Gleanings of the Week Ending February 1, 2020

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.

Unusual Urban Bobcat Spotted in Washington, D.C. | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – Wow! There is more open area where I live (between Washington DC and Baltimore)…maybe there is a bobcat around here too.

Low doses of radiation used in medical imaging lead to mutations in cell cultures -- ScienceDaily - Discovery that radiation creates breaks that allow in foreign DNA must be confirmed in animal studies. Maybe this is just a pathway to learning more about how cells cope with natural amounts of DNA damage….or maybe we need to look again at the risk/benefit of some routine diagnostic testing.

Stunning Chronophotos of Powerful Osprey in Mid-Hunt – Very dramatic!

Surprising Beauty Found in Bacterial Cultures – The video is less than a minute…worth watching.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week: #Feeding – National Geographic Society Newsroom – They all must eat. I kept track of what they were eating in the pictures: snail, insect or other small invertebrate, frog, rodent, fish, lizard, algae, carrion, nectar, skink, or seeds.

Walnuts may be good for the gut and help promote heart health -- ScienceDaily – I like walnuts….now just to eat them more consistently!

HEADING TO THE FOREST: Bringing Joy, Accomplishment & Hope to Children | Children & Nature Network – Forest days for kindergarteners and nature kids from preschool to high school…backyard to back country. More examples of how education in nature is happening. This was part 2…the earlier article can be found here.

America's most widely consumed oil causes genetic changes in the brain: Soybean oil linked to metabolic and neurological changes in mice -- ScienceDaily – Start reading labels….there is soybean oil is in a lot of processed foods like mayonnaise and salad dressings….the list goes on and on. Evidently other soy products (edamame, soymilk, tofu, etc.) don’t cause the same changes observed with soy oil.

Blue Jay: A New Look at a Common Feeder Bird – Our feeder is not accessible to blue jays….but we see them at our birdbath frequently….and hear their calls in the forest and our yard trees.

Macro Photography Shows Stunning Details of Carnivorous Plants – Some botanical pictures to finish out the gleanings for this week.