Gleanings of the Week Ending September 2, 2023

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.

Dead trees around the world are shocking scientists – Hotter droughts are impacting forests more than anticipated. According to one 2019 study, global greening stopped more than 20 years ago, and vegetation has been declining since, all because of the drought-amplifying effects of warming. Forests are being forced into a transitional phase as they are impacted by the pressures of warmer temperatures, drought, fires, and insects. Perhaps the forests of the future will look very different from the forests that existed in the late 1900s.

Visiting the Grand Canyon will get more dangerous – A heat-related death was reported in July. As the summer days get hotter in the coming years, the risk will increase. I wonder if the peak visitation times at the National Park will shift to spring and fall rather than summer.

Study confirms link between concealed carry weapons and gun homicide rates – The study included 832 counties in the US from 2010 to 2018. "People aren't using concealed guns in public defensively to thwart potential homicides. Rather, having more guns in public through concealed carry appears to be more dangerous and leads to higher homicide numbers.”

This Arrowhead Was Made from a Meteorite 3,000 Years Ago – Found in Switzerland in the 1870s…. examined with X-ray tomography and gamma spectrometry recently. Based on the chemical composition, the researchers say it may have been made from a meteorite that fell in Estonia aroud 1500 BCE; a fragment must have reached Switzerland through trade.

Skin cancer screening guidelines can seem confusing – three skin cancer researchers explain when to consider getting checked - Since the early 1990s, the incidence of melanoma has risen dramatically in the U.S. This increase may be due in part to more emphasis on early detection. Despite this, the rate of death per capita from melanoma has remained unchanged over the last 40 years!

Over one million acres of tribal land submerged by dams in the US, research finds - Over the centuries, colonial settlers and the federal government have acquired over two billion acres from Native nations through various policies, including forced removal, allotment, and the reservation system.

Are You Ready to Have an Immersive Experience — With Your Home Yard? – I am gradually reducing the amount of my lawn…a little this first year in the house….more next year…and every year thereafter until there is very little – if any – grass to mow. Our homeowners’ association has ‘rules’ that I am currently following by simply extending flower beds around the house and making beds in the corners of the back yard. Hopefully by the time I want to turn more of the grassy areas to meadow, the project to create a meadow around the neighborhood ponds will be a success…and the ‘rules’ will change.

Rising methane could be a sign that Earth’s climate is part-way through a ‘termination-level transition’ - Since 2006, the amount of heat-trapping methane in Earth’s atmosphere has been rising fast and, unlike the rise in carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane’s recent increase seems to be driven by biological emissions, not the burning of fossil fuels. Natural variability…or the beginning of a great transition in Earth’s climate?

Wildfires and farming activities may be top sources of air pollution linked to increased risk, cases of dementia - Particulate matter air pollution from agriculture and wildfires might be more neurotoxic compared with other sources.

8 Great U.S. National Parks for Birding – Everglades, Hawai’i Volcanoes, Saguaro, Congaree, Channel Islands, Zion, Redwoods, and Yellowstone. I’ve been to 6 out of the 8!

Gleanings of the Week Ending June 3, 2023

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.

100 Top Photographers Sell Prints to Benefit Ocean Conservation – Enjoy the photography….and participate in the fundraiser for the oceans.

Methane must fall to slow global heating – but only 13% of emissions are actually regulated – I was surprised that so little is regulated…and even when regulation exists it is sometimes not fully implemented.

Capping Oil & Gas Wells in Texas Could Create Tens of Thousands of Jobs - CleanTechnica – A way to reduce methane!

280,000 Photos Used to Create Highly-Detailed Image of the Moon – So many images…stitched together…colorized. The blog post includes a short description of how it was done.

Talking puppy or finger puppet? 5 tips for buying baby toys that support healthy development – Not surprisingly…in most cases, traditional toys provide better interactions and experiences then technological toys for 0-2 year olds.

Beatrix Potter’s famous tales are rooted in stories told by enslaved Africans – but she was very quiet about their origins – Thought provoking. There is considerable evidence that Beatrix Potter knew about the Brer Rabbit stories (books from her father’s library) and that she used the stories to create Peter Rabbit!

