Gleanings of the Week Ending June 14, 2025

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.

Millions of new solar system objects to be found and 'filmed in technicolor' -- studies predict – The era C. Rubin Observatory ‘first look’ event is June 23! It is located on Cerro Pachon ridge in northern Chile. I found myself wondering how the deep funding cuts in the US will impact the facility and the scientists involved.

How electric scooters are driving China's salt battery push - Even as the rest of the world tries to close its gap with China in the race to make cheap, safe and efficient lithium-ion batteries, Chinese companies have already taken a head-start towards mass producing sodium-ion batteries, an alternative that could help the industry reduce its dependence on key raw minerals. A bigger market for sodium-ion batteries may be energy storage stations, which absorb power produced at one time so it can be used later.

Dead End: Nine Highways Ready for Retirement - This year’s nominees include Austin’s Interstate 35, which exacerbated segregation in the urban core when it was built in 1962, replacing a once-vibrant boulevard that served as a community gathering space.

The Overlooked Biodiversity of Appalachian Caves – Many of these creatures would be on the list for Missouri caves as well!

A Bauhaus-Trained Artist Wove Tapestries in the Woods for Decades. Now, Her Legacy Comes into Focus – I enjoyed the art and the biography of the artist!

Unique Silla Kingdom Crown Was Decorated with Insect Wings – Found in South Korea in a 1,400-year-old grave…a gilt-bronze crown decorated with a series of heart-shaped indentations that had been delicately inlaid with the colorful wings of the jewel beetle, some of which remained in situ after almost a millennium and a half.

Tea, berries, dark chocolate and apples could lead to a longer life span - Increasing the diversity of flavonoids within your diet could help prevent the development of health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease (CVD), cancer and neurological disease.

Experts Think the Hagia Sophia Is in Danger. They’ve Got a Plan to Protect It from Earthquakes - In light of recent earthquakes in Turkey, experts fear the 1,500-year-old mosque is structurally vulnerable, and the Turkish government has ordered a renovation. A team of government-appointed engineers, architects and art historians will begin by stripping a layer of lead that covers the main dome and looking for ways to strengthen the connections between it and the semi-domes. They’ll also look for ways to improve the main pillars and subterranean supports. Experts are also hoping that the work may reveal older murals from previous periods in the Hagia Sophia’s layered history.

Secrets of the Gobi Wall Revealed - Snaking for 200 miles across the inhospitable terrain of southern Mongolia, the so-called Gobi Wall is the least studied section of a system of medieval fortifications that once extended from China into Mongolia. The wall was primarily constructed from rammed earth, stone, and wood during the Xi Xia period (AD 1038-1227), a dynasty ruled by the Tungut tribes of western China and southern Mongolia. It was much more than a purely defensive mechanism built to repel invasions, but that it also served to regulate trade and manage frontier movements.

Why climbing the stairs can be good for your body and brain - Climbing stairs has been found to improve balance and reduce the risk of falling for older people and improve their lower body strength. Other studies also find that climbing a couple of flights of stairs can positively affect our cognitive abilities such as problem-solving, memory, and potentially creative thinking. As a "low impact" form of exercise, even short bursts of stair climbing can help improve cardiorespiratory fitness and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Gleanings of the Week Ending June 7, 2025

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.

Warming Linked to Rising Cancer Rates Among Women in the Middle East - As temperatures in the region rose, so did cancer rates in Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Syria, which are prone to extremely hot summers. Increasingly extreme heat is making air pollution worse, weakening our immune systems, and putting additional strain on hospitals. These and other factors could be driving up the risk of cancer.

90-Year-Old Korean Artist Kim Yun Shin Is Finally Going Global – Creative longevity!

Archaeologists Unearth Two Rare African Figurines in 1,500-Year-Old Christian Burials in Israel - The artifacts are carved from rare ebony wood that originated in India or Sri Lanka. Each figurine features a small hole through which a cord might have been threaded, allowing the owner to wear it around their neck.

When Sears Pioneered Modular Housing - In an early iteration of modular housing, kit homes were sold by companies like Sears and Montgomery Ward in the early and mid-20 century - complete with “all the materials that a kit home purchaser needed to build the home, including at least 10,000 pieces of precut lumber to suit the model of the home, drywall, asphalt roof shingles, carved staircases, and the nails, door knobs, drawer pulls, paint and varnish needed to do the job. Electrical, heating systems, and plumbing materials could also be purchased at extra cost.”

Scientific breakthrough brings CO2 'breathing' batteries closer to reality - Scientists have made a breakthrough in eco-friendly batteries that not only store more energy but could also help tackle greenhouse gas emissions. Lithium-CO2 'breathing' batteries release power while capturing carbon dioxide, offering a greener alternative that may one day outperform today's lithium-ion batteries.

Fitness fight: Native bees struggle against invasive honey bee - High densities of European honey bees could be harming Australian native bees' 'fitness' by reducing their reproductive success and altering key traits linked to survival. Has this happened in North America as well?

Ancient pollen reveals stories about Earth’s history, from the asteroid strike that killed the dinosaurs to the Mayan collapse – Missouri rocks: When an asteroid struck Earth some 66 million years ago, the one blamed for wiping out the dinosaurs, it is believed to have sent a tidal wave crashing onto North America. Marine fossils and rock fragments found in southeastern Missouri appear to have been deposited there by a massive wave generated by the asteroid hitting what is now Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. Among the rocks and marine fossils, scientists have found fossilized pollen from the Late Cretaceous and Early Paleocene periods that reflects changes in the surrounding ecosystems. The pollen reveals how ecosystems were instantly disrupted at the time of the asteroid, before gradually rebounding over hundreds to thousands of years.

A New, Shape-Shifting ‘Flapjack’ Octopus Has Been Discovered in the Deep Sea Off the Coast of Australia - The tiny cephalopod grows only about 1.6 inches across, but it can survive more than half a mile beneath the ocean’s surface. During the 2022 expedition, the team used high-tech cameras, nets and sleds to collect samples and snap photographs deep below the ocean’s surface. Many of the specimens they found are thought to be new species.

Fast food, fast impact: How fatty meals rapidly weaken our gut defenses - Researchers discovered the gut protective protein, IL-22, was rapidly depleted in mice after just two days of eating high-fat foods.

