Gleanings of the Week Ending February 21, 2026

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.

2/2/2026 York Daily Record Mountains of plastic turf in limbo after Pa. recycling project falters - A Danish company's plan to build an artificial turf recycling plant in Pennsylvania has failed due to bankruptcy. The state is now responsible for cleaning up thousands of tons of abandoned turf stockpiled across three counties. The abandoned turf, which may contain "forever chemicals," will now be sent to a landfill instead of being recycled.

2/8/2026 Clean Technica Why China’s Aluminum Industry May Have Reached Peak CO2 - Relocation to hydro regions is largely complete. Secondary aluminum is rising into double digit millions of tons. Coal heavy output has already peaked and begun to edge down. Renewable penetration in coal regions continues to rise. Reversing this trend would require renewed growth in coal-based smelting or a collapse in recycling, neither of which fits China’s industrial or energy trajectory.

2/9/2026 BBC Fungi mining and giant waste piles: How to get rare earths without mining rock -Gigantic heaps of coal ash, mine tailings and red mud are traditionally expensive and difficult to deal with. But if new processes allow rare earth harvesters to engage in remediation while hoovering up rare earths, then industry and environmentalists might no longer be at odds over what to do about all that waste.

2/8/2026 Science Daily Scientists finally solve a 100-year-old mystery in the air we breathe - The new model offers a stronger foundation for understanding how airborne irregularly shaped nanoparticles (like soot, microplastics, viruses) move across a wide range of scientific fields. These include air quality monitoring, climate modeling, nanotechnology, and medicine. The approach could improve predictions of how pollution spreads through cities, how wildfire smoke or volcanic ash travels through the atmosphere, and how engineered nanoparticles behave in industrial and medical applications.

2/6/2026 Archaeology Magazine Aqueduct at Early Italian Villa Explored - Based on the construction method of this hydraulic system, it might have been originally created to serve a rural village predating the construction of the villa, during a period before the Romans had fully solidified their control over this region of Italy.

2/4/2026 Yale Environment 360 Seas to Rise Around the World — but Not in Greenland - The reasons are twofold. 1)  the massive Greenland ice sheet, which at its center is roughly a mile thick, compresses the land underneath. As the ice melts, the land rebounds, rising above the sea. 2) the Greenland ice sheet is so large that it exerts a gravitational pull on surrounding waters, drawing them higher. But in a warming Arctic, Greenland is shedding some 200 billion tons of ice a year. As its gravitational pull wanes, waters recede.

2/5/2026 Smithsonian Magazine Air Pollution Can Cause Some Ants to Turn on One Another—and Neglect Their Young - As insect populations decline around the world, the findings further point to air pollutants as a possible cause, in addition to pesticides, light pollution and other factors. The work is especially important given the crucial role ants play in maintaining healthy habitats, such as dispersing seeds, controlling pests and aerating soil.

2/4/2025 Cool Green Science Reading the Tree Rings – Great photographs by Greg Kahn for this article. One of the labs visited for the article was the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research at the University of Arizona that I visited when my daughter was a graduate student in Tucson in 2015 (my blog post about it here).

2/4/2026 Compound Interest World Cancer Day: How antibody–drug conjugates for cancer work - Our ability to use medicines to target more effectively is improving, and antibody–drug conjugates are an increasingly effective tool in combating cancers. This graphic explains what they are, how they work, and how they might improve in the future.

2/4/2026 National Parks Traveler Florida’s Ailing Reef - The reef is fighting for its very survival, beset by the trauma of climate change and warming water, commercial and recreational fishing, and drainage pollution coming from Florida’s canal system.

Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield

I left the house a little before 8 AM. One of my fellow Missouri Master Naturalist’s was leading a birding hike at Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield to begin at 8:30. This was my first visit to Wilson’s Creek. It was a sunny winter morning – much warmer than the previous 2 Saturdays and without snow on the ground. It was cold enough that the mud was frozen. We met at the parking lot of the Visitor Center and then drove into the park.

We hiked for about 3 hours! I took some landscape pictures…some very white fungus on a log…a sycamore almost undermined along the edge of the creek (perhaps it will fall during the next big storm)…leave wads at the edge of the creek…the riparian zone…lichen on the bridge.

The bird highlight of the early part of the hike was a winter wren on the opposite side of Wilson’s Creek in the debris around a fallen tree. They are small and blend in very well…it took be a bit to see it move – find it. There was more bird activity as it got warmer toward the end of the hike.

We hiked up a rocky stream bed of a losing stream. There was a frozen pool where it usually goes dry.

We stopped by two small glades – lots of green moss and some brownish fungus. There was also some prickly pear.

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The highlight at the end of the hike was seeing an armadillo in a field of corn stubble! This species has been moving northward in recent decades!

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It was too early for wildflowers…so I am already thinking about going back…

Gleanings of the Week Ending February 7, 2026

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.

1/22/2026 I’m Plastic Free How Geography Impacts Plastic-Free Living - Many people want to reduce plastic, but simply don’t have the tools nearby. In larger cities, it’s often easier to find refill stores, farmers’ markets, and shops that sell loose produce, but the access varies widely between wealthier and lower-income city areas. Living in a city doesn’t guarantee sustainable options. here are a variety of factors that determine the amount of plastic used by consumers. These usually include their location, the system of commerce, and the accessibility of plastic products. Understanding how an area shapes shopping decisions will lead to people advocating for a change where it matters the most.

1/22/2026 Yale Environment 360 In Europe, Wind and Solar Power Overtakes Fossil Fuels - Last year, for the first time, wind and solar supplied more power than fossil fuels to the E.U. In parts of Europe, there are signs that increasingly cheap batteries are beginning to displace natural gas in the early evening, when power demand is high, but solar output is waning.

1/23/2025 Smithsonian Magazine United Nations Declares That the World Has Entered an Era of ‘Global Water Bankruptcy’ - Life around the world has been feeling the effects of climate change, land degradation, deforestation, pollution and the overuse of water. Ultimately, most regions are using too much of their renewable “income” of water from rivers and snowmelt and have emptied their “savings” in groundwater and other reservoirs, ushering in an era of “global water bankruptcy.” We cannot rebuild vanished glaciers or reinflate acutely compacted aquifers. But we can prevent further losses and redesign institutions to live within new hydrological limits.

