Gleanings of the Week Ending September 27, 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.

Flamingos reveal their secret to staying young - A decades-long study in France reveals that resident flamingos, which stay put, enjoy early-life advantages but pay later with accelerated aging, while migratory flamingos endure early hardships yet age more slowly. This surprising link between movement and longevity challenges old assumptions and offers new insights into the science of aging.

‘Montana Miracle:’ The State Actually Succeeding at Housing Reform - In 2023, Montana passed a series of state laws aimed at increasing housing construction that included allowing ADUs and legalizing multifamily housing in commercial zones. This year, the legislature doubled down, expanding on the 2023 law and eliminating parking requirements for most units in the state’s 10 largest cities. A new law also eases permitting for manufactured home parks to eliminate the need for a subdivision review when these parks are not subdivided into private lots. Another allows single-staircase buildings up to six stories, making it easier to build denser buildings on smaller lots.

Photographers Capture Underground Pools and Passages of Lechuguilla Cave in New Mexico - So far, 150 miles of Lechuguilla Cave have been explored. With every new survey, the cave offers new insights as to how underground chambers like these are formed and the microbial beings found there. Its beauty earned the entire Carlsbad Cavern National Park the title of a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995. But due to its complexity, entrance is limited, with the NPS restricting explorations to highly trained speleologists with pre-approved plans.

Plastic Free Water Filters: Can We Find Water Purifiers without Plastic? – My daughter and I are looking to upgrade our water filters. I hope the water filter technology improves with emphasis on reducing microplastics in water.

Inside Ukrainian Artist Dmitry Oleyn’s Sculptural Approach to Landscape Painting - Rather than use the traditional approach that embraces the flatness of the canvas, the artist instead builds his pigments so there is an element of bas-relief, leaving the surface rugged and with a marked sense of tactility from the artist’s hand. When they are displayed, the irregular surface casts shadows, which when viewed against the painted shadows, is especially intriguing; it also creates a degree of mutability, as depending on the time of day and where the paintings are hung, the lighting of the space dialogues with the work both physically and compositionally.

Photography In the National Parks: Mesa Verde Revisited – I’ve been to Mesa Verde once….back in the 1970s. This article reminded me that I want to go again.

Map Reveals Toxic Pollution Leaking from U.S. Drilling Sites - Scientists have shown that U.S. oil and gas drilling sites are not just leaking methane but also a host of toxic chemicals that pose an urgent threat to the health of those living nearby. A new interactive map details the impact of hundreds of major leaks. At nearly every oil and gas site, leaks also produced benzene, a known carcinogen, as well as other chemicals that have been shown to harm bone marrow, weaken the immune system, impair the nervous system, as well as cause headaches, dizziness, vomiting, and fatigue. Is the fossil fuel industry so arrogant that they don’t care that they are spewing poison (some of which could be used for fuels and other industrial purposes if captured) that negatively impact the health of people and other life?

World’s Tallest Douglas Fir Tree Damaged in Mysterious, Multi-Day Blaze, but It’s Alive After Firefighters Extinguish Flames – It burned from August 16 to August 21. The tree is estimated to be around 450 years old and has a diameter of 11.5 feet. It no longer holds the title of the tallest Douglas fir in the world. However, officials are hopeful the old tree will rebound from the damage wrought by the fire. It’s possible the fir will even grow a new crown.

Six tips from the Middle Ages on how to beat the summer heat – Save the ideas for next summer: work flexibly, wear the right hat, eat to lower body temperature, try wild swimming, use aftersun, or flee.

8 Hints to Reduce Your Food Footprint - You can make food decisions today that change your food footprint. Eight ways you can reduce your food footprint so it’s more environmentally food-friendly: limit ultra-processed foods, curb waste, eat a primarily plant based diet, buy local, compost your food scraps, avoid plastic food packaging (sometimes difficult to do), lose the gas stove, call out Big Ag for its polluting practices.

Life Magazine in 1941

/

Internet Archive has digitized versions of many Life Magazines. I have been browsing through them – slowly since there was an issue for each week. As I looked at the issues from 1941, I thought about the buildup of war activities in the US and then Pearl Harbor occurring in December. The US did not formally enter the war until December 11th but it is obvious from the pictures Life published that people were very aware of what was happening and the US involvement too. And there were still other aspects of life that continued on – iceboats, Coca-Cola, glass food packaging, the New York skyline. (Click on any of the sample images below to see a larger version and the links to see the whole magazine online.)

 Life Magazine 1941-01-06 – Ernest Hemingway

Life Magazine 1941-01-13 – Hitler with big guns

Life Magazine 1941-01-20 – Florida sand and mud creating Camp Blanding for 70,000 soldiers

Life Magazine 1941-01-27 – London on fire from war

Life Magazine 1941-02-03  - Wright Field wind tunnel

Life Magazine 1941-02-10 – American bombers poised to take off from Newfoundland

Life Magazine 1941-02-17 - Iceboats

Life Magazine 1941-02-24 – Railway gun built by US Industry

Life Magazine 1941-03-03 – Greek Peasant troops into Albania in winter

Life Magazine 1941-03-10 – Mayor LaGuardia explaining the food stamp plan

Life Magazine 1941-03-17 – English children

Life Magazine 1941-03-24 – Tornado shelters

Life Magazine 1941-03-31 – Bombing rehearsal off Diamond Head, Hawaii from aircraft carrier

Life Magazine 1941-04-07 – Coca-Cola six-bottle carton (cardboard and glass)

Life Magazine 1941-04-14 – British war prisoners (sketches from a German prison camp)

Life Magazine 1941-04-21 – Damaged British battleship seeking repairs in New York’s upper bay

Life Magazine 1941-04-28 – Glass for food packaging

Life Magazine 1941-05-05 – Big classes at Harvard

Life Magazine 1941-05-12 – Gandhi is the voice of Hindu masses

Life Magazine 1941-05-19 – Nazi blitzkrieg reaches London’s oldest cardroom

Life Magazine 1941-05-26 – Balkan war

Life Magazine 1941-06-02 – Nazis wreck great monuments of English culture

Life Magazine 1941-06-09 – Crete invasion

Life Magazine 1941-06-16 – Women bringing pans to provide metals of the war

Life Magazine 1941-06-23 – Chinese children (orphans)