Where To Go Caving in the National Park System – Mammoth Cave, Carlsbad Caverns, Wind Cave, Crystal Cave in Sequoia, Jewel Cave, Lehman Caves in Great Basin. I have been to all of them except Crystal Cave and Lehman Caves. Mammoth Cave would be the closest for me to see again.

Gleanings of the Week Ending May 31, 2025

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.

10 Ways Vincent Van Gogh Continues to Make News, Even Today – An artist that has been ‘newsworthy’ for a very long time. This post about recent instances of ‘Van Gogh mania.’

Measles vaccines save millions of lives each year – Statistics about measles and the impact of the vaccine…history and how the choices we make will have impacts on the future trajectory of the disease.

New River Gorge National Park and Preserve – It became a national park in 2020. I’ve driven through it…stopped at a visitor center…but haven’t experienced it the way I have other national parks.

Forty Years of Change in Louisiana’s Wetlands – Images from Landsat 9 from 1985 and 2024 show that much of the wetland has transitioned to open water….reshaped by storms and sea level rise.

In healthy aging, carb quality counts - The researchers analyzed data from Nurses' Health Study questionnaires collected every four years between 1984 and 2016 to examine the midlife diets and eventual health outcomes of more than 47,000 women who were between the ages of 70 and 93 in 2016. The analysis showed intakes of total carbohydrates, high-quality carbohydrates from whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and legumes, and total dietary fiber in midlife were linked to 6 to 37% greater likelihood of healthy aging and several areas of positive mental and physical health.

Wildlife Photographer Captures Mid-Air Battle of Two Birds Fighting for Dinner – The battle over a vole between a Northern Harrier and Short-eared Owl in British Columbia, Canada. Dramatic photos. Both birds are over Missouri Prairies in the winter too!

How the humble chestnut traced the rise and fall of the Roman Empire - According to researchers in Switzerland, the Romans had something of a penchant for sweet chestnut trees, spreading them across Europe. But it wasn't so much the delicate, earthy chestnuts they craved – instead, it was the fast-regrowing timber they prized most, as raw material for their empire's expansion. And this led to them exporting tree cultivation techniques such as coppicing too, which have helped the chestnut flourish across the continent.

China’s Mega Dam Project Poses Big Risks for Asia’s Grand Canyon - China’s plans to build a massive hydro project in Tibet have sparked fears about the environmental impacts on the world’s longest and deepest canyon. It has also alarmed neighboring India, which fears that China could hold back or even weaponize river water it depends on.

Step Into a Painstakingly Recreated 3D Model of the Parthenon, Now Restored to Its Ancient Glory - By combining archaeology and technology, a researcher has shed light on a longstanding architectural mystery: how the ancient Greeks experienced the inside of the Parthenon, the Athenian Acropolis’ largest temple, built and dedicated to the goddess Athena in the fifth century B.C.E.

How Tikal Became One of the Greatest Mayan Cities—and Then Vanished - Nowadays, the ruins of Tikal, an ancient Maya city in northern Guatemala, have been largely reclaimed by the jungle. Howler monkeys jump from pyramid to pyramid. Bats hide in the crevices of abandoned homes. Bullet ants and tarantulas crawl along the forest floor while coatis—racoon-like animals with long, upright tails—search for fallen fruit. Many of the city’s structures remain unexcavated to ensure their preservation. Tikal began life as a series of small, unassuming hamlets. Across centuries, it grew into one of the largest and mightiest cities in the loosely affiliated network of municipalities that made up the Maya civilization. At its peak, which approximately lasted from 600 to 900 C.E., Tikal comprised an area of roughly 50 square miles, 3,000 stone structures, and a population that may at one point have exceeded 60,000 people. While other Maya settlements like Chichen Itza remained inhabited well into the 12th century C.E., Tikal is thought to have collapsed around the year 900.

In a Waiting Room

Last week my husband was scheduled of out-patient surgery. The situation had changed significantly from my January 2022 outpatient surgery experience when Covid-19 protocols closed waiting rooms. The expectation now is that patients have a person, usually a family member, that stays at the waiting room during the surgery. We left for the hospital at 5 AM and were home by a little after 11 AM.

We went to the lobby registration desk for initial sign in…and were given a buzzer like restaurants sometimes use. Within a few minutes of sitting down, the buzzer went off and we went with an administrative person to make sure all the payment information was correct. Back in the waiting room for a few minutes…and we were called again by a person to take us back to the pre/post op area. I helped my husband into the hospital gown and socks….put all his clothes in a bag that I would keep (that was the expectation…and I found myself wishing his clothes were not as bulky). The anesthesiologist and surgeon came to talk to us. By 7:15 AM he was prepped and on his way to the OR and I was on my way to the waiting room. I had been given a number so I could track his status on the screens there. I checked in at the desk …in anticipation of the surgeon coming out after the surgery was complete to talk with me.

I filled the time between 7:15 AM and 9:35 AM in that waiting room. Getting a pastry from the bakery/café for breakfast was my first activity. I had loaded some novels on my phone for reading material. I made 3 Zentangle tiles. The time passed relatively quickly. The area was not crowded but it was clear that there were quite a few morning surgeries. One man lay down on one of the longer bench chairs and napped. Most people were reading on their phones; I didn’t hear a single phone ‘ring’ so people must have followed direction to silence them. The green plastic bags with patient’s clothes were near every person in the waiting room! I kept my daughter apprised of the everything via texts.

Everyone must have been a little anxious…most seemed hyper alert (except for the one person that slept) but at the same time relatively calm and appreciative of the quiet, calm demeanor of people at the reception desk in the room….they set the tone.  

The waiting room had small rooms at each end where the conversations with the surgeon could happen in private. There was a picture of a dogwood in bloom on the wall in the room I was assigned. The surgeon came in…reported positive results…talked about the recovery instructions which would be printed and provided to us by the nurse. I was back in the waiting room for a few minutes before they gave me a post op room number where my husband was.

He was groggy still from the anesthesia. He seemed to be very challenged to rank the amount of pain he was feeling. It took about an hour for him to eat a snack and get dressed…meet the criteria for being released.