1/21/2026 BBC Future How the nutritional benefits of foods change as you age - The two main nutrients we should focus on in old age are calcium and vitamin D. Eating enough quality protein is also really important as we age.

1/20/2026 ScienceDaily Stanford scientists found a way to regrow cartilage and stop arthritis - Scientists at Stanford Medicine have discovered a treatment that can reverse cartilage loss in aging joints and even prevent arthritis after knee injuries. By blocking a protein linked to aging, the therapy restored healthy, shock-absorbing cartilage in old mice and injured joints, dramatically improving movement and joint function. Human cartilage samples from knee replacement surgeries also began regenerating when exposed to the treatment. Human trials will be launched soon.

1/12/2026 The Daily Show Vitamin Plastic Water: Don’t Just Consume Microplastics, Enjoy Them! – Humor in a plastic world.

1/20/2026 NASA Explore North America’s Greenhouse Hub - In the Leamington (Ontario) area, growers cultivate vegetables and other crops within millions of square feet of greenhouse space. Commercial greenhouse operations began to gain a foothold in this area in the 1960s and 1970s as technology advanced and regional demand for fresh vegetables increased. Since then, the industry has continued to grow, securing Leamington’s reputation as the “greenhouse capital of North America.”

1/20/2026 NPR Polyester clothing has been causing a stir online. But how valid are the concerns? - Though polyester has been around for a while, in many cases, manufacturers have begun using polyester for items that natural fibers would be better suited for. For example, polyester is often found in summer clothes, even though the material traps heat. And people eventually dump clothes that are uncomfortable. Mounds of abandoned clothing are showing up on coastlines in countries like Ghana, India and Chile, Palladino said. Ghana, for example, has a large market for upcycling clothes. But many of the clothes it receives from the U.S. are of increasingly lower quality, so some purchasers dump them in lagoons and landfills, which end up in the oceans. Natural fibers clothing have cost you a little more, but you're going to have it longer.

1/19/2026 ArtNet The Forgotten Designer Who Created America’s First National Parks Posters - Dorothy Waugh was a pioneering Modernist designer who created the U.S. government’s first in-house National Parks poster campaign during the Great Depression, is the subject of her first-ever solo exhibition. After leaving the NPS, Waugh got a job at Knopf, founding and leading the publishing house’s Books for Young Adults Division. She also worked for 25 years as the head of public relations at the Montclair Public Library in New Jersey. In addition, Waugh was an educator, offering the first-ever course in typography at the New York School of Fine and Applied Art, now the Parsons School of Design. On top of all that, she moonlighted as journalist and poet, and even as a radio personality, with her own regional radio program. She also wrote and illustrated many books for children, as well as two scholarly tomes on the poet Emily Dickinson. The last of those was published when Waugh, who lived to be 99, was 94.

1/18/2026 Our World in Data How have crime rates in the United States changed over the last 50 years? - Several crimes fall within the category of violent crimes. In US statistics, this includes homicide (murder and non-negligent manslaughter), rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Violent crime rates increased during the 1980s, reaching a peak in the early 1990s at around 750 offenses per 100,000. Since then, rates have more than halved. Over the past three decades, rates have fluctuated slightly from year to year, but the overall trend has been downward.

Gleanings of the Week Ending January 24, 2026

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.

1/3/2026 The Scientist Polio Vaccine History: The Shot That Saved Millions - On April 12, 1955, when the Salk polio vaccine was declared “safe and effective,” church bells rang out, kids were let out of school, and headlines around the world celebrated the victory over polio. When asked whether he was going to patent the vaccine, Salk told journalist Edward R. Murrow it belonged to the people and would be like “patenting the sun.”

1/8/2026 Smithsonian Magazine Hundreds of Flowering Species Bloomed Across Britain and Ireland Last Winter - Citizen scientists in the British Isles documented more than 300 native plant species blooming in early 2025, a phenomenon likely caused by climate change. While it’s lovely to see so many wildflowers in bloom … it’s also a sad reflection of the way our climate is changing and the knock-on effects this might have for all the wildlife—bees and other pollinators, butterflies and all the larger creatures further up the food chain—that depend on plants. If flowering times are increasingly out of sync with insect hatching times, the consequences could be very serious.

1/8/206 People in Brazil are living past 110 and scientists want to know why – Brazil’s highly diverse population harbors millions of genetic variants missing from standard datasets, including rare changes linked to immune strength and cellular maintenance. Brazilian supercentenarians often remain mentally sharp, survive serious infections, and come from families where multiple members live past 100. Together, they reveal aging not as inevitable decline, but as a form of biological resilience.

1/7/2026 The Conversation Surprising number of foods contain microplastics. Here’s how to reduce the amount you consume - While eliminating plastics entirely from our diets may be impossible, making these swaps should help to reduce your exposure.

1/6/2026 Nature Defossilize our chemical world - Achieving net zero means eliminating fossil fuels, not carbon — the chemical element has a crucial part to play in powering the modern world. Defossilization means finding sustainable ways to make carbon-based chemicals. Alternative sources of carbon include the atmosphere and plants, as well as carbon in existing biological or industrial waste, such as used plastics or agricultural residue. In some cases, these chemicals will eventually return carbon dioxide to the atmosphere through burning or biodegradation. In principle, this will occur as part of a circular process, rather than one that has added greenhouse gases.

1/5/2026 Planetizen The Child Population in These Cities is Dropping Fast - The proportion of young children in western U.S. metros is falling faster than in other parts of the country. Lower birth rates can sometimes ease immediate pressure on housing and schools but also lead to challenges in supporting economic growth and elder care, as the ratio of working adults to retirees declines.

1/4/2026 Washington Post What we learned about microplastics in 2025 - For many scientists, 2025 was the year of microplastics. It’s only in the past year or so that we have begun to understand that the tiny plastics — including some that are impossible to see with the naked eye — are in our bodies and food as well.