Chronic stress can inflame the gut — now scientists know why – Chemical cues produced in the brain….immune cells in the gut. For people with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) (includes ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease), stress might make treatments less effective…and can prompt flareups in patients what previously were responding well to medication.

Increased droughts are disrupting carbon-capturing soil microbes, concerning ecologists -- ScienceDaily – There is a need to understand how microbes respond to the disruption of drought in both agricultural and natural areas. Right now, soil holds more carbon that plants and the atmosphere combined….so it is important that we understand enough to effectively intervene if the soil starts releasing more of its stored carbon.

Getting to the Root of Skin Healing | The Scientist Magazine® - Research that indicates that hair follicle transplantation might accelerate wound closure, reducing scar formation, and remodeling existing scar tissue.

Antarctic ocean circulation has slowed dramatically – New research shows that collapse of the South Atlantic circulation will happen sooner than the North Atlantic!

Gleanings of the Week Ending February 25, 2023

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 ancient diseases that plagued dinosaurs – Interdisciplinary teams are re-looking at dinosaur bones and comparing anomalies to diseases visible in modern bones….finding examples of dinosaurs with malignant bone cancer, septic arthritis, and airsacculitis. And it seems that there is a lot more to discover with the technologies now available to look at the fossils more closely and collaborating with vets (particularly vets that work with birds and reptiles).

A worthless life and the worthy death: euthanasia through the ages – The post is written from an Australian perspective and about Caitlin Mahar’s book: The Good Death Through Time. The topic is a thought provoking one….made more interesting with an overlay of history.  I wondered how much the growth of medical interventions has changed the way we envision ‘worthy death’ or is the phrase ‘death with dignity’ a better description now.

Residential solar advantages – 5 top benefits – This is something my husband and I plan to do…solar-plus-storage is our 1st choice. Residential solar also has advantages beyond the home itself: it can power your transportation home too!

Fructose could drive Alzheimer’s disease – More research is needed…but it is interesting that the fructose consumption has gone up in the US (in 1977-1978 it was 37 g/day….in a 2008 study, it was 54.7 g/day). Maybe reducing the risk for Alzheimer’s is another reason to eliminate ultra-processed foods that typically contain a lot of fructose from our diet.

High-paying jobs that don't need a college degree? Thousands of them are sitting empty – Making a career in the trades….and there is a lot of work available.

Why methane surged in 2020 – Interesting findings and how they were developed. The two main reasons: 1) heightened emissions from wetlands because of unusually high temperatures and rainfall and 2) decline in NOx due to COVID-19 lockdowns which broke the chemical reaction in the atmosphere that produces hydroxyl (OH) that serves to remove methane from the atmosphere.

Why aren’t energy flows diagrams used more to inform decarbonization? – Yes! These are easier to understand than a lot of other graphics. The ‘heating the UK with heat pumps or green hydrogen’ diagram caused a ‘learned something new’ moment for me!

Will we ever be able to predict earthquakes? – The answer might be ‘no’ – but there are still a lot of people trying. We can’t rely on predicting them to reduce the destruction in infrastructure and lives. Enforced building codes would reduce destruction and save lives since we already know the areas of high risk for earthquakes. It will be interesting to see an analysis of what the damage from the recent Turkey/Syria earthquake would have been if building codes would have been enforced (the ones that Turkey evidently instituted after the previous earthquake…and also if the ‘best in world’ standards has been enforced).

15th-Century Spices Identified in Royal Shipwreck – Analysis of plants from a 1495 shipwreck in the Baltic Sea off the coast of Sweden: nutmeg, cloves, mustard, dill, saffron, ginger, peppercorns, almonds, blackberries, raspberries, grapes and flax. The findings provide insight on cuisine and trade of the era.

Did you know pronghorns shed their horns? – No…but it a good piece of trivia. I remember seeing pronghorns in New Mexico – racing our vehicle during a guided tour of Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge.

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 12, 2022

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.

America’s largest transit bus charging station & microgrid open in Maryland – The headline caught my eye because I lived in Maryland for over 20 years – 8 of those in the county where this is happening! I hope other states have the same sorts of projects in the works.