I called my daughter to meet us at our house since I wasn’t sure how mobile he really was. When we got home, I held onto his arm to go into the house…and used the path with the fewest steps. It was slow going but we managed, and he immediately took a nap. The pain med he was given just before he left the hospital had taken effect!

Gleanings of the Week Ending May 24, 2025

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.

American Schools Have Been Feeding Children for More Than 100 Years. Here’s How the School Lunch Has Changed - The National School Lunch Program is the longest running children’s health program in U.S. history, and it has an outsized impact on nutritional health.

Pompeii’s Most Fascinating Finds of the Decade—So Far - From children's drawings to ancient fast-food counters, new finds continue to reshape our understanding of daily life in the ill-fated Roman city. very year, archeologists come across remains and artifacts that broaden our understanding of what daily life in Pompeii and, by extension, the rest of the Roman Republic was like.

Where in the world are babies at the lowest risk of dying? – Data collected by countries…and then tweaked to be made more consistent so that comparisons can be done. It’s about how to look at statistical data.

How gardening can help you live better for longer - In 2015, Norway became one of the first countries to create a national dementia care plan, which includes government-offered daycare services such as Inn på tunet – translated as "into the yard" – or care farms. Now, as researchers recognize the vast cognitive benefits of working on the land, more communities are integrating gardening into healthcare – treating all kinds of health needs through socially-prescribed activities in nature, or green prescriptions.

Chasing Unicorns: A Photographer’s Journey Documenting Rhino Conservation - Bringing the rhinos from one conservancy to another was a monumental effort. A photographer documented the work of conservationists and veterinarians.

Gilded-Age Tiffany Window Heads to Auction with Multimillion-Dollar Price Tag - With most surviving examples of Louis Comfort Tiffany’s mastery of mottled glass still affixed to the walls of churches or stately homes, purchasing opportunities are rare.

Pit Stops on the Monarch Flyway: Arkansas Partnership Benefits Pollinators - You just don’t see as many monarch butterflies as you used to. Researchers have documented that eastern populations of monarchs have declined by as much as 80 percent since the 1990s. A partnership in Arkansas is restoring pollinator habitat, providing those critical stops for butterflies to rest and feed. The habitat is also utilized by migratory songbirds and northern bobwhite, a popular gamebird that has seen significant declines.

Vitamin supplements slow down the progression of glaucoma - In glaucoma, the optic nerve is gradually damaged, leading to vision loss and, in the worst cases, blindness. High pressure in the eye drives the disease, and eye drops, laser treatment or surgery are therefore used to lower the pressure in the eye and thus slow down the disease. n experiments on mice and rats with glaucoma, the researchers gave supplements of the B vitamins B6, B9 and B12, as well as choline. This had a positive effect. A clinical trial has been started to see if the vitamins have the same impact in people.

163 Treasures from King Tut’s Tomb Arrive at the Grand Egyptian Museum - The museum one step closer to staging the first-ever complete display of the legendary boy king’s golden treasures. I remember the two King Tut exhibits I have views – in New Orleans and Baltimore.

Sulfur runoff amplifies mercury concentrations in Florida Everglades - Sulfur applied to sugarcane crops in South Florida is flowing into wetlands upgradient of Everglades National Park, triggering a chemical reaction that converts mercury into toxic methylmercury, which accumulates in fish.

Sustaining Elder Care – May 2025

My sisters had shared with me that Dad seemed to be sleeping more…rebelling at doing physical therapy because he was too tired. But he seemed alert and, while not enthusiastic about doing physical therapy, he acquiesced and did reasonably well. He went outside to sit on the patio while I watered the garden too. When we came back in, he complained that he couldn’t see.

He did go to an eye specialist since my last visit. They confirmed that his vision is one eye is very limited (light/dark only) and that the eye pressure is still too high to preserve the vision in the other. New eye drops were prescribed, and they seem to be reducing the pressure considerably. But….there is already damage. I suspect that coming from bright light (outdoors) to indoor lighting is a problematic time because his eyes don’t adjust to the change very quickly. I guided his walker until we got to the puzzle table.

His eyesight makes the puzzles more challenging than ever, but he still manages to place a few pieces…although I am not sure how he does it. We finished a puzzle that was already mostly done during my afternoon visit. He is still pleased when the puzzle is finished – it’s an accomplishment. This time there was a piece we found on the tray that was obviously too small of the current puzzle (and there was not a hole for another piece)! A little mystery.

The next morning, I arrived before his breakfast. I took a few pictures of the big trees in front of his assisted living residence while I waited for them to open the door. Now that he is not going on walks around the neighborhood, he doesn’t see them very often.

We took the completed puzzle apart and started a new one. He takes longer to find edge pieces (always the first step). I think he is doing it totally by feel now. We made the frame, minus one piece, before breakfast was served and I left to begin my drive back to Missouri while he enjoyed it.

Gleanings of the Week Ending May 03, 2025

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.

Foraging Violets – I have a lot of violets growing in my yard…and I am going to start harvesting them for salads. Why buy fresh greens when there is such a plentiful supply that I can pick just before I eat them?

The Unexpected Science of Staying Happy – An article about the World Happiness Report. The U.S., Canada, and Switzerland—all once top 10 contenders—have dropped out of the top 20 for the first time since the report began. That decline is linked to a drop in social trust and a rise in what researchers call “deaths of despair,” especially among men over 60​.

The 120-Year-Old Tiny Home Villages That Sheltered San Francisco’s Earthquake Refugees – A different perspective on history….more substantial than tents.

Exquisite Street Photography Celebrates the Different Moods of New York City at Night – More umbrellas than I expected.

Emily Cole, Daughter of Hudson River School Icon, Shines in Overdue Museum Show – She became a porcelain painter (botanicals) and painted in her father’s studio…. exhibiting her work a what is now the Thomas Cole National Historic Site.

Relics of a Red World in Bighorn Basin – Satellite image of “red beds” in northern Wyoming and Southern Montana formed when the land was part of Pangea and there were extreme wet/dry seasons causing hematite in the rocks to oxidize (rust). The area is rich in fossils and oil/gas reserves.

Tree Rings Bear Witness to Illegal Gold Mining Operations in the Amazon, New Study Finds – The miners use liquid mercury which is then burned to obtain the gold….releasing toxic mercury into the air. Core samples from trunks of fig trees show the mercury levels…when they ramped up and how substantial they were/are.