1/9/2026 Science Alert Study Finds Microplastics Are Widespread in Popular Seafoods - In the Pacific Northwest – a region of North America renowned for its seafood – researchers have found particles from our waste and pollution swimming in the edible tissue of just about every fish and shellfish they collected.

12/18/2025 Yale Environment 360 After Ruining a Treasured Water Resource, Iran Is Drying Up - Iran is looking to relocate the nation’s capital because of severe water shortages that make Tehran unsustainable. Experts say the crisis was caused by years of ill-conceived dam projects and overpumping that destroyed a centuries-old system for tapping underground reserves. 

1/8/2026 BBC The animals saved in Greece's ancient accidental 'arks' - Shielded from development and agriculture, many archaeological sites have now become inadvertent safe harbors for plants and animals. In Italy, rare orchids flower around an Etruscan necropolis. In the ancient Greek religious centre of Delphi, researchers found what they believe is a new species of snail – just 2mm (0.08in) long – suspected to live only in that area. In recent years, two new species of lizard were identified in Machu Picchu that may have once had a wider range and today enjoy the relatively undisturbed conditions of the ancient sanctuary. To better understand the connection between historical sites and nature, in 2022 the Greek government launched the Biodiversity in Archaeological Sites research project. Over two years, 49 specialists in all kinds of plants and animals surveyed 20 archaeological sites that spanned Greek history. 

Gleanings of the Week Ending January 17, 2026

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.

12/28/2025 SciTechDaily Microplastics Burrow into Blood Vessels and Fuel Heart Disease - New research led by biomedical scientists at the University of California, Riverside suggests that routine contact with microplastics — tiny particles released from packaging, clothing, and many plastic products — may speed up atherosclerosis, a condition in which arteries become clogged and can lead to heart attacks and strokes. The team studied LDLR-deficient mice, which are genetically prone to developing atherosclerosis. Both male and female mice were fed a low-fat, low-cholesterol diet comparable to what a lean and healthy person might consume. Over a nine-week period, the mice received daily doses of microplastics (10 milligrams per kilogram of body weight). These exposure levels were chosen to reflect amounts considered environmentally relevant and similar to what humans could encounter through contaminated food and water.

1/1/2026 ScienceDaily This 100-year-old teaching method is beating modern preschools - Public Montessori preschool students enter kindergarten with stronger reading, memory, and executive function skills than their peers. These gains don’t fade — they grow over time, bucking a long-standing trend in early education research. Even better, Montessori programs cost about $13,000 less per child than traditional preschool. (My daughter went to a private Montessori school for preschool-kindergarten…she enjoyed it and did very well in her subsequent education/career so I am not surprised by the results of this national trial.)

12/31/2025 Archaeology Magazine Bones of Chaco Canyon’s Imported Parrots Reexamined – A reexamination of more than 2,400 parrot bones unearthed at Chaco Canyon suggests that most of the macaws and parrots that were kept by ancient Puebloans were likely restricted to the large, multistory buildings known as great houses, where they lived in heated rooms with plastered walls.

12/31/2025 ScienceDaily Microplastics are leaking invisible chemical clouds into water - Microplastics in rivers, lakes, and oceans aren’t just drifting debris—they’re constantly leaking invisible clouds of chemicals into the water. New research shows that sunlight drives this process, causing different plastics to release distinct and evolving mixtures of dissolved organic compounds as they weather. These chemical plumes are surprisingly complex, often richer and more biologically active than natural organic matter, and include additives, broken polymer fragments, and oxidized molecules. Understanding how these chemicals evolve across different stages of plastic breakdown will be essential for assessing their long-term environmental impact.

1/2/2026 National Parks Traveler A Day in the Park: Assateague Island National Seashore – This was a great get away from where we lived in Maryland until recently. We’d cross the Bay Bridge, visit Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge and then be at Chincoteague and Assateague Island National Seashore after that.

1/2/2026 The New York Times A Study Is Retracted, Renewing Concerns About the Weedkiller Roundup - In 2000, a landmark study claimed to set the record straight on glyphosate, a contentious weedkiller used on hundreds of millions of acres of farmland. The paper found that the chemical, the active ingredient in Roundup, wasn’t a human health risk despite evidence of a cancer link. Last month, the study was retracted by the scientific journal that published it a quarter century ago, setting off a crisis of confidence in the science behind a weedkiller that has become the backbone of American food production.

1/2/2026 Smithsonian Magazine When the Bayeaux Tapestry Makes its Historic Return to England - Created in the 11th century, the delicate, 230-foot-long embroidered textile has been in France since 1077.

12/30/2025 YaleEnvironment360 2025 Was Another Exceptionally Hot Year - 2025 was the second hottest on record, surpassed only by 2024. It continues a recent trend of exceptional, unexplained warming. The last three years have been, by a wide margin, the hottest ever recorded. The recent jump in warming, which exceeded the predictions of climate models.

12/21/2025 My Modern Met Photographer Explores the Rich Complexity of Africa’s Great Rift – Photography of a place --- and an interview with the photographer.

12/17/2025 Washington Post These kitchen items may be contaminating your food with chemicals - Plastic ushered in a new era of convenience and filled homes with cheap, disposable goods. But it also has exposed ordinary people to tens of thousands of chemicals that slip out of those items into household dust, food, water — and from there, into bodies. Some of these chemicals are known to disrupt pregnancies, triggering birth defects and fertility problems later in life; others have been linked to cancer and developmental problems. “The problem is, none of the plastics that we have right now are safe,” said Wagner, of Norwegian University of Science and Technology. “That’s not a very nice thing to hear, but that’s what the data tell us.”

12/15/2025 Nature The best science images of 2025 — Nature’s picks – Educational and beautiful at the same time.

Gleanings of the Week Ending January 03, 2026

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. (Note: I have changed the format to include the date and source of the article.)