NASA Finds More Than 50 Super-Emitters of Methane – Finding them is only the first step….how many of them will be situations we can reduce or stop the emission?

Iron induces chronic heart failure in half of heart attack survivors – This study prompted testing of iron chelation therapy to remedy or mitigate the effects associated with iron in hemorrhagic myocardial infarction patients.

Unique Bronze Age belt discovered near Opava – Half my ancestors came from the area that is now the Czech Republic…I am drawn to articles about the history of the region.  The belt is quite beautiful…but was it a practical item of apparel?  

What happens if our circadian rhythms are out of whack? – WHO has proclaimed that disrupted circadian rhythms are a probable carcinogen. The study discussed in this post was about the mechanism that circadian rhythm disruption triggers lung tumors.

View 16 Breathtaking Images from the Nature Conservancy’s Annual Photo Contest – Take a little break….look at awesome images of our world.

Mississippi River Basin adapts as climate change brings extreme rain and flooding – This year the stories about extreme weather seem to be more frequent – and wide ranging in terms of water. The Mississippi was low enough for barge traffic to be impacted because of drought…yet there were floods along part of the river just last summer.

Eye-opening discovery about adult brain's ability to recover vision – An unexpected success…opening new ways to treat a vision impairment (LCA) and maybe prompt a re-look about how the adult brain can re-wire itself relative to vision.

The World’s Whitest Paint May Soon Help Cool Airplanes and Spacecraft – A way of making paint that was previously too thick/heavy for things that move. The thicker version works for homes and buildings. We’ll need this technology to reflect heat without expending energy!

Greater cloud cover may be narrowing the gap between daily high and low temperatures – Simulating clouds explicitly. Trying to understand why nights are heating up faster than days across the globe.

Gleanings of the Week Ending June 18, 2022

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.

Archaeologists Uncover Hundreds of Colorful Sarcophagi at Saqqara—and They’re Not Done Yet – The seeming endless interest in Egypt…sustained by continuing new finds.

8 cool wild cats you probably don’t know – So many wild cat variations!

Fjords emit as much methane as all the deep oceans globally – When storms churn up water in fjords….oxygenating the fjord floor…methane emissions spike. If the water mixed more frequently the methane emissions would drop because anoxic environments at the bottom of fjords would disappear.

Tree rings are evidence of megadrought – and our doom – Tree ring data indicates that the 22-year period from 2000 through 2021 was the driest and hottest in the last 1,2000 years for the North American Southwest. There was another 22-year drought from 1571-1592 that was nearly as dry but not as hot as the current drought. And the water distribution allocations were made based on a 22-year period between 1900 and 1921 that we now know was an anomalously wet period for area! Not good signs for the future.

A 3400-year-old city emerges from the Tigris River – Drought lowered the Mosul reservoir. There was a quick survey…discovery ceramic vessels with 100 cuneiform tablets…and the conservation measures to project the site as the water rose again. The site is now completely submerged.

Fifty years later, Kim Phuc Phan Thi is more than ‘Napalm Girl’ – One of the most iconic photos of the Vietnam war…still makes be as emotional now as the first time I saw it. She says – To confront violence head-on…’the first step is to look at it.’

Two articles about the flooding in Yellowstone: Repairing and reopening Yellowstone National Park won’t be easy and Extreme flooding devastates Yellowstone, forcing the closure of all park entrances – Very sad….also scary.

Wildlife bedtime: weird nesting habits of North American wildlife – Black bears, black-footed ferrets, jumping spiders, bald-faced hornets, and red-sided garter snakes.

How Vivian Maier, the Enigmatic Nanny Who Took 150,000 Photographs, Found Her Place in History – Street photographer…that only became known after a storage locker of her photographs/negatives was auctioned off when she couldn’t make the payments on it.

Zapping orange peel oil into new, pleasant aroma compounds – I’ve always liked the smell and taste of orange peel (I buy organic oranges and use the whole orange!) but evidently the compound that is in orange peel, limonene, can be the starting platform for other scents as well.