Life Magazine 1941-06-30 – Wrecked Axis ships

Life Magazine 1941-07-07 – The arming of America - tanks

Life Magazine 1941-07-14 – Beer and ale

Life Magazine 1941-07-21 – Tin makes Singapore rich

Life Magazine 1941-07-28 – War in Russia

Life Magazine 1941-08-04 – Germans execute Russian sniper caught in wheat field

Life Magazine 1941-08-11 – Life photographer in Moscow a week before Nazi invasion

Life Magazine 1941-08-18 – Line of tanks

Life Magazine 1941-08-25 – Naval gun construction at Bethlehem

Life Magazine 1941-09-01 – Moscow camouflages itself by day and black out by night

Life Magazine 1941-09-08 – Hard times of Alden family

Life Magazine 1941-09-15 – Battleship tests its guns at sea

Life Magazine 1941-09-22 – Roosevelt mourning his mother

Life Magazine 1941-09-29 – Spitsbergen – British blow up coal mines

Life Magazine 1941-10-06 – Rain, mud, dust….the Army goes through

Life Magazine 1941-10-13 – Appalachian trail

Life Magazine 1941-10-20 – Pan American Airways Clipper

Life Magazine 1941-10-27 – Crowd in Moscow park listening to war speakers

Life Magazine 1941-11-03 – Army builds its Iceland base

Life Magazine 1941-11-10 – New York skyline behind New Jersey suburbs

Life Magazine 1941-11-17 – Russian mud and blood stall German army

Life Magazine 1941-11-24 – B-19, world’s largest warplane (at the time)

Life Magazine 1941-12-01 – Balloon houses for defense workers under Virginia trees

Life Magazine 1941-12-08 – American flag goes down in the south Atlantic

Life Magazine 1941-12-15 – Jap bombers aim first blow at Oahu base

Life Magazine 1941-12-22 – US planes fight to command the air

Life Magazine 1941-12-29 – Knox Report – deeds of heroism at Pearl Harbor

Gleanings of the Week Ending September 20, 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.

Fewer than half the calories grown on farms now reach our plates - The world produced enough calories in 2020 to feed 15 billion people – but only 50 per cent of those calories ended up reaching people’s plates. This proportion is now very likely to have fallen even lower because of the declining efficiency of the global food system. (This article is behind a paywall…but even the headline and first paragraphs that are freely available are thought provoking.)

Humans inhale as much as 68,000 microplastic particles daily - Every breath people take in their homes or car probably contains significant amounts of microplastics small enough to burrow deep into lungs. The smaller bits measure between 1 and 10 micrometers and present more of a health threat because they can more easily be distributed throughout the body. The concentrations indoors are higher because it is an enclosed environment with high levels of plastic in a small area, and there is generally poor ventilation. The concentration of plastic in the cars’ air was about four times higher than in homes. Researchers matched the microplastic material with that used on the dashboard, door handle, steering wheel and other components. (Makes the case for replacing plastic in home furnishings and air purifiers that remove small particles…the car is more challenging.)

The 25-Ton Stone Relic That Once Lay Hidden Beneath Mexico City - In the winter months of 1790, construction workers were busy repaving the Mexico City’s Plaza de Armas when their shovels struck upon a large, circular object buried in the ground. It was so heavy, they had to create a makeshift pulley system to remove it. Once they did, they were in for a surprise, as they had just discovered one of Aztec civilization’s most iconic artifacts: the Calendar Stone. It is a large sculpture carved into 25 ton, 4 feet-thick circular block of olivine volcanic basalt that measures 11.8 feet in diameter. It was removed from Tenochtitlan’s main square and buried face-down in the ground after the conquistadors conquered Tenochtitlan.

The Paradox of American Technological Leadership in Renewable Energy – From a journalist’s perspective, thriving in a developing nation, dependent on first-world technology.

Earliest Evidence of Indigo Processing Identified on Paleolithic Tools – From analysis of 34,000-year-old stone tools found in the Dzudzuana Cave in the foothills of Georgia’s Caucasus. The pebble grinding tools contained traces of plant matter and indigotin, the deep blue compound also known as indigo.

Global Solar Installations Up 64 Percent So Far This Year - Solar is the fastest-growing source of electricity worldwide, and the buildout continues to gain pace, year after year. In the first six months of 2025, countries installed 380 gigawatts of solar capacity, up from 232 gigawatts in 2024. China accounted for most of the growth, installing more than twice as much solar in the first half of this year as it did in early 2024. For the first time in China, solar isn’t just supplementing coal power, but replacing it. The U.S., by comparison, saw solar installations rise by just 4 percent. Through its exports of low-cost solar panels, China also drove growth in India and across much of Africa

Permitting Pollution Jeopardizes Clean Water - The PERMIT Act, will let large-scale polluters off the hook for trashing our waters, leaving the American people to pick up the tab. If it becomes law, this bill will pollute our drinking water, compromise our health, put more communities at risk of floods, and ruin many of the places we swim or fish.

How long can one RSV shot protect seniors? Study shows surprising two-year shield - A single RSV vaccine dose is proving to be a powerful shield for older adults, significantly reducing hospitalizations and severe illness over two consecutive RSV seasons. While protection is strongest in the first year and declines somewhat in the second, the findings highlight both the immediate benefits and the importance of ongoing monitoring.

84% of Chicago's Pipes Contain Lead — and They're Not Equally Distributed - Chicago has the highest number of lead water service lines in the nation, with an estimated 412,000 of about 491,000 lines at least partly made of lead or contaminated with the dangerous metal. The city’s Black and Latino communities are most impacted, but the issue is widespread across the city’s water distribution network.

How to Go Plastic Free for Beginners. Your First 10 Items! - Start with 10 items, step by step and then progress slowly to more once you feel more confident.

Homeless in America (1988 eBook)

/

The opening message of this book concluded by saying ‘We must not let homelessness become an American institution.’ And yet – in 2025, there are still a lot of people that are homeless and the cost of housing is rising fast enough that it is unlikely that there will ever be enough affordable housing….or effective enough attention to reduce the tragedies that unfold for people that find themselves in the situation.