9/15/2025 NIH National Library of Medicine Microplastics in Drinking Water: A Review of Sources, Removal, Detection, Occurrence, and Potential Risks - Microplastics in drinking water systems exhibit multi-source input characteristics, originating from environmental infiltration into water sources; leaching from materials in water distribution systems; migration from bottled water packaging interfaces; and re-release during water treatment processes. The potential hazards of MPs remain a critical concern. Future work needs to integrate research from environmental science, toxicology, and public health to clarify the dose–effect relationships of MPs, improve risk assessment systems, and promote technological innovation and policy regulation to effectively ensure drinking water safety and public health.

12/21/2025 Plantizen Winter Road Salt is Making Waterways Toxic to Wildlife - Salt used to keep roadways free of ice and snow is accumulating in waterways, causing dangerously high salinity levels in water bodies in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware - well above the healthy accepted drinking water standard for people on a low-salt diet.

12/22/2025 ScienceDaily This fish-inspired filter removes over 99% of microplastics - Washing machines release massive amounts of microplastics into the environment, mostly from worn clothing fibers. Researchers have developed a new, fish-inspired filter that removes over 99% of these particles without clogging. The design mimics the funnel-shaped gill system used by filter-feeding fish, allowing fibers to roll away instead of blocking the filter. The low-cost, patent-pending solution could soon be built directly into future washing machines.

12/24/2025 The Prairie Ecologist Photos of the Year – From Chris Helzer: “Well, we’ve almost made it through 2025. To say it has been an eventful year seems like a massive understatement. As I’m sure is true for many of you, I tried to manage stress and anxiety by spending time in nature – exploring with curiosity and wonder and giving myself a break from the rest of the world for a little while. It helped.”

12/24/2025 ScienceDaily Scientists reverse Alzheimer’s in mice and restore memory - The damaged brain can, under some conditions, repair itself and regain function. )ne drug-based way to accomplish this in animal models in the study, and also identified candidate proteins in the human AD brain that may relate to the ability to reverse AD and opens the door to additional studies and eventual testing in people. The technology is currently being commercialized by Glengary Brain Health, a Cleveland-based company.

12/22/2025 The Conversation Everyday chemicals, global consequences: How disinfectants contribute to antimicrobial resistance - During the COVID-19 pandemic, disinfectants became our shield. Hand sanitizers, disinfectant wipes and antimicrobial sprays became part of daily life. They made us feel safe. Today, they are still everywhere: in homes, hospitals and public spaces. But….The chemicals we trust to protect us may also inadvertently help microbes evolve resistance and protect themselves against antibiotics.

10/14/2025 All about Vision How microplastics affect your eyes, and what you can do - Microplastics don't go away. They just get smaller and smaller over time. They can come from everyday things like bottles, tires, fabrics and personal care products. Studies have found microplastics on and even inside people's eyes.

12/25/2025 BBC The best nature photography of 2025 - From the depths of the oceans to deserts, mountains and the remote Amazon, this year's most extraordinary nature photography brings us glimpses of the diversity and awe of the natural world. This year we meet acrobatic gorillas, maritime lions and grinning bears. 

12/22/2025 Smithsonian Magazine This Mama Polar Bear Adopted a Young Cub - The bears need all the help they can get these days with climate change. If females have the opportunity to pick up another cub and care for it and successfully wean it, it’s a good thing for bears in Churchill.

12/19/2026 Artnet Inside the 6,000-Year-Old Underground Temple Where the Walls Literally Sing - Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum, an ancient, underground burial complex on the Mediterranean island of Malta. Built around 4,000 B.C.E. this subterranean burial ground amplifies sound at a soothing frequency.

Plastics Crisis – Rorra Countertop Water Filtration System

After reading a lot about municipal water quality, I realized that the water filtration I have been using the past few years (Brita Elite) was not good enough. Yes, the filters claimed to remove some microplastics (I guess they would be considered ‘Particulates (Class 1)’, but I was unclear what testing had been done on the filter). Then there were the issues of the filter housing (plastic) and the pitcher it was installed in (plastic). I started looking for possible upgrades.

I opted to replace my Brita pitchers with a Rorra Countertop Water Filtration System. It is a 2.5-gallon countertop unit that has stainless-steel parts. I bought the unit along with a filter subscription since it will probably need a new filter every 90 days. The company has results from NSF and NSF/ANSI accredited testing showing that system reduces over 50+ contaminants including Total PFAS, Lead, Microplastics, and Estrone. It is engineered and manufactured in the US.

The set up was relatively easy once I got it out of the box! There were an outer box and several inner boxes. I am still working to segregate the recyclable parts from the (relatively small) amount that is not cardboard. They recommended washing all the parts with soapy water which was a little daunting because of the size (like a large mixing bowl). I had to watch the video a couple of times about how to get the filter in properly but – in the end – it was easy.

I have enjoyed the Rorra so far although I am thinking about moving it to another location around the sink, so I don’t have to reach all the way over the sink to fill it from the top. I have carafes that I am using to put water in the refrigerator and to carry downstairs for use for tea in my office. I also use the carafes to fill the reservoir as needed. The spigot is very convenient!

Looking back, I am glad I started filtering our drinking water several years ago. The water supply to our house is from our municipality and it is hard to address the potential of plastic water pipes in our city, community, and house (they probably would shed more microplastics they older they are)…or the microplastics that come from the source of water to our city (wells). Now – with the Rorra – we are upgrading that filtering. It is an investment for our long-term health – not eliminating microplastics (since there are so many other sources of microplastics in our environment) but a dramatic reduction in this one source is a good thing.

Gleanings of the Week Ending December 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. (Note: I have changed the format to include the date and source of the article.)

11/30/2025 NPR  More cities are seeing PFAS pollution in drinking water. Here's what Louisville found - What we do is manage risk, and we start that at the river. It sounds weird, but source water protection – keeping the stuff out of the river – is a big deal.

11/25/2025 Artnet Radiant Tiffany Landscape Window Leads Major Auction of the Studio’s Masterpieces – Beautiful glass…there are some coming to auction in December. I enjoyed the pictures in the article.