Smoke from US wildfires, prescribed burns caused premature deaths, billions in health damages - Researchers estimated that smoke from wildfires and prescribed burns caused $200 billion in health damages in 2017, and that these were associated with 20,000 premature deaths. Senior citizens were harmed the most.

Check Out the First Confirmed Footage of the Colossal Squid, a Rare and Enigmatic Deep-Sea Species – This was a young one….only a foot lot. They can grow to be 23 feet long

The Only Ancient Greek Theater on the Ionian Islands Is Finally Unearthed – It was discovered in 1901 but was reburied after their survey…and olive groves and makeshift warehouses eventually covered the site. The site was abandoned during the reign of Roman Emperor Augustus.

Gleanings of the Week Ending April 19, 2025

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.

Survey: US Public Spaces Not Meeting Community Needs – Funding for maintenance and basic improvements seems to be the key issue.

I tested some of the most popular ways of meeting new people. Here's what I found – The author engaged in 4 ‘hobbies’ and assessed their effectiveness in fostering social connection: team sports, bouldering, creative writing sessions, and a life drawing course. Evidently, they all worked for her! For me – my volunteer activities (with Missouri Master Naturalist and my county’s Friends of the Library) are the way I meet new people; I tend to like the triadic interactions (attention both to each other, and to an object or activity of mutual interest) that volunteering provides.

These Unassuming Artifacts from King Tut’s Tomb Could Tell a Remarkable Story – Originally the 4 small unbaked earthen dishes were thought to be stands for the nearly four-foot high gilded wooden staffs…but a new study proposes that the clay troughs would have held libations, most likely of water, aimed at the purification and rejuvenation of Tutankhamun in the afterlife, a rite known as the Awakening of Osiris.

Cuts to the National Weather Service May Have Serious Impacts on National Parks – And for everywhere else too. Weather impacts everybody.

New research boosts future whooping cough vaccines – My father – now in his 90s – almost died from whooping cough as a young child. Deaths have become less common since the vaccine although they are still in the double digits in the US. In 2024, several outbreaks left public health officials and hospitals scrambling to accommodate a sudden influx of patients, primarily infants, who are often too young to be vaccinated and suffer the most severe symptoms. I’m glad that a new vaccine may be more effective and longer lasting than the one we have now.

Study Reveals Mercury-Poisoned Industrial Age Child – A three- to four-year-old child died in France sometime in the 18th or 19th century. The youngster suffered from rickets and scurvy likely caused by poor living conditions during the Industrial Revolution. But there were also high levels of mercury in his bones and teeth. The study ruled out sources of mercury contamination and concluded that the child had been administered the toxic metal as a cure for his ailments, which ultimately killed him.

At 97, Endangered Tortoise Becomes Oldest First-Time Mom of Her Species with Four New Hatchlings – Four Galapagos tortoise hatchlings at the Philadelphia Zoo!

Celebrating Seeds – From The Prairie Ecologist. So many obstacles must be overcome for a seed to become a mature plant producing seeds….continuing the cycle of the species.

Antarctic Sea Ice Plunged in Summer 2025 - In 2025, summer sea ice in the Antarctic tied for the second-lowest minimum extent ever recorded in the 47-year satellite record. It’s not yet clear whether the Southern Hemisphere has entered a new norm with perennially low ice or if the Antarctic is in a passing phase that will revert to prior levels in the years to com

Global Economy More Vulnerable to Warming Than Previously Thought - By rattling supply chains, future storms and heat waves will also send ripples throughout the global economy, inflicting costs far higher than models currently show. No country is immune.

Sustaining Elder Care – April 2025

My dad had his 94th birthday this past month – his second in the assisted living home. My sisters provided special foods and balloons over at least 3 days. One of the celebrations was shared with the staff and other residents of the assisted living home.

I visited before his birthday and was pleasantly surprised that the physical therapy sessions had improved his physical stamina since my visit in late February. He was able to stand up from sitting more easily…and we walked outdoors for about half the distance he had been doing last fall (so not fully recovered but trending positive).

He was a bit more alert when we worked on one of the puzzles I brought with me…for a little less than an hour. When he is tired and ready to quit, he complains about not being able to see well; there is probably a permanent impairment in one eye…and his readers always seem to need cleaning which might impact his sight in the other eye.

He talked a little more (although some of what he said was clearly gleaned from sometime long ago rather than recently). He admitted that much of what he thinks about seems to be happening recently, but it is too much to really all be in the past few weeks! He seemed more interested in the slideshow that one of my sisters put together to play on his television during the day. It doesn’t include people (which he would have trouble identifying) …it focuses on places he visited…farm machinery that he might remember from his growing up. The tractors are always a favorite.

I only see him once a month. Sometimes it seems like he is declining…and there is a slight recovery. The last visit was a “recovery” and I am looking forward to the next visit …hoping the trend continues.

Gleanings of the Week Ending March 29, 2025

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 long will you live? New evidence says it’s much more about your choices than your genes - Environmental factors influence health and longevity to a far greater extent than genetics. Environmental factors had the greatest impact on lung, heart and liver disease, while genetics played the biggest role in determining a person’s risk of breast, ovarian and prostate cancers, and dementia. The environmental factors that had the most influence on earlier death and biological ageing included smoking, socioeconomic status, physical activity levels and living conditions.

'The ice melted beneath our feet': The huskies that revealed the rapid shrinking of Greenland's ice - Greenland experienced record ice loss in 2019, shedding a total of 532 billion tones from its giant ice sheet, according to a 2020 study. On average, Greenland loses 234 billion tons of ice per year. What's distinctive about Greenland is how much melting happens on the surface in the summer, because Antarctica doesn’t get anywhere near as much.

Humboldt Penguins on the Edge – Temperate penguins of Chile and Peru. They hunt in the cold, nutrient-rich waters of the Humboldt Current, the world’s largest marine upwelling, that flows a few miles offshore. They are excellent swimmers and deep divers in their pursuit of anchovies and other fish. Humboldt penguins have come back from the edge of extinction before—it will take the continued efforts of local communities, governments and partners to bring them back again.