The book is a pictorial work – full of photographs from cities all over America. Some of the people had died before the book was published. It is available on Internet Archive. I found myself thinking about what has changed. There are new drugs that are, at least, as addictive as the ones in 1988 and some are more likely to cause death from overdose or wounds that will never heal. The tents are similar. The cars that people try to live in are different models…probably just as uncomfortable. But in the end – the efforts that non-profits and churches and cities made really have not been very effective.

Homeless in America: a Joint Project of the National Mental Health Association and Families for the Homeless

Gleanings of the Week Ending September 13, 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.

Can Italy Protect Its Cultural Heritage from Naughty Tourists? - Each summer, as millions of tourists swarm into historic towns full of monuments and museums, a predictable kind of headline is sure to follow about badly behaved tourists putting cultural heritage at risk.

Bans on highly toxic pesticides could be a simple way to save lives from suicide - Pesticide poisoning is a common method of suicide in many low- to middle-income countries. Substituting highly toxic pesticides for less fatal ones can save lives. A cast study from Sri Lanka.

Federal Hurricane Forecasting Saves Lives & Money - A 5-day forecast in 2025 is roughly equivalent to a 2-day forecast in 2005, meaning lead times and path estimates have significantly improved, to the tune of 50% in the past 20 years. This helps save lives and has also led to an estimated 2 billion dollars in savings per storm. NOAA’s research arm, the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), houses not only the laboratories that help improve predictions, but much of the monitoring and observation infrastructure — like ocean buoys and gliders — that feed real time data into hurricane models, improving their accuracy and saving lives. The U.S. fully relies upon NOAA for our hurricane forecasts, including sea level rise and flooding. There is no other body ready or funded to pick up that work. The President’s budget proposed completely eliminating the research arm of NOAA.

Bison Benefits - A new study out this past week explains why bison are more beneficial for grasslands than traditional livestock, and the benefits increase as herd size does. A podcast from National Parks Traveler.

4 Reasons to Choose Plastic Free, All Natural Fibers Over Synthetic Fibers - Manufacturers give our fabrics trade names, so even when we look at the fiber content label inside our clothing, it isn’t clear that it is made from plastic. Buying clothing that is made from natural fibers is the fastest and safest way to save our planet.

An Explosive Beginning for Lake Bosumtwi - Bosumtwi’s exotic geology has drawn attention to the crater for economic reasons as well. When the asteroid struck, the shockwave fractured the crust around the crater, creating an extensive network of faults and cracks that allowed hot fluids to circulate. The event helped concentrate gold and other minerals from a gold-bearing rock layer called the Birimian Supergroup near the surface and primed the area around the crater to become a target of small-scale gold mining.

Common painkillers like Advil and Tylenol supercharge antibiotic resistance - Researchers discovered that these drugs not only fuel bacterial resistance on their own but make it far worse when combined with antibiotics. The findings are especially troubling for aged care settings, where residents commonly take multiple medications, creating perfect conditions for resistant bacteria to thrive.

See the Rare ‘Electric Blue’ Lobster Found Off the Coast of Massachusetts – A video showing a vibrantly colored shell that results from a genetic mutation affecting pigmentation.

New Jersey Cats Caught on Camera – Bobcats caught on camera traps…and other animals in the wilds of New Jersey.

Traveling Photographer Spends 17 Years (And Counting) Documenting Indigenous Cultures – Faces and clothes from around the world.

The surprising foods that lead to better sleep - It seems that a plant-rich diet is the most beneficial for sleep, for numerous reasons – and that eating at consistent times throughout the day – for those who can – may also help.

Plastics Crisis: Recycle Inventory

/

I have been recycling for a long time…starting out when newspapers and cans (separately) were the only items that could be recycled. By the time we moved from Maryland, the county where we lived supplied recycle bins for everyone; the cost was included with trash service. The items we recycled included cardboard, paper, glass jars/bottles, tin cans, aluminum cans, plastic bottles/jugs, and milk cartons/juice boxes. We always had more in the recycle bin than in the trash bin and that seemed true for everyone in our neighborhood.

When we moved to Missouri, the curbside recycling was an added cost beyond trash pickup and we quickly discovered that not as many people recycled. The list of recyclables did not include glass or milk cartons/juice boxes. The local recycling center accepts glass, so we periodically take glass there. The milk cartons/juice boxes go into the trash. We still have more in our recycling bin than in trash. The bulk is cardboard/paper, but the next is plastic…followed by tin/aluminum cans.

Focusing in on the plastic that is in our recycling bin….

  • There are soft drink bottles…but those will be going away shortly because I will either stop drinking soft drinks or buy them in aluminum cans.

  • There are milk jugs. I buy milk in jugs rather that cartons because the jugs can be recycled. There are not plastic free options for milk since even the cartons have plastic coating them.

  • There are a few cleaned-out bottles with caps. It is not as clear that these plastics are always recycled; for that reason, I am actively trying to reduce/eliminate them. I have already eliminated laundry detergent (buying laundry sheets in paper packaging instead). I sometimes don’t recycle bottles that held products that are hard to clean out (peanut butter, for example) and plan to buy those things in glass from now on which is more reliably recycled. I also am experimenting with DIY toilet bowl cleaner (soda, vinegar, essential oil) rather than buying the bottled version.

  • Plastic bags are collected and taken back to stores that accept them for recycling; I am skeptical that they are recycled but it is challenging to find out what really happens to them. They are usually not plastic shopping bags these days since we use reusable bags so frequently. They are bread bags, plastic from around soft drinks (although we are getting better at avoiding that), plastic bags that held food (popcorn, produce), packaging from clothing purchases, air ‘pillows’ from packaging, toilet paper packaging). I am overtly trying to reduce or eliminate this type of material even though it is supposedly recycled.

Even with all the effort I put into recycling of plastic – a lot ends up in the trash because it is not recyclable and even some of the plastic that enters the recycling process ends up in landfills because it is cheaper to make new plastic rather than to process recycled plastic!

We cannot recycle our way out of the plastic crisis! Read The May 2022 report The Real Truth About the U.S. Plastics Recycling Rate from Beyond Plastics. It documents a recycling rate of just 5-6% for post-consumer plastic waste in the U.S. for 2021. The report also reveals that while plastics recycling is on the decline, the per capita generation of plastic waste has increased by 263% since 1980. The failure of plastic recycling is in contrast to paper which is recycled at 66% (2020 figure per American Forest and Products Association). High recycling rates of post-consumer paper, cardboard, and metals proves that recycling works to reclaim valuable natural material resources. It is plastic recycling that has always failed as it has never reached 10% even when millions of tons of plastic waste per year were counted as recycled when exported to China.