12/2/2025 Washington Post ‘Everywhere chemicals’ are in our food, decades after scientists recognized dangers - A large body of science has linked phthalates to a variety of serious health conditions, including premature birth and infertility. The costs to society are huge. A 2024 NYU-led study that catalogued health effects from phthalates exposure in the United States — including contributions to diabetes levels and infertility — estimated that dealing with phthalate-related diseases cost $66.7 billion in a single year. Previous Washington Post article on phthalates from last September: The health risks from plastics almost nobody knows about.

12/2/2025 Science Daily Is your gut being poisoned? Scientists reveal the hidden impact of everyday chemicals - Many chemicals designed to act only on one type of target, say insects or fungi, also affect gut bacteria. Some of these chemicals had strong effects. For example, many industrial chemicals like flame retardants and plasticizers -- that we are regularly in contact with -- weren't thought to affect living organisms at all, but they do.

12/7/2025 Clean Technica Your Single-Use Plastic Bottles Are Killing Endangered Sea Turtles - A recent study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences concludes that plastic ingestion has been documented in nearly 1,300 marine species, including every seabird family, marine mammal family, and sea turtle species. Researchers analyzed data from more than 10,000 autopsies from marine creatures killed by ingesting plastic; they calculated amounts consistent with a 90% likelihood of death:

• 23 pieces (0.098 cm3/cm) in seabirds;

• 29 pieces (39.89 cm3/cm) in marine mammals: and,

• 405 pieces (5.52 cm3/cm) in sea turtles (377 for juveniles).

12/2025 Greenpeace Plastic Merchants of Myth: Circular Claims Fall - After decades of meager investments accompanied by misleading claims and a very well-funded industry public relations campaign aimed at persuading people that recycling can make plastic use sustainable, plastic recycling remains a failed enterprise that is economically and technically unviable and environmentally unjustifiable. (Press release for the document)

12/8/2025 The Conversation PFAS in pregnant women’s drinking water puts their babies at higher risk – Data on all births in New Hampshire from 2010-2019 were analyzed. The 11.5 thousand births that occurred within 3.1 miles of a site known to be contaminated with PFAS and where mothers were served by public water system (well based) were selected for further analysis. PFAS was greater in the water system wells downstream from the site. Births in the area served by wells downstream were 43% more likely to be low-weigh (under 5.5 pounds), 20% greater chance of preterm birth, and 191% greater chance of the infant not surviving its first year. Research was done at University of Arizona.

12/8/2025 Science Daily Humans are built for nature not modern life - Human biology evolved for a world of movement, nature, and short bursts of stress—not the constant pressure of modern life. Industrial environments overstimulate our stress systems and erode both health and reproduction. Evidence ranging from global fertility declines to chronic inflammatory diseases shows the toll of this mismatch.

12/7/2025 Clean Technica The Floating Solar Revolution - Despite this year’s sharp U-turn in federal energy policy, the renewable energy transition continues to branch out in new directions. One emerging factor is the relatively new area of floating solar. The field has already begun to scale up in some regions around the world, and innovative solar firms are carving out new opportunities here in the US as well.

12/7/2025 Science Daily New moonquake discovery could change NASA’s Moon plan - Scientists have discovered that moonquakes, not meteoroids, are responsible for shifting terrain near the Apollo 17 landing site. Their analysis points to a still-active fault that has been generating quakes for millions of years. While the danger to short missions is low, long-term lunar bases could face increasing risk. The findings urge future planners to avoid building near scarps and to prioritize new seismic instruments.

Gleanings of the Week Ending December 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.

How extreme weather is making plastic pollution more mobile, more persistent and more hazardous - Rising temperatures, humidity and sunlight break plastic down, making it brittle and cracked, accelerating its disintegration into tiny fragments. A 10-degree Celsius (18 Fahrenheit) rise in temperature during an extreme heat wave could double the rate at which plastic degrades. Extreme storms, flooding and wind also hasten the breakdown of plastic, mobilize it and spread it more widely. Flooding can also help forge “plastic rocks,” created when rocks and plastics form a chemical bond and merge together. These become hotspots for microplastic generation. Wildfires release microplastics and highly toxic compounds into the atmosphere. Global annual production of plastic increased 200-fold between 1950 and 2023 and is predicted to keep increasing as the world moves toward clean energy and oil companies shift investments to plastics.

YMCA: The Swan Song of SROs and the Birth of Modern Homelessness - Single room occupancy hotels played a central role in America’s affordable housing ecosystem for decades, providing cheap, flexible accommodations without government subsidy. They are effectively large-scale boarding houses, offering small private rooms or dorm-style quarters with shared bathrooms and minimal kitchen facilities. The YMCA was the nation’s largest SRO provider, with more than 100,000 units nationwide at its peak. SROs were far from ideal, but without this form of housing or any other low-cost option, homelessness was the inevitable result. It was just as Edith Elmer Wood feared back in 1919: Housing reform had created a housing famine.

Recycling Lead-Acid Batteries Has Significant Health Risks - What happens to the old ones when they are no longer serviceable? They get melted down to recover the lead in them, which can then be used to make new batteries. In the US, that work often gets outsourced to other countries. It’s a patchwork of shoddy factories in places like Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania providing more lead for new car batteries….and where people die from lead poisoning. Car companies look the other way.

More Than 1,200 Marine Animal Species Eat Plastic. Ingesting Even a Tiny Amount Can Kill Them - Data from more than 10,000 marine animal autopsies. About half of the examined sea turtles, one-third of seabirds and one in eight marine mammals had plastics in their stomachs. The study didn’t examine other ways plastics can hurt wildlife, such as strangulation, malnutrition or toxic effects. It also didn’t look at the harms of tinier pieces of plastics—microplastics—which have been found in the deep ocean and can also affect marine life. Researchers say the best way to protect wildlife from plastic is to reduce the amount of it that enters the ocean, namely through local and national policy.

The Forgotten Roman Ruins of the ‘Pompeii of the Middle East’ – Jerash – ruins near Amman, the capital of Jordan and the country’s second most popular tourist destination after Petra. After spending more than a millennium covered by sand, Jerash has reclaimed its place as a cornerstone of both Western and Middle Eastern civilization.