Study: 'Sustainable intensification' on the farm reduces soil nitrate losses, maintains crop yields - A nine-year study comparing a typical two-year corn and soybean rotation with a more intensive three-year rotation involving corn, cereal rye, soybean and winter wheat, found that the three-year system can dramatically reduce nitrogen -- an important crop nutrient -- in farm runoff without compromising yield.

These Everyday Artifacts Tell the Story of Harriet Tubman’s Father’s Home as Climate Change Threatens the Historic Site – The site is in Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge – the first place I saw a bald eagle in the wild (in the early 1990s). My family visited there many times when we lived in Maryland, and we observed the transition of the marshes to ghost forests and then then open water over the next 30 years. The refuge is obviously changing with rising sea level.

Plastic recycling gets a breath of fresh air - The researchers used a molybdenum catalyst and activated carbon -- both of which are inexpensive, abundant and non-toxic materials. The mixture with PET was heated and, after a short period of time, the chemical bonds within the plastic broke apart. With the tiny bit of moisture from air, the material turned into terephthalic acid (TPA) -- the highly valuable precursor to polyesters. The only byproduct was acetaldehyde, a valuable, easy-to-remove industrial chemical.

This English Burial Site May Be Centuries Older Than Stonehenge - Flagstones, a burial site in Dorset, on the English Channel, may be the earliest known large circular enclosure in Britain. It is a perfectly circular ditched enclosure, with burials and cremations associated with it and may have even served as a prototype for later sites such as Stonehenge, which is located just 45 miles to the northeast. The ditched enclosure was created around 3200 B.C.E., with burials placed in it at that time. The scientists were also intrigued to find that a young man was buried under a large stone at the site fully a millennium later.

Climate change threatens future of banana export industry - It will be economically unsustainable by 2080 for many areas across Latin America and the Caribbean to continue growing bananas for export, because of rising temperatures caused by climate change.

Spring Spectacle: Thousands of Tulips Bloom at One of LA’s Top Gardens – Reminds me that I need to plan a visit to the botanical gardens near where I live in Missouri for tulips soon!

Portraits of women who 'shine a light': from an 'analog' astronaut to a watermelon farmer – Vignettes of women from around the world…what a range of activity!

Sustaining Elder Care – February 2025

I took three days for my monthly trip to Dallas rather than the usual two. A weather forecast for snow prompted the decision…since it would be impossible to leave early in the morning. There were two appointments I wanted to keep – one to signing tax forms for my dad and the other to complete the set up at his bank so I could sign for him if needed. It turned out that the drive down was not bad. The highways were clear; the first rest stop still has some snow/ice remnants but even that had melted way by the time I was mid-way through Oklahoma.

I got to Dallas early enough to see my dad on my that first day…and two more times before I left to come home. During my recent visits, I’ve noticed my father’s further decline each month – both physical and mental. He rarely can complete a sentence now and tends to look at his feet when he stands up and walks (hunched over) with the walker. The cold weather keeps him from taking walks outside most of the time and the impact on his physical fitness is noticeable. It felt right to see him for the extra day.

He had another round of Covid since my last visit; he appears to have come through OK although he had a few rough days when he was quarantined to his room, and he became concerned that the house was too quiet (thinking he was alone in the assisted living residence). One of my sisters arrived (masked and gloved) at the perfect time to reassure him. And now the house is back to normal with residents out in the shared big room more frequently…and a television on there.

We had a rough time starting a new puzzle on the second afternoon but then did very well the next morning – completing the frame and forging ahead. Dad seemed more adept at finding pieces that fit. Perhaps he is always more alert mentally in the morning. I’ll need to consider that going forward.

I drove home on the third day and it was unexpectedly harder than I thought….foggy and rainy the whole way. The temperature was high enough that I wasn’t worried about ice, but the sheets of water thrown up by the big trucks on the highway along with the wind made for a stressful drive. The 7 hours on the road was exhausting. I was relieved to be home again.

Dallas in Late January

The drive down to Dallas was harder than usual – rainy and foggy from Missouri and through Oklahoma. The sun was coming out just as I got to Texas and I stopped at the Texas Welcome Center on US 65. The pavement was wet so it had rained recently. The beautyberries in the native plant garden there are evidently not attractive to the birds; even the berries that were not burnt from last summer’s sun were still mostly on the bush.

I noticed a small nest on one of the trees

And a wall near the entrance that was clad in granite…probably coming from somewhere in Texas.

The day warmed up enough by the time I got to Dallas for me to take my dad outside for a walk. It is becoming more difficult for him --- partially because he cannot walk outdoors as frequently in the winter and probably also because his muscles are getting weaker with age. We still made it around the block.

We worked on the puzzle a bit but that is harder now for him too; he can’t see some of the clues on the pieces anymore and is very frustrated.

The next morning I visited him again – working on the puzzle a bit before the assisted living home served breakfast. I left as he was enjoying the food since I had some business I needed to handle before I left Dallas to drive home.

The weather was windy on the way home and I must have been more tired…it was a tough drive and I was exhausted by the time I got home…getting cramps in my hands. Driving seemed more stressful than usual.

But I will do it again soon. I’ll be seeing my dad again on Valentine’s!

Gleanings of the Week Ending February 1, 2025

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.

Warmer, Greener Arctic Becoming a Source of Heat-Trapping Gas - Roughly half of the region is growing greener, but only 12% of those greener areas are actually taking up more carbon.

More Than 100 Died When the S.S. Valencia Wrecked in the ‘Graveyard of the Pacific’ - Not long before midnight on a night with poor visibility in 1906, the Valencia struck a rocky reef off the west coast of Vancouver Island. The captain ordered the ship run aground, but it caught on rocks less than 400 feet from shore….and sank over the next 40 hours. The rough seas made it difficult of lifeboats and many capsized. 136 people died, 37 survived. Weather, waves, swift currents and a shifting sandbar made the area particularly hazardous, even for experienced captains. Lessons learned from the wreck of the Valencia are its most lasting legacy.

Menopause research is globally underfunded. It’s time to change that - The overwhelming majority of studies in the field of ageing do not consider menopause…and yet half the population will experience it. The disruptive nature of menopause and its health impacts have been known perhaps for millennia and should have been a topic for health funders for a long time. It is never too late to start.