Previous Plastic Crisis posts

Gleanings of the Week Ending September 6, 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.

Too much salt can hijack your brain – In a study using rats, researchers showed that a high-salt diet activated immune cells in a specific brain region, causing inflammation and a surge in the hormone vasopressin, which raises blood pressure. Researchers tracked these changes using cutting-edge brain imaging and lab techniques that only recently became available.

Two-Thirds of River Trash Is Plastic - Recent research conducted at the University of California–Santa Barbara found that rivers have far too much plastic in them. 1.95 million metric tons of plastic — the weight of 5.3 Empire State buildings — travels down rivers worldwide every year. It comes from littering, illegal dumping, leakage from landfills…and is mobilized across landscapes, through urban drainages, and into waterways by wind and rains. And it isn’t harmless. Microplastic in rivers accumulates in food sources, and direct exposure via inhalation and consumption of water leads to direct accumulation in our bodies. Macroplastic in rivers affects our infrastructure and communities by blocking drainages, exacerbating flood risk and damage, and negatively affecting tourism, fisheries, and shipping. And plastic also impacts the river ecosystem and biodiversity via wildlife entanglement, ingestion, and smothering, leakage of chemical additives, and transport of non-native species and pathogens. Plastic continues to break down into smaller and smaller pieces. As microplastic breaks down, it becomes nanoplastic…which might be the most dangerous to health of living things – including humans.

'I had no idea it would snowball this far': Why a Brazilian favela facing eviction decided to go green - Favelas – or Brazilian slums – are widespread informal settlements often situated on the periphery of major cities such as São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. They are home to low-income populations and can be built precariously on unstable land such as slopes and hills. They are often underserved in formal infrastructure – meaning they can be especially vulnerable to climate impacts and risks such as landslides – and commonly don't have access to public services such as sanitation. The post is about one favela that cleaned up trash/waste…built a garden.

These Lizards Have So Much Lead in Their Blood, They Should Be Dead. Instead, They’re Thriving – Brown anoles (non-native…native to Caribbean) around New Orleans since the 1990s. They are not physiologically impaired by the high levels of lead in their bodies.

Canadian Archaeologists Excavate Homestead of Black Rancher John Ware – He arrived in Canada in 1882…herding 3,000 head of cattle and settled near Millarville, Alberta.

In Scotland, Whale Strandings Have More Than Tripled - Over the past three decades, the number of whale strandings in Scotland has grown dramatically. Scientists say pollution and industrial noise may be driving the losses.

What Is High-Quality Prairie Anyway? - What are the criteria we should use for evaluating prairies?

Pic for Today – I saw more Jewelweed in Maryland than I do in Missouri….but always enjoy spotting it…I couldn’t resist adding this post to the gleanings this week.

113-Year-Old Bathhouse Being Restored at Hot Springs National Park – Glad the Maurice Bathhouse is going to be rehabilitated; it has been closed since 1974.

Scientists finally crack the secret to perfect chocolate flavor - Scientists have decoded the microbial and environmental factors behind cacao fermentation, the critical process that defines chocolate’s taste.

eBotanical Prints – August 2025

/

Twenty more books were added to my botanical print eBook collection in August - available for browsing on Internet Archive.  The publication dates span almost 400 years! The oldest is from 1642 An album of botanical studies and represented by the sample image at row 3, column 2 in the mosaic. The most recent is from 2023 The Beauty of The Flower: The Art and Science of Botanical Illustration which Is a good reference for the history of botanical prints. The sample image is on the last row of the mosaic, column 3. My favorites this month are the 4 books by S. Fred Prince because they are about Missouri plants! The sample images are the 4th row in the sample image mosaic.

My list of eBotanical Prints books now totals 3,183 eBooks I’ve browsed over the years. The whole list can be accessed here.

Click on any sample image from August’s 20 books below to get an enlarged version…and the title hyperlink in the list below the image mosaic to view the entire volume where there are a lot more botanical illustrations to browse.

Enjoy the August 2025 eBotanical Prints!

Album of Garden Flowers * anonymous  * sample image * 1800

Drawings and proof engravings for Francoise de la Roche’s Sea-Hollies * Turpin, Pierre Jean Francois * sample image * 1808

Album of 70 Asian fruit paintings * anonymous  * sample image * 1800

Illustrations of orchidaceous plants * Moore, Thomas (editor) * sample image * 1857

Theatrum florae in quo ex toto orbe selecti mirabiles venustiores ac praecipui flores tanquam ab ipsus deae sinu proferuntur  guillelmus theodorus pinxit 1624 * Rabel, Daniel * sample image * 1624

Getekende planten van rupelmonde V1 * Toulon, Martin Adriane Marie Van * sample image * 1823

Getekende planten van rupelmonde V2 * Toulon, Martin Adriane Marie Van * sample image * 1823

Getekende planten van rupelmonde V3 * Toulon, Martin Adriane Marie Van * sample image * 1823

Curtis's Botanical Magazine - Vol 148-149 * Curtis, William * sample image * 1923

An album of botanical studies * Dutch School * sample image * 1642

Album of Fruits and Flowers * Cloquet, Lise * sample image * 1820

Blumenbuch * Funck, Magdelena Rosina * sample image * 1692

Fifty years study of some of our most common ferns in their habitats : mostly at "Camptosorus" : 1883-1903-1930 * Prince, S. Fred * sample image * 1930

The rainbow in the grass; wildflowers of the Marvel Cave Ozark * Prince, S. Fred * sample image * 1936

Watercolors * Prince, S. Fred * sample image * 1936

Violets of the Ozarks * Prince, S. Fred * sample image * 1902

Pharmaceutisch-medicinische botanik V1 * Wagner, Daniel * sample image * 1828

Pharmaceutisch-medicinische botanik V2 * Wagner, Daniel * sample image * 1828

The Beauty Of The Flower: The Art And Science Of Botanical Illustration * Harris, Stephen A. * sample image * 2023

Catalogus plantarum horti Pisani * Till, Michel Angelo * sample image * 1723

Josey Ranch – August 2025

/

While I was in Dallas in August, I made an early trip to the pocket prairie and lake at Josey Ranch in Carrollton – a place I visited frequently before we moved my parents to assisted living in January 2024.