Just ten species make up almost half the weight of all wild mammals on Earth – Deer and boars account for almost half the biomass of wild land animals.

New research reveals what’s really hiding in bottled water - Each sip may contain invisible microplastics that can slip through the body’s defenses and lodge in vital organs. These tiny pollutants are linked to inflammation, hormonal disruption, and even neurological damage, yet remain dangerously understudied. “People need to understand that the issue is not acute toxicity -- it is chronic toxicity.”

Beavers are Dam Good for Biodiversity, Bringing Bats, Butterflies and Other Critters to Their Neighborhoods - Beavers are famous for being ecosystem engineers, capable of transforming once-dry landscapes into lush, green wetlands that support many other land- and water-dwelling species. Now, two new studies suggest these benefits also extend to creatures who spend much of their time in the air like bats and pollinator insects.

This tiny pill could change how we diagnose gut health - Tiny ingestible spheres filled with engineered bacteria can detect intestinal bleeding by glowing when they encounter heme. Early tests in mice suggest they could become a quick, noninvasive way to monitor gut disease. The work was done by the NSF of China and other sources in China. Will China now dominate this type of research with the funding cuts in the US?

Meet the 7 Swans a-Swimming – There are 7 swan species in the world…which fits very well with The Twelve Days of Christmas.

Plastics Crisis – Black Friday Purchases

I did my black Friday shopping online this year…and it all involved reducing plastic at my house!

I bought three stainless steel mixing bowls with handles (replacing plastic mixing bowls), a shampoo bar (to replace plastic bottles of shampoo), and replacement filters for my air purifiers that I have in my office and bedroom (get microplastics out of the air).

Those purchases were small compared to the Rorra Countertop System for water filtration. I have been using a Brita Elite filtration system for the past few years, but the filter housing and the pitcher is plastic, and I was never quite sure how much of the microplastics/‘forever’ chemicals the filter removed; I did discover that I like drinking filtered water all the time…I can taste the difference. The testing for the Rorra is impressive and I am looking forward to having it on my countertop and not lifting any big pitcher; I can use the sprayer at my sink to get the water into the system to be filtered.

…Now to take the boxes of plastic stuff to Goodwill. I feel a little guilty because I really don’t want this plastic around at all – but maybe it is better to not send it to the landfill.

Gleanings of the Week Ending December 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.

Vitamin C Rejuvenates Aging Ovaries in Primates - A long-term primate study suggests vitamin C may slow ovarian aging by reactivating antioxidant defenses—though fertility effects remain untested. Oxidative damage contributes to aging not only in ovaries but also in the brain, heart, and kidneys—raising the possibility that similar interventions might benefit other organs.

Rings of Rock in the Sahara - In northeastern Africa, within the driest part of the Sahara, dark rocky outcrops rise above pale desert sands. They are thought to have formed as magma rose toward the surface and intruded into the surrounding rock. Repeated intrusion events produced a series of overlapping rings, their centers roughly aligned toward the southwest. The resulting ring complex—composed of igneous basalt and granite—is bordered to the north by a hat-shaped formation made of sandstone, limestone, and quartz layers. Photo taken from International Space Station.

How your hormones might be controlling your mind - Hormones are chemical messengers released by certain glands, organs, and tissues. They enter the bloodstream and travel around the body, before binding to receptors in a specific place. The binding acts as a kind of biological "handshake" which tells the body to do something. For example, the hormone insulin tells liver and muscle cells to suck up excess glucose from the blood and store it as glycogen. We still don't understand exactly why some people are so sensitive to hormonal fluctuations, while others aren't. We know that hormones impact mood and mental health, but we need to figure out how they do so before we can come up with the proper treatments.

Texas Voters Approve $1 Billion per Year for 'Critical' Water Infrastructure – Wise move by Texas voters; hopefully it will be enough to keep up with the state’s growing population and resulting demand for water. More details here.

How Does Sugar Affect Our Oral Microbiome and Teeth? - Less processed foods, especially those high in fiber, are often less sticky, which decreases bacteria’s ability to adhere and overgrow at a surface. Additionally, the fiber acts like miniature brushes. “These fibers constantly remove plaque from your tooth surfaces. The additional chewing of these types of foods also increases saliva production, which washes out the oral cavity, removing excess bacteria from the mouth surface to limit the formation of biofilms. Meanwhile, additional sugar from candy and other sweet products disrupts this whole community. Not only are these processed foods stickier, giving the bacteria a place to latch onto, but they also form biofilms.

How Satellite Imagery Reveals Plastic Pollution Hotspots in the Ocean - Plastic pollution isn’t just a sad environmental story we scroll past on the news anymore; it has become a personal health emergency. It is a genuinely scary reality that microplastics, those tiny, unseen fragments, have made their way into our lungs and bloodstreams. To grasp the sheer scale of this threat, researchers are turning to Sentinel satellite imagery, utilizing it as an essential “eye in the sky” to track exactly where these hazardous accumulation zones are growing. However, mapping is just the diagnostic tool; the ultimate cure lies in fixing land-based waste management.

The photos showing why pink dolphins are the Amazon's 'great thieves' - As fishermen cast their nets into the river, suddenly a sleek pink shape emerged from the depths, swimming toward the trapped fish. Moving quickly, the creature – an Amazonian pink river dolphin – poked holes in the net and stole a catfish. Known locally as boto in Portuguese and bufeo in Spanish, the pink river dolphin is a funny sight. With its melon-shaped head, rose-colored skin, and slender, hundred-toothed snout, it is the largest freshwater dolphin in the world, growing up to 2.5m (8.2ft) long and weighing as much as 200kg (440lbs). Four types of pink river dolphins live in the Amazon River basin. All of them are endangered, facing significant population declines in recent decades due to hunting, entanglement in fishing nets, pollution and droughts.