How To: Go Snow Day Birding (with Merlin) – A good idea for a snowy day (maybe not if the temp is in the teens or single digits though).

Fighting Forest Pests With AI: A Hemlock Success Story – Fighting the hemlock woolly adelgid…increasing the odds of saving some trees. It’s too late for the ones behind where I used to live in Maryland. They succumbed to the pest years ago.

Incredible Winners of the 2024 Ocean Art Underwater Photography Contest – I like the ones that are good documentation of a species…and art at the same time.

In the Northeast, 50% of adult ticks carry Lyme disease carrying bacteria – Not good for public health

Inca Tunnel System Identified Under Cuzco – More than a mile of tunnels that reflect the streets and walkways in the Inca capital.

Archaeologists in Pompeii Discover Private Spa Where Dozens of Guests Bathed in Luxury 2,000 Years Ago – Found in a lavish home…big enough to host 30 people. Three rooms: calidarium (hot water), tepidarium (rub oil on skin and immerse in warm water), and apodyteriaum (changing room with mosaic floor). The spa was connected to a banquet room decorated with elaborate frescoes depicting characters from the Trojan war.

New study identifies how blood vessel dysfunction can worsen chronic disease - Specialized cells surrounding small blood vessels, known as perivascular cells, contribute to blood vessel dysfunction in aging, chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes and fibrosis.

Physical Therapy

I’ve had 8 physical therapy sessions – motivated by lower back pain. At first, I thought it was a long shot that they would help very much but now it looks like they might be as successful as the session I had more than 15 years ago for shoulder pain (which totally fixed that problem).

This time around, I know there are some age-related issues but strengthening muscles is already helping! The exercises I started with were very simple and have built up over the past few weeks. There was a breakthrough around the end of 2024 when I discovered a maneuver that resolved backpain almost immediately just as I did years ago with the shoulder pain. To keep the pain from happening during all activities, the muscles must be stronger…but I feel good when I exercise now rather than afraid that I am going to hurt myself. When I take my road trips, I know exercises I can do that make the prolonged sitting not a prelude to back pain! An open car door (the lower ledge of the opening is a good height to put my foot for the exercises) is all I need to do them.

Now that I have achieved more pain-free time, I am probably going to make more rapid progress building up muscles that had weakened as I had curtailed some types of activity due to pain in 2024.

I am also forming the habit of doing focused exercises twice a day…and that is probably important to achieving and then maintaining the muscle strength required to keep the lower back pain from taking over again.

I am a fan of physical therapy….awed at the skills of the therapists to select the ramp up of exercise to help.

Gleanings of the Week Ending January 4, 2025

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.

Uplift Underway in Finland’s Kvarken Archipelago - Some 20,000 years ago, during the Last Glacial Maximum, the Baltic Sea sat under a sheet of ice as thick as 10,000 feet. Since the glaciers receded and the weight was lifted, the land has been bouncing back. The rates of uplift, known as glacial isostatic adjustment or isostatic rebound, in this region are among the highest on Earth. By one estimate, land about twice the size of Central Park in New York City rises from the sea each year along the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia, the Baltic Sea’s northern arm.

Silent Threat: America’s Abandoned Oil Wells and the Danger Beneath - Abandoned oil and gas wells across the U.S. pose significant environmental, health, and safety risks, with many leaking hazardous gases and chemicals, highlighting regulatory failures and the immense financial burden of remediation.

Lymphoedema: The 'hidden' cancer side-effect no one talks about - Lymphoedema is a chronic, incurable condition that causes excessive swelling due to a damaged lymphatic system, a network in the body responsible for maintaining fluid balance in tissues. It occurs when lymph fluid is unable to properly drain from the body, due to a dysfunction or injury to the lymphatic system. The condition is a common consequence of certain cancers and the treatments for them. It can also be a genetic condition, which people are born with, or it can be the result of injury, obesity, or infection. There are some clinicians who regard lymphoedema as an overlooked pandemic due to the significant chronic public health problem it poses globally.

Hazelnut DNA Study Challenges Misconceptions About Indigenous Land Use in British Columbia - Starting some 7,000 years ago, Indigenous people actively cultivated hazelnuts across the continent, disproving the settler-colonial notion that Indigenous peoples were simply hunter-gatherers. People were actively transplanting and cultivating hazelnuts hundreds of kilometers from their place of origin. People were moving hazelnut around and selectively managing it to the point that it increased genetic diversity.

Extreme Heat May Cause People to Age Faster - Researchers looked at such aging markers in 3,800 Americans over the age of 55, comparing the data with local weather records. They found that people living in places with more hot days tended to have more genetic markers of age.

An inexpensive fix for California's struggling wildflowers - California's native wildflowers are being smothered by layers of dead, invasive grasses. Simply raking these layers can boost biodiversity and reduce fire danger.

The Ten Most Significant Science Stories of 2024 – From Smithsonian Magazine.

Fluorinated “forever chemicals” and where to find them – Infographic and text. Studies have linked PFOA to some health conditions including cancers and hormone disruption. There’s also still plenty we don’t know about their potential effects. PFOAs are human-made compounds which do not occur naturally, so we’re only seeing the effects of their accumulation in the past decades.

Brighten Your Day with These 15 Photos of Beautiful Balloons from Around the World – Mexico, India, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Turkey, Spain, and the US (Nevada, New Mexico, New Jersey, and Wyoming).

How an Extreme Combination of Fog and Air Pollution Brought London to a Standstill and Resulted in Thousands of Fatalities - On December 5, 1952 (a little more than a year before I was born) as cold weather in London prompted residents to burn more cheap coal, a high-pressure wind system known as an anticyclone settled over the city, trapping cold air beneath warm air. Pollution from coal fires, diesel buses and factories could not travel up in the atmosphere, instead hovering in a deadly, stagnant smog. When the Great Smog of 1952 finally lifted on December 9, 4,000 people were dead from the effects of the extreme pollution. Retrospective assessments estimate that the number of fatalities could be almost triple that. While the government’s response was sluggish at first, the Clean Air Act of 1956, passed in response to the Great Smog, heavily regulated the burning of coal and established smoke-free urban areas throughout England. In the years that followed, a host of other industrial nations were inspired to follow suit.

Gleanings of the Week Ending December 28, 2024

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.