There didn’t seem to be very many birds around, so I started my visit at the pocket prairie. The trash cans looked freshly painted, and the gardens looked like they had been recently weeded (piles of vegetation waiting to be picked up). Some of the flowers had gone to seed but that is normal for August. There were marshmallows that were surviving in the rain garden area. The sunflowers dominate but I was glad to see Texas rock rose among the plantings.

I went back to look at the lake and realized that there were not many grackles (I heard several…only saw one)…pigeons were about as numerous as always…only two ducks and one was a white domestic duck. The only birds I saw in the pond were one great egret and one snowy egret. The two swans were still there. Evidently there were a lot of geese there recently judging from the goose poop on the sidewalks. It was depressing that there weren’t more birds around and I wondered what happened.

I noticed more trash in the water – a foam cup, plastic bags, and sheen on the water near the shore. Is there more pollution in the pond now? I saw one turtle snout from a distance. Overall, the pond does not look as healthy as it was a few years ago. I took a few pictures of feathers in the grass.

As I walked to the plantings between the library and senior center, I noticed a tree that was planted in memory of someone. It was about 6 feet from the sidewalk….a Bur Oak! I was surprised that it was planted so close to the sidewalk…maybe the climate in Texas will cause it to not get as big as Bur Oaks usually grow.

I looked for the beautyberry that seemed to thrive previously in that area, but they were gone. One of the new plants was a rock rose. The morning was warming up but I didn’t see many insects.

It was a little depressing that the wildlife that used to be around the area seems to be reduced. Maybe I was there at an odd time….I’ll try to look again later this year when the birds that typically winter in Texas might be around.

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 30, 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 Do Plants Know It’s Getting Hot? - Over the past decade, scientists have identified a few temperature sensors that regulate plant growth, some of which also detect light. Many of the experiments to understand the function of these sensors were done in the dark, leaving daytime temperature sensing unexplored. Now, in a recent study researchers discovered a brand-new role for sugar in daytime temperature sensing. They showed that at high temperatures, sugar acts as a thermostat to override plant-growth brakes, thus enabling heat-responsive stem elongation. These findings could pave way for breeding climate-resilient crops in the face of global warming.

Volunteers Discover 115-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Tracks Revealed in the Wake of Devastating Texas Floods - Last month’s extreme floods in central Texas have uncovered 115-million-year-old dinosaur tracks in Travis County, which includes Austin. While the discovery is overshadowed by the deaths of more than 138 people at the hands of the very same natural disaster, it sheds further light on the state’s richly preserved paleontological history.

Horseshoe Crabs Break Free from Biomedical Testing - For 40 years, researchers relied on horseshoe crab blood to catch endotoxins in drugs. Now, synthetic alternatives and updated regulations can end the practice.

Cultivating for color: The hidden trade-offs between garden aesthetics and pollinator preferences - There are native plants with colorful and interesting flowers that bloom at different times, from early spring to late fall. These plants tend to produce reliable floral signals and offer the nectar and pollen needed to support pollinator nutrition and development.

Ancient Dental Plaque Unearths Prehistoric People’s Lifestyle - Tartar on ancient teeth is the oral microbiome fossilized over time. When researchers sequenced the genetic material isolated from ancient tartar, they found it teeming with bacterial DNA. The researchers identified several pathogenic bacteria and some antibiotic resistance genes, suggesting that the potential for antibiotic resistance was present in prehistoric times. Several bacteria such as those belonging to the genera Streptococcus and Actinomyces coexisted with humans through their evolution, offering insights into microbial health and disease through the ages.

An interstellar visitor and hairy caterpillars: The best science pictures of the week – From the BBC.

One small walking adjustment could delay knee surgery for years - A groundbreaking study has found that a simple change in walking style can ease osteoarthritis pain as effectively as medication—without the side effects. By adjusting foot angle, participants reduced knee stress, slowed cartilage damage, and maintained the change for over a year. The caveat: Before this intervention can be clinically deployed, the gait retraining process will need to be streamlined.  

A 2,000-Year-Old Sun Hat Worn by a Roman Soldier in Egypt Goes on View After a Century in Storage - A Roman soldier in ancient Egypt dealt with the excruciating power of the sun roughly 2,000 years ago: by donning a felt cap.

Amazon & Brimstone Advance Lower-Carbon Cement Collaboration - Brimstone developed a breakthrough process to co-produce multiple industrial materials, including portland cement, supplementary cementitious materials, and smelter grade alumina. The company was founded in 2019 to develop next-generation industrial processes optimized for economics, efficiency, and sustainability. The companies announced they signed a commercial agreement to secure a future supply of Brimstone’s materials in the coming years, pending successful completion of testing and commercialization to scale up requirements.

As Fire Season Ramps Up, Thousands of U.S. Firefighting Positions Are Vacant - ProPublica’s review of internal agency data found that more than 4,500 Forest Service firefighting jobs — over one-fourth of all the agency’s firefighting jobs — were vacant as of July 17. The Guardian also reported that vacancy rates were highest in the Pacific Northwest and Intermountain Regions, at 39 percent and 37 percent respectively. Even before all the layoffs and resignations this spring — the Forest Service sometimes struggled to get through busy fire seasons. Firefighters have been called in from Canada, Mexico, and Australia when resources are stretched too thin, and sometimes National Guard or military troops are deployed.

Tony Cragg Sculptures

/

The ‘book of the week’ is from an early 1990s exhibition of Tony Cragg’s work. The artist has continued to work and evolve…so this the book represents his early work! The sample images below are skewed toward works from the 1970s and early 1980s. Look at the whole book by following the link to its location in Internet Archive.

Tony Cragg: Sculpture 1975-1990

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 23, 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.

The strange-but-true origin story of the humble potato - Scientists have known that potatoes are most closely related to two groups of plants — the tomatoes and a cluster of three species called Etuberosum. Certain genes suggested that potatoes were more closely related to tomatoes, while other genes gave the impression that potatoes and Etuberosum had the closer relationship. The interbreeding event occurred some 9 million years ago, which happened to be excellent timing for the potato. This is when the Andes were forming and lots of cold and dry high elevation habitat was appearing.