Half of heart attacks strike people told they’re low risk - A new study led by Mount Sinai researchers reports that commonly used cardiac screening methods fail to identify almost half of the people who are actually at risk of having a heart attack. People who appear healthy according to standard assessments may already have significant and silent atherosclerosis. Because of this, depending solely on symptoms and risk calculators can delay detection until meaningful prevention is no longer possible. Doctors should shift their focus from detecting symptomatic heart disease to detecting the plaque itself for earlier treatment, which could save lives.

Clogged Glymphatic System Linked to Dementia Risk - The brain’s built-in clearance system, called the glymphatic system, removes toxins from the brain through the flow of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) via minuscule channels that trace blood vessels. Scientists have suspected that the glymphatic system may play a role in processes such as sleep and recovery from traumatic brain injury. MRI scans from nearly 40,000 people revealed biomarkers linked to defective toxin clearance in the brain predicted the susceptibility to dementia later in life.

Ansel Adams Photos Capture Daily Life Inside Japanese Internment Camps During WWII - The establishment of Japanese internment camps is arguably one of the darkest moments in American history. Between 1942 and 1946, about 120,000 people of Japanese descent were forcibly relocated into these concentration camps. This was done out of unfounded suspicions that Japanese Americans might act as saboteurs or spies following the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. In 1943, celebrated American photographer Ansel Adams visited the Manzanar War Relocation Center in California, creating a timeless document of the daily life on this site. The 244 photo collection can be browsed on the Library of Congress website.

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 18, 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.

ACHOO Syndrome: A Strange Reflex That Causes Sneezing in the Sun - The photic sneeze reflex—also called autosomal dominant compelling helio-ophthalmic outburst (ACHOO) syndrome - affects almost a fourth of people worldwide.

They’re smaller than dust, but crucial for Earth’s climate - Coccolithophores, tiny planktonic architects of Earth’s climate, capture carbon, produce oxygen, and leave behind geological records that chronicle our planet’s history.

An E.U. Plan to Slash Micropollutants in Wastewater Is Under Attack - Earlier this year, a European Union directive mandated advanced treatment of micropollutants in wastewater, with the cost to be borne by polluters. But the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries, which are responsible for most of those contaminants, are now pushing back.

Researchers Crack the Lost Origins of an Ancient Egyptian Temple - In a 4,000-year-old creation myth from ancient Egypt, god manifested as high ground that rose out of watery chaos. New research suggests this myth of the primeval mound may have inspired the first temple to Amun-Ra at Karnak, a site in the religious capital of Thebes that over the course of millennia became one of Egypt’s most important complexes. Across the entire Theban area, the land on which the Amun-Ra temple was built was the only high ground permanently surrounded by water. Its connection to the creation myth would have been apparent as the Nile floodwaters rose and receded each year, creating the illusion of the mound rising out of the river.

Ancient bathhouse unearthed in Türkiye's Olympos reveals life of Byzantine bishop - The bathhouse was not only for the bishop’s private use. It had entrances both from the main street and from the house. On certain days of the week, the bishop allowed ordinary townspeople to use it free of charge, both for hygiene and for health purposes.

Hawaii Hits Milestone in Rooftop Solar - Hawaii has the highest rate of rooftop solar power adoption in the US, on a per capita basis. Rooftop solar has hit 44% penetration among single-family homes on Oahu, the state’s most populated island.

The remarkable rise of eBird – the world’s biggest citizen science project - In the month of August this year, 123,000 birders submitted 1.6 million lists of sightings. It has now hit a total of 2 billion bird observations since inception. The data is showing in sobering detail how the abundance of many species is changing, almost always downwards.

Electricity Use Is Becoming More Common for Residential Heating in USA - An increasing share of U.S. households are using electricity for heating, although natural gas remains the most common heating fuel. In 2024, 42% of U.S. households reported that electricity was their main space heating fuel, according to annual estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. Natural gas was the main heating fuel in 47% of homes last year, a decline from 49% in 2010.

Scientists suggest the brain may work best with 7 senses, not just 5 - The memory of humans and other living beings is an enigmatic phenomenon tied to the property of consciousness, among other things. Advancing the theoretical models of memory will be instrumental to gaining new insights into the human mind and, perhaps, recreating humanlike memory in AI agents.

For the First Time, Renewables Supplying More Power Globally Than Coal - In the first half of this year, renewable energy grew faster than power demand, leading to a small drop in the consumption of coal and natural gas. In a first, renewables generated more electricity globally than coal, fulfilling a 2020 prediction by the International Energy Agency, which saw clean energy surpassing coal this year.

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.

Out on Lake Michigan

We had signed up for birding out on Lake Michigan on the last day of the Urban Birding Festival in Chicago. We had to be at the dock by 5 AM so we were leaving our hotel about 4:30…checking out and loading everything into our car. Both of us were feeling a bit sleep deprived.

Everyone that had signed up for the trip appeared and we were heading out of the harbor by 5:30 AM. The boat was a fishing boat. It wasn’t a windy morning, but I appreciated the extra handholds that the rod holders provided when I tried to move around. I sat most of the time!

Everyone that had signed up for the trip appeared and we were heading out of the harbor by 5:30 AM. The boat was a fishing boat. It wasn’t a windy morning, but I appreciated the extra handholds that the rod holders provided when I tried to move around. I sat most of the time!

We saw the sunrise on the lake. We passed several of the water intakes for the city that are a ways out into the lake and often host colonies of cormorants.

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The guides were throwing chum (fish, bread, popcorn) to the birds from the back of the boat. There were more Herring Gulls than Ring-billed Gulls already. We saw a few terns. The hope was for some rarer birds – like a Parasitic Jaeger. That didn’t show up so I focused on observing gulls at various stages of development and how they used their tail feathers to control their flight/landing behind the boat.

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The rocking of the boat was calming…at least while I was sitting…not so much when I was moving around.

The skyline of Chicago was always present…although we were at least 15 miles out on the lake. The air around the city was hazy. The air in the city and on the lake was humid and the air quality was yellow (small particulates). It is a big city and there are a lot of cars.

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The surprise of the trip was seeing a Monarch butterfly – flying south – when we were between 10 and 15 miles from shore. I had assumed that they took the land route south from Canada…but some of them obviously don’t.