5 New Year’s Resolutions for Your Garden – All 5 are good ideas! I am on my second year of ‘turn an area of turf grass into a native garden.’ If the native trees/shrugs I planted last fall survive…it won’t be hard at all to reduce some turf in 2025. I haven’t used pesticides since we moved to Missouri and we already use electric or hand-powered tools. We have a bird bath. I am not at 70% native plants – yet. That one could be hard although I am going making some progress; I will eliminate a Japanese barberry and forsythia in the spring to make way for more native plantings.

Best of 2024 – Square Meter Prairie Photos – Macro photographs from The Prairie Ecologist.

Scientists Unlock the Secrets of Crocodile Skin and Its Irregular, Mystifying Patterns – Research that discovered that the uniqueness of crocodiles’ head scales is driven from mechanical processes, such as growth rate and skin stiffness, rather than gene expression.

The Case of The Missing Cinders from Yellowstone's Cinder Pool - What happened to the cinders that used to float atop Cinder Pool in the One Hundred Spring Plain area of Norris Geyser Basin? Cinder Pool was one of the few known cinder-producing pools in the world. Using historical water chemistry data, the pH (4.1 ± 0.2) of Cinder Pool was fairly constant from 1947 to 2015, and the sulfate concentration was relatively low (80 ± 20 mg/L). Cinders were last observed in 2018. By April 2019, the pool was lacking cinders and had become significantly more acidic, with the pH dropping to 2.6 and the sulfate concentration increasing to 350 mg/L. Cinders were no longer being generated, and the appearance of the pool changed drastically. Dynamic Yellowstone!

Animals That Turn White in Winter Face a Climate Challenge – There are some snowshoe hares that stay brown during winter…and they may be surviving better in areas that are now getting less snow in the winter. Animals that are adapted to winter by turning white…might find the adaptation a hazard if there is no snow!

Natural disasters killed thousands around the world, caused billions in damage in 2024 - In the United States alone, there have been at least 24 weather-related disasters that caused more than $1 billion in damages each according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Since 1980, the annual average number of events is 8.5. When counting the most recent five years alone -- 2019 through 2023 -- that average increases to 20.4 events per year. The cost of climate change is increasing around the world…impacting everyone.

The global divide between longer life and good health - Life expectancy, or lifespan, increased from 79.2 to 80.7 years in women and from 74.1 to 76.3 years in men between 2000 and 2019, according to WHO estimates. However, the number of years those people were living in good health did not correspondingly increase. The average global gap in lifespan versus healthspan was 9.6 years in 2019, the last year of available statistics. That represents a 13% increase since 2000.

Scientists Just Dissected the World’s Rarest Whale in New Zealand - Only seven spade-toothed whales have ever been identified, and the species has never been seen alive. When a 16-foot, 3,000-pound carcass washed ashore on the South Island of New Zealand in July; it was in remarkably good condition and appeared in a region of New Zealand that allowed researchers to perform the first-ever dissection of the species. The research and dissection process was under the guidance of both scientists and members of local Māori tribes on the South Island. Some discoveries: vestigial teeth, 9 stomach chambers, and head trauma was cause of death.

Interior Department Signed 69 Tribal Co-Stewardship Agreements In 2024 - The agreements cover a range of ways designed to bring tribes into management of public lands. That includes efforts by Interior to expand bison habitat and entering into bison co-management agreements with tribal leaders, shifting historic preservation responsibilities from federal agencies to tribal agencies, carefully weighing the impact of federal agency action on sacred sites, and expanding and reforming self-governance as part of the Practical Reforms and Other Goals to Reinforce the Effectiveness of Self-Governance and Self Determination for Indian Tribes (PROGRESS) Act.

Study likely to change standard of care for deadly strokes - Endovascular therapy, or EVT, -- a minimally invasive surgery performed inside the blood vessels -- is 2 ½ times more likely than standard medical management to achieve a positive outcome after vertebrobasilar stroke that affects the back of the brain, including the brain stem.

Physical therapy (1)

My first session of physical therapy for lower back pain was just before Thanksgiving. I have 2 appointments per week through December – with a week off while I am out of town. It will be fabulous if this round can be as successful as the one about 20 years ago when I had a shoulder problem.

It has started out with very simple exercises for me to do twice a day. I’m sure it will ramp up to more challenging ones soon since the first ones are very easy for me. I am optimistic that it is going to help because of my previous experience and because the therapist has already made some suggestions that are helping me move without hurting!

It feels great to be ending the year with this type of activity…doing something that has the potential to enable me to start 2025 in better physical condition than I’ve been in 2024!

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 30, 2024

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 the Groundbreaking Suez Canal Forever Transformed the World’s Shipping Routes – The official opening ceremony was on November 17, 1869. It had taken 10 years to build on the path of an ancient canal and was called “the greatest service to the commerce of the world since the discovery of America.” The project was funded mostly by Western Europe.

'Jekyll and Hyde' leaders do lasting damage - When supervisors swing between good and bad behavior, they do even more damage to their employees than ones that are abusive all the time. And there are some indications that this kind of leadership could be contagious, with a leader's volatility fostering volatility in others

Scientists find a 35,000-year-old saber-toothed kitten in the Siberian permafrost - The cat was just three weeks old when it died, but its cause of death is unknown. The kitten still had its whiskers and claws attached when it was pulled out of the permafrost, and was covered in a coat of short, thick, soft, dark brown fur. Its hair was about 20 to 30 millimeters long. When looking at the mummified cub, scientists found some interesting differences between the kitten and a modern lion cub, particularly, in their paws: the saber-toothed kitten had wider paws, but no carpal pads — that's the wrist joint that's help modern day felines absorb shock.

Hatchling Alligators at the Fort Worth Nature Center – The Dallas/Fort Worth area is at the edge of American Alligator range…but the Nature Center has confirmed that it has a breeding population there. The Fort Worth Nature Center is 3,650 acres of mixed habitat, owned and operated by the City of Forth Worth; it is one of the largest city-owned nature centers in the US. There is an alligator research project ongoing there now that the breeding population has been discovered.

Sitting too long can harm heart health, even for active people - 10 hours or more of sedentary behavior per day is associated with heightened risk of heart failure and cardiovascular death. I am so glad that I decided years ago to use a Swopper chair (without a back…bouncing) at my computer desk….so I am moving most of the time that I am there!