Pompeii’s Secret Second Life Revealed by Latest Archaeological Finds - Shortly after Pompeii was buried in up to 20 feet of ash and pumice, people returned, some to sift opportunistically through the ruble, and others to try and restart their lives as best they could. The redevelopment had Rome’s backing. By the 5th century, life in the ruined city grew even more strained following the structural damage dealt by resurgent seismic activity, including a second eruption of Vesuvius in 472 C.E. Within 150 years, Roman life at Pompeii appears to have ended. This time for good.

Why lung cancer is a 'hidden epidemic' in this part of the world - There are almost no nerve endings in the lungs, so in the early stages, the most common symptom of lung cancer is no symptom at all. And when symptoms do appear, they are often quite generic — chest pain, coughing up blood, and difficulty breathing. So, doctors in sub-Saharan Africa often misdiagnose lung cancer patients as having tuberculosis, given the high burden in the region. Patients would go through the whole treatment regimen for tuberculosis and not really be investigated for lung cancer. Those lost six to nine months of possible treatment can be deadly, since 55% of people with lung cancer die within a year.

Should we all be taking vitamin supplements? - Evidence is starting to grow that popping a daily multivitamin could be beneficial for health, particularly for older adults. "Mega-dosing", or taking quantities of vitamins higher than the recommended daily allowance, is not recommended.

The Amazon Rainforest Approaches a Point of No Return - Under increasing threats from rampant deforestation and climate change, portions of the Amazon now emit more carbon to the atmosphere than they absorb. The southern Amazon has become hotter and drier, with less soil moisture, lowered water tables, and a higher-than-normal rate of tree mortality. Scientists now believe the Amazon could reach its tipping point — when it loses its natural ability to regenerate and will become permanently degraded — as soon as 2050. The impacts will reverberate globally.

The Many Types of Fluids That Flow in Yellowstone - Yellowstone is no doubt one of the most dynamic places on Earth. The many types of fluids that flow between the mantle and the atmosphere generate explosive volcanic and geyser eruptions, create lava flows, bubbling mud pots, and very rare sulfur flows, and they span nearly the full range of possible material viscosities.

New, Implanted Device Could Offer a Long-Elusive, Drug-Free Treatment for Rheumatoid Arthritis - In late July, the United States Food and Drug Administration approved an implant that uses electrical signals to control inflammation by tapping into the vagus nerve—a pair of nerves that connect the brain with important internal organs. The move marks the first time an electrical therapy has been approved for the treatment of any autoimmune disease.

Midwestern butterfly count: Big data yields bad news and clues – A study of 4.3 million observations in the U.S. Midwest from 1992–2023 to characterize changes in butterfly biodiversity. The results: 59 of the 136 species declined in abundance over the study. Both common and rare butterflies are waning.

104 Grams of Protein For $1.50? - How much ribeye steak is needed to reach 104 grams of protein? It would be about 19 ounces of ribeye steak, which costs $12–20 per pound, and premium cuts can cost more. The ribeye would cost about $14 on the low end or a bit over $20 on the high for the non-premium cuts. The black-eyed peas are only $1.50.

Historic Artifacts from Frank Lloyd Wright’s Only Skyscraper Saved by Conservancy – The Price Tower has been in the news over the past few years…controversy and renovations promised never done. Some objects from the building were sold in a breach of the easement on the building…and now they have been purchased by the Frank Lloyd Wright Conservancy to avoid their being dispersed; the plan is for them to be returned to the building after renovation. The post includes pictures!

Life Magazine in 1940

/

Internet Archive has digitized versions of many Life Magazines. I have been browsing through them – slowly since there was an issue for each week. As I looked at the issues from 1940, I thought about my parents in elementary school then and becoming more aware of the war as they got older. Their families were probably listening to the radio but many of the reports must have seemed very far away, and it is unlikely that saw the pictures in Life Magazine. (Click on any of the sample images below to see a larger version.)

 Life Magazine 1940-01-01 – War’s impact on the London Zoo

Life Magazine 1940-01-08 – Trucks from the US going to France for troops

Life Magazine 1940-01-15 – Torpedoed British freighter goes down in the Atlantic

Life Magazine 1940-01-22 – Finnish people fleeing the war

Life Magazine 1940-01-29 – War in Turkey

Life Magazine 1940-02-05 – Swedish aviators

Life Magazine 1940-02-12 – Hardship in Spain

Life Magazine 1940-02-19 – In Russia

Life Magazine 1940-02-26 – Germans in Poland

 

Life Magazine 1940-03-04 – Life in Miami

Life Magazine 1940-03-11 – Maginot Line

Life Magazine 1940-03-18 – Coco Cola ad

Life Magazine 1940-03-35 - Plastics

Life Magazine 1940-04-01 – Niblets corn ad

Life Magazine 1940-04-08 – Stratoliner plane

Life Magazine 1940-04-15 - Fashion

Life Magazine 1940-04-15 – A German-transport armada crosses to Norway

Life Magazine 1940-04-29 – Europe’s sea power

 

Life Magazine 1940-05-06 – Shirley Temple

Life Magazine 1940-05-13  - British destroyer crew rides waves of North Sea after Germans sink ship

Life Magazine 1940-05-20 – German Blitzkrieg

Life Magazine 1940-05-27 – British in Belgium

Life Magazine 1940-06-03 – Germany’s fighting forces

Life Magazine 1940-06-10 – German private with a French flag captured in battle

Life Magazine 1940-06-17 – British wounded

Life Magazine 1940-06-24 – Mussolini struts his stuff as prelude to war

 

Life Magazine 1940-07-01 – Britons aim at the sky, send children to the US

Life Magazine 1940-07-08 – Admiral Byrd’s expedition to the Arctic

Life Magazine 1940-07-15 – Imaginary invasion of Britain

Life Magazine 1940-07-22 – British children housed in an American Castle by the Sea

Life Magazine 1940-07-29 – Easter in Paris

Life Magazine 1940-08-05 – Vacation at the Grand Canyon

Life Magazine 1940-08-12 – Japanese bomb Chungking

Life Magazine 1940-08-19 – Parachute practice

Life Magazine 1940-08-26 – War in English Channel and over London

 

