because the picture under the heading is of Klyde Warren Park in Dallas (I visited there several years ago and enjoyed it) but thin the article was worth looking at too. It defines some priorities for research to understand the health benefits of nature better although most people already agree that is it beneficial…but how exactly does it happen. Some doctors are already prescribing time in the park!

North American Ash on Brink of Extinction | The Scientist Magazine® - In Maryland many of the Ash Trees are already dead or dying. Very sad.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week #105 – National Geographic Society – There’s an Eastern Bluebird toward the middle of this collection….perched a little differently than I usually see them.

A Monumental Road Trip in Northern Arizona - National Parks Traveler – I’ve been to most of these places…..and enjoyed them all.

BBC - Future - How we’re creating ‘super plants’ to help humanity – The article highlights 4 ideas: cross-breeding super plants, using plants as medicine, bananas on steroids, and fire-fighting plants.

Learn How to Create Zentangle Art, a Meditative Form of Drawing – This article is about doing Zentangles (drawing patterns) rather than buying an adult coloring book. I started doing doodles and graduated to Zentangles and never was tempted by the ‘coloring book’ craze.

Ruins of a Roman City Found Off the Coast of Tunisia | Smart News | Smithsonian – The area of ancient Neapolis is off the coast of Tunisia. It was destroyed by a tsunami in 365 AD.

Why are fossilized hairs so rare? -- ScienceDaily – Evidently, fossilized hair is 5 times rarer than feathers.  Chemistry? Environmental conditions? The research includes statistical analysis of where hair and feathers have been found in the fossil record and make some predictions about where and how to look for them going forward.