Bone marrow in the skull plays a surprisingly important role in ageing - Studies in mice and humans showed that ageing results in skull bone-marrow expanding, and in mice this marrow was more resistant to inflammation and other hallmarks of ageing.

Glaciers Reveal When Volcanoes Are on Brink of Eruption - New research shows that glaciers near active volcanoes flow faster than other glaciers. The findings suggest it would be possible to predict volcanic eruptions by tracking the speed of glaciers.

Can we live on our planet without destroying it? - With eight billion people, we currently use a lot of the Earth's resources in ways that are likely unsustainable. Research shows that humanity can stay within the planetary boundaries. But it seems that there is little political will to do so. A depressing commentary on humanity.

Memories are not only in the brain - In the future, we will need to treat our body more like the brain -- for example, consider what our pancreas remembers about the pattern of our past meals to maintain healthy levels of blood glucose or consider what a cancer cell remembers about the pattern of chemotherapy.

Astronauts of the underworld: The scientists venturing into the deep, dark Earth - Hundreds of cave entrances are known on Earth, the Moon, even Mars. Many have never been explored.

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 16, 2024

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.

Drought Expands Across the U.S. – We are finally getting some rain…but we are in the ‘extreme drought’ area of southwestern Missouri; it is going to take a lot to get back to ‘normal.’ On October 29, abnormal dryness and drought affected over 78 percent of the American population—the highest percentage in the U.S. Drought Monitor’s 25-year-long record.

Cholera, Zika and West Nile: The deadly diseases that sweep in after hurricanes – Damage to infrastructure has been the big focus of reporting in the US, but diseases are ramping up.

  • Florida health authorities released a warning in early October of a likely spike in Vibrio vulnificus infections, urging residents to avoid wading in floodwaters.  Vibrio vulnificus is a bacteria which can cause the breakdown of skin and soft tissue, sometimes leading to amputations.

  • West Nile cases rose in Louisiana and Mississippi following Hurricane Katrina.

  • Studies found that flooding in Louisiana following hurricanes Rita and Katrina led to an increase in the airborne fungi Penicillium and Aspergillus, which can cause allergies, respiratory infections and pneumonia.

  • Research into the aftermath of hurricanes Maria, Irma and Michael, shows that a significant number of people in Florida developed new chronic health conditions such as asthma and allergies in the six months following the disasters.

Satellite Imagery Shows Breadth of Flooding in Spain - Valencia saw a year’s worth of rainfall in just eight hours, with floods destroying buildings, disrupting trains, and leaving more than 100,000 homes without power.

What animal societies can teach us about aging - Humans are not the only animals to change our social behavior as we age. Red deer may become less sociable as they grow old to reduce the risk of picking up diseases, while older house sparrows seem to have fewer social interactions as their peers die off.

The world’s oldest tree? Genetic analysis traces evolution of iconic Pando forest - By sequencing hundreds of samples from the tree, researchers confirmed that Pando, a quaking aspen tree (Populus tremuloides) in Utah, is between 16,000 and 80,000 years old. Pando consists of some 47,000 stems that cover an area of 42.6 hectares in Utah’s Fishlake National Forest. Because of the way the plant reproduces, this collection of aspens is technically all one tree, supported by a single, vast root system. Pando is triploid, meaning that its cells contain three copies of each chromosome, rather than two. As a result, Pando cannot reproduce sexually and mix its DNA with that of other trees, and instead creates clones of itself.

Have we found all the major Maya cities? Not even close – Using lidar to survey 50 square miles revealed evidence of more than 6,500 pre-Hispanic structures, including a previously unknown large city complete with iconic stone pyramids.

Stunning Shortlisted Photos From the 2024 Close-Up Photographer of the Year Contest – My favorite was “Chicory” for the color…and that I knew what it was!

Low-level lead poisoning is still pervasive in the US and globally - Chronic, low-level lead poisoning is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease in adults and cognitive deficits in children. Factors such as menopause and hyperthyroidism release lead sequestered in the skeleton, which causes a spike in blood lead concentrations. The solution to protecting people from lead poisoning is to identify and eliminate environmental sources of lead: eliminating lead acid batteries, replacing lead service lines, banning leaded aviation fuel, reducing lead in foods, abating lead paint in older housing, and further reducing lead-contaminated soil and other legacy sources.

Ghost Forests Creep Into North Carolina - Large swaths of cypress and pine forests along the southeast Atlantic coast have died, shed their bark, and become pale, leafless snags that line the waterways like gravestones. In the period before winds topple the snags over and shrubs cover them up, researchers call the eerie ecosystems “ghost forests.” One place that is it happening is Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge…and I realized I have been there! We visited in April of 2015. It was the first place I saw river otters and two vultures (different species) sharing a meal. There probably were bald cypress dying in 2015, but it is even more evident now.

Trees cool better than reflective roofs in vulnerable Houston neighborhoods - Heat islands occur in cities where structures such as buildings and roads absorb the sun's heat more than natural landscapes such as trees and grass. The researchers considered three different heat island mitigation strategies: painting roofs white to increase solar reflectance; planting vegetation on roofs to increase evaporation through the plants; and planting more trees, which increases evaporation and provides shade.

Sustaining Elder Care – November 2024

I have two book/puzzle sorting days at my community library before I go off to Dallas again…I am hoping to find some more 300-piece puzzles to take for my Dad. I think he is probably running a bit low and maybe my sister is bringing some older ones back that he hasn’t done recently. We don’t have as many 300-piece as we do 500…and those 500-piece ones are getting too hard for him.

The past month has been more stressful in terms of elder care than I anticipated. There is a disagreement between us daughters about whether he is having pain when he eats and he needs his food ground up. Observations of him eating are not consistent. We have asked the dentist he saw last to make an assessment….since to make the change in mealtime routine for the assisted living staff will require a doctor’s order.  On the plus side – I don’t think my dad is aware of the turmoil. Most of the interaction among my sisters and I is via text; I’ve stopped looking at the messages about an hour before bedtime to try to reduce the impact on my sleep. It’s also caused me to start thinking more about what I want my relationship with my sisters to be separate from our shared interest in our father’s well-being.