Life Magazine 1940-09-02 – The Oval Office

Life Magazine 1940-09-09 – German bombers try to break civilian morale

Life Magazine 1940-09-16 – Heart diseases a major factor in US death rate

Life Magazine 1940-09-23 – Hitler tries to destroy London

Life Magazine 1940-09-30 – The bombing of London

Life Magazine 1940-10-07 – Bombing of London (damage)

Life Magazine 1940-10-14 – Praying for Great Britain in Washington’s National Cathedral

Life Magazine 1940-10-21 – US Industry

Life Magazine 1940-10-28 – The US Navy

 

Life Magazine 1940-11-04 – International Trucks

Life Magazine 1940-11-11 – Hitler’s Reich Chancellery

Life Magazine 1940-11-18 – Times Square on Election Night

Life Magazine 1940-11-25 – The world’s biggest ship leaves New York to join the war at sea

Life Magazine 1940-12-02 – Mussolini tries to break Greece

Life Magazine 1940-12-09 - Gibraltar

Life Magazine 1940-12-16 – German plane crash

Life Magazine 1940-12-23 – Ruins of Coventry

Life Magazine 1940-12-30 – Germans in Paris

Thinking of my Mother

/

I cut one of the naked lady lilies to bring indoors – a single stem in a vase that easily fits on the windowsill.

The flowers remind me of my mother. The bulbs came from her garden to mine a few weeks before she died. Until this year, I had thought they hadn’t survived the emergency transplanting in January 2023. When I noticed the three stalks with blooms (I had missed the foliage in the early summer), they prompted memories of her last decade.

  • Her joy when they bloomed in August. She could see the sea of pink blooms from her garden room. She would sit by the largest window in the morning sun to read the paper or make notes….or she would look up from working on the jigsaw puzzle. The scene of the outdoors called to her repeatedly.

  • Her desire to be outdoors among the blooms. She frequently went outdoors when it was cool enough (generally only in the morning in August) to see the flowers either from the edge of the patio or wading into the flower bed to cut a few stems. Toward the end of the decade, a walker was increasingly required, and the family tried to accompany her into the beds….although she still managed some solo forays and (thankfully) came back unscathed.

  • Her making of bouquets. The naked lady lilies are not ‘day’ lilies, so they lasted longer after they were cut. She would sometimes have a vase full of just the lilies, but other times would combine them with other plants….but always the lilies were the standout of the bouquets for the duration of their bloom time.

I have some other plants from my mother’s garden (chives and irises are the ones thriving), but the naked lady lilies are the ones that prompt the most memories…her good times in August.

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 16, 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.

Fall 2025 International Student Enrollment Outlook and Economic Impact – The drop in new international student enrollment in the United States this fall could result in a 15 percent drop in overall enrollment. This drop would result in nearly $7 billion in lost revenue and more than 60,000 fewer jobs.

Woodpeckers thrive where missiles fly. How a bombing range became a wildlife refuge - A U.S. Air Force bombing range in Florida has become a sanctuary for endangered species like the red-cockaded woodpecker!

Used EV Batteries Get New Life Supporting the Texas Power Grid - In Texas, retired EV batteries are being repurposed to shore up the state’s unstable electric grid. Batteries have made significant capacity contributions within Texas’ electric grid in recent years and have been credited with helping prevent summer blackouts by bolstering grid reliability.

World Cannot Recycle Its Way Out of Plastics Crisis - The world churns out more than 200 times as much plastic today as it did in 1950, and production is only rising. Microscopic bits of plastic waste have been found nearly everywhere. Many of the more than 16,000 chemicals used in plastics — flame retardants, fillers, dyes — can harm human health, and fetuses, infants, and young children are particularly vulnerable. Without efforts to stem the use of plastic, production is on track to nearly triple by 2060.

Gorgeous, Hidden Animal Tattoos Discovered on a More Than 2,000-Year-Old ‘Ice Mummy’ by Using Digital Imaging - Tigers, stags and a leopard twist around each other, the animals’ stylized and intricate details spread in ink across a woman’s forearm. On her hand is the delicate outline of a bird with a fluffy tail. It sounds like something you might see from a tattoo artist today, but these designs appear to be preserved on a more than 2,000-year-old “ice mummy” from Siberia’s Pazyryk culture.

How do the microplastics in our bodies affect our health? - The use of plastics in society first came into being on a large scale in about the 1920s, and we see a big increase from the 1960s onwards. In a study published in 2024, scientists found that consumption of the particles has increased sixfold since 1990, particularly in various global hotspots including the US, China, parts of the Middle East, North Africa and Scandinavia. In February 2025, scientists identified microplastics in the brains of human cadavers. Most notably, those who had been diagnosed with dementia prior to their death had up to 10 times as much plastic in their brains compared to those without the condition. Because humans are consuming so many different types of plastic, it's both unlikely and impractical, without vast sources of funding, for researchers to be able to identify a direct link between ingesting microplastics and one particular disease….but there is mounting evidence that they are impacting health.

See the Faces of Two Sisters Who Toiled Away in a Neolithic Mine 6,000 Years Ago – Skeletons found in the Czech Republic chert mine.

This diet helped people lose twice as much weight, without eating less - People eating minimally processed foods lost twice as much weight as those on ultra-processed diets, even though both diets were nutritionally balanced and participants could eat freely!

A Promised U.S. Drilling Boom Has Yet to Materialize - The price of oil, the world’s most-traded commodity, is more responsive to global demand and supply dynamics than to domestic policy and politics. The economics of solar and wind are increasingly too attractive to ignore. They are now almost always the least expensive — and the fastest — option for new electricity generation.

Your sleep schedule could be making you sick, says massive new study - A global study of over 88,000 adults reveals that poor sleep habits—like going to bed inconsistently or having disrupted circadian rhythms—are tied to dramatically higher risks for dozens of diseases, including liver cirrhosis and gangrene.

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 9, 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.

Scientists unveil bioplastic that degrades at room temperature, and outperforms petroplastics – Sounds great…but will the existing plastic (made from petroleum) industry let this innovation move forward?

The world is getting hotter – this is what it is doing to our brains - As heatwaves become more intense with climate change, scientists are racing to understand how extreme heat changes the way our brains work. A range of neurological conditions are made worse by rising heat and humidity, including epilepsy, stroke, encephalitis, multiple sclerosis, migraine, along with several others. Heat can also alter other ways our brain functions – making us more violent, grumpy and depressed. Hospital admissions and mortality rates among people with dementia also increase during heatwaves. Rising temperatures have also been linked to an increase in stroke incidents and mortality. And there is a lot we do not know.

Bizarre New Creatures Discovered 30,000 Feet Under the Sea - Entire communities of animals, rooted in organisms that can derive energy not from sunlight but from chemical reactions. Through a process called chemosynthesis, deep-sea microbes can turn compounds like methane and hydrogen sulfide into organic compounds, including sugars, forming the base of the food chain.

Hawaiian Petroglyphs Reemerge for the First Time in Years - The full panel of petroglyphs has been exposed again after seasonal ocean swells swept away covering sand. In all, the petroglyphs are spread across 115 feet of beach and consist of 26 figures and abstract shapes that archaeologists believe were created 500 or more years ago.

The US Commercial Rooftop Solar Market Is About to Explode, Federal Tax Credits or Not - If all goes according to plan, all 500+ projects will be completed during this year into 2026, proving yet again that solar is the fastest way to add more capacity to the nation’s grid. Generating electricity on commercial rooftops and distributing it into the grid is America’s most shovel-ready energy option.

The Power of the Emerald Edge - Whether a tropical forest or coastal temperate rainforest, all forests must contend with a unique set of stressors including changes in land use, invasive insects and disease, and extreme weather events. Rapid changes in climate compound these stressors. How do we prepare our forests for the future? Preserving old-growth forests is one of the most powerful steps we can take.

Elusive and Majestic Red-Crowned Cranes in Hokkaido – Beautiful photographs…of beautiful birds.

Germany’s Stunning Fairytale Castles Added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List - The royal castles of Neuschwanstein, Linderhof, Schachen and Herrenchiemsee have been added to the prestigious list, which includes more than 1,200 sites. Neuschwanstein Castle, located near the village of Schwangau in Bavaria, is one of Germany’s most popular tourist sites. Every year, roughly 1.4 million travelers visit the site.

Learning how to live with shrubbier grasslands (part 1 and part 2) - Our grasslands are getting “shrubbier” and it’s increasingly difficult to prevent that. Because the drivers for that change are mostly beyond our control, it seems obvious that we need to start thinking differently about grassland management.

3 Ways Ancient Egypt Left Its Mark on Modern Art – Empire furniture, art deco, and artists like Bridget Riley.

Pearson’s Birds of America

/

This week’s book is the Birds of America edited by Thomas Gilbert Pearson and published in 1917. Pearson was one of the co-founders of what became the National Audubon Society and was an American conservationist in the early decades of the 1900s…a time when egrets were killed for their plumes to be used in lady’s hats. The book includes 106 plates by Louis Agassiz Fuertes. It is available for browsing on Internet Archive.

Birds of America

Onyx Cave

/

After Cosmic Caverns and lunch, we opted to see a second cave. It wasn’t on our original itinerary, but the rain had forced a change in plans. Onyx Cave became our afternoon destination. It has been famous since 1891…and there is considerable damage that has accumulated over the years.

The first part of our tour was self-guided with headphones that described things at each stop. The second part was a guided tour.

The lighting in the cave was not as good as in other caves I have visited, including Cosmic Caverns, but it is still possible to get reasonable pictures. Sometimes the damage (sawed off stalactites and soda straws) revealed the inner structure of the formations. The cave is damp but many of the formations have been touched often over the years…so they have a dry look.

I think my favorite cave tour this year is Onondaga Cave that I toured back in April (posts one and two).

Cosmic Caverns

/

Last weekend we made an overnight trip to Arkansas as an early birthday celebration for my daughter. We picked her up at 8 AM at her house in Springfield MO (seeing what she means about her native plant garden being overwhelmed by grass).

Our plan had been for a hike at a state park in the morning, but it started sprinkling on the way there and was raining hard when we got to the park. We quickly decided to head to Cosmic Caverns. The parking lines there are made with bat stencils!

There were steep steps that reminded me of caves I toured as a child.  Now many caves have replaced their stairs with long ramps that make the cave more accessible.

The cave lighting was good, but the guide’s flashlight was sometimes needed to highlight features…and the black light flashlight provided a different perspective of some of the formations.

The cave was discovered in 1845 and there is damage that has occurred over the years. It is still a beautiful place to visit, and I enjoyed seeing how well my phone captured the cave formations.

Goodbye to a Maple

/

Our maple that was damaged by a storm in late June was cut down in late July.  All that was left was a stump surrounded by saw dust in our front yard and a pile of wood chips in our driveway. I dusted the stump off and discovered that I will need to sand it if I want to count the rings.

I had tentative plans for the wood chips, but they were left during a time when the heat and humidity was too high to work in the afternoon. All I got done the first morning after the tree was cut down was pulling the grass in the bed near my mailbox. I put as many wood chips as I could mash into the soil and surrounded the Missouri Evening Primrose with bricks. That project made a very small dent in pile.

The second day I was able to work for about an hour before 8 AM (the only time of day it was cool enough!) and put mulch around the stump and a dogwood tree.

The third day my daughter came to help. We got more done with both of us to loading the wheelbarrow, dumping it, and spreading out the mulch.

Quite a lot went into a low place in my yard (a large tree must have been cut down there a few years prior to when we bought the house) where I plan to add some landscaping plants; the places where the lawn mower had scalped the grass down to dirt helped me define the extent of the bowl. And then there was the base of the remaining maple where more mulch could be spread. I will probably hire a crew to create a bed that connects all three areas and do my plantings in the fall.

I had one more wheelbarrow and sweeping up the scattered chips left for the fourth day. The last wheelbarrow load were spread around the witch hazel I have planted in the backyard.

It took me about 4 hours to distribute all the wood chips. I’ve learned to drink a lot of water and pace myself when it is so hot and humid outside even in the morning. The 4 days allowed me to think more about what I want to do with the front yard too…and say goodbye to the maple as a tree knowing that its chips will stay close to where it grew.