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.

Plastics Crisis: As an Individual

We cannot eliminate micro and nano plastics from our lives. They are in the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, and the toiletries we use. They are in us – our lungs, our heart, our kidneys, or brain…everywhere. The impact on our health is something that develops over long exposure/accumulation; research studies are just now beginning to clarify their impact. It is possible to reduce our exposure, and we probably need to do what we can to stay healthy as long as possible. This post is about my initial strategy to reduce micro and nano plastic exposure for myself and my family.

Air

The air purifiers that we bought during the COVID-19 pandemic are still running in our bedroom and my office. They help with seasonal allergies and take out some of the plastics in the air.

I try to reduce time outdoors when the air quality is yellow and avoid going outside if the air quality is red. The PM2.5 (Particulate matter less than 2.5 microns) is almost always the major contributor to the air quality ‘color’ in the area where I live and it includes microplastics. It might not be counting nano-plastics effectively and there are probably some in the air; those are the plastics small enough to move through capillaries in our bodies; hopefully these smaller particles will start being monitored more effectively.

Water

I currently filter the water we drink with Brita Elite water pitchers. They get some of the plastics out of our water. My daughter and I are talking about upgrading…perhaps all the way to reverse osmosis filtration. I have a glass carafe for filtered water in the bathroom since I am always thirsty when I first get up.

We always carry stainless steel water bottles with us when we are out and about. When we leave home they contain filtered water.

On overnight trips, we are taking a filtration pitcher with us so that we can easily refill our water bottles with filtered water. If we need to buy something to drink, we strive to buy it in a can, glass, or paper container….but sometimes that is difficult. I am tempted to ask if I can buy a drink but use my refillable stainless steel container rather than a Styrofoam or plastic cup.

We try to avoid plastic water bottles completely. The plastic sluffs off microplastics – particularly if the bottle has ever been warm.

We don’t use plastic glasses at home…and don’t eat out frequently except when we travel.

Food

Micro plastics are often found in soil and can be absorbed by plants as they grow so they can be in the veggies and fruit we eat, and they accumulate in the animals that provide meat that we eat. Organic foods will have microplastics too; they might even have more plastic since organic farms sometimes use plastic sheeting to avoid the need for chemical weed control and to conserve water around the base of plants. There is not much that can be done to reduce the microplastics that are integrated into our food in this way.

Packaging is another way microplastics can be incorporated into food and there are actions that can be taken to reduce this source of microplastics.

• Buy fresh fruits and vegetables unpackaged. Use reusable produce bags. Don’t store them in the bags either – particularly if the bags are a synthetic fabric.

• Buy in glass rather than plastic jars and bottles. Prioritize fatty and acidic foods to buy in glass if you are on a budget. Peanut butter and olive oil are examples of fatty foods. Lemon juice, soft drinks (not a health food ever but even less healthy in plastic), spaghetti sauce, and salad dressing/vinegars are examples of acidic foods. Sometimes this is difficult since some stores only carry the commodity in plastic packaging.

• Meats are almost always packaged in plastic now, so it is almost impossible to avoid. I buy some meats frozen so that the plastic is not closely touching the food and when there is a canned version (canned chicken, canned chili, canned tamales), I take that option sometimes.

• Consider making some condiments from scratch (salad dressing, marinade). I already make my own marinade with basaltic vinegar and olive oil. I am going to experiment with making salad dressing so that I can forego buying it pre-made in a plastic bottle.  

• Avoid plastic bags of things like popcorn (I rarely use the pre-packaged microwave popcorn), pumpkin seeds, or beans. Buy them in bulk (often you can use produce bags to get them from the store to home) and load up glass or metal canisters once  at home. Frequenting a store with a bulk food section will be a continuing experiment for me…the goal will be to reduce plastic containers touching food in my home.

• Store leftovers in and eat from  glass or ceramic or stainless steel rather than plastic. Use stainless steel or wooden utensils. My cutting board is bamboo.

• Cook in stainless steel – uncoated – pans.

• Don’t heat or reheat food in plastic. Glass or ceramic always.

• Buy eggs in pulp paper cartons rather than Styrofoam or plastic cartons. The eggs probably don’t get much microplastic from their container, but the pulp paper is generally the superior carton, and, like all the above measures, it reduces the plastic trash/recycle load to the environment.

Toiletries

Some plastic is small enough to be absorbed through the skin. There are two sources of plastics in toiletries: packaging and ingredients.

I try to buy cosmetics in glass. Usually this is possible for moisturizers and foundation makeup. There don’t seem to be good alternatives to plastic packaging for most items like shampoo, toothpaste, lotion, lipstick, or lip balm. I have started using bar soap which usually comes in paper wrapping or a box for hand washing and in the shower.

The ingredients in many cosmetics are sometimes microplastics or contain the same chemicals as microplastics. It’s very confusing…I don’t have a good strategy yet to fully understand the risk or how to avoid the worst offenders. I do realize that fewer ingredients is generally better and that maybe some ‘make your own’ would be better (for example, a water – glycerin – essential oil mixture in a glass bottle might be a good replacement for setting spray).

Previous Plastic Crisis posts

Geology Course Experiences – April 2025

Over the past month, the online geology course has moved along slowly with only another 2 chapters covering waste management/landfills and landslides. There was a week-long pause for Spring Break. I am glad I chose this version of the geology class (It’s titled ‘Earth: The Survival Guide’) since it provides a background for items in the news that have a geologic component. The syllabus for the next few weeks shows a significant uptick in topics with 4 chapters before the last exam on May 1. It seems like the course pacing is dramatically skewed toward the end.

I was disappointed that the scheduled field trip day was canceled because of weather (rain the previous days and the scheduled day, flash flooding and river flooding). Evidently there is not going to be another attempt. I’ll have to make do with my own observations as I travel around the state…and the geology field trip with Missouri Master Naturalists that is scheduled for early May; hopefully the weather will be better for that one.

The labs were also impacted by spring break. Topics were:

• Groundwater contamination investigation that involved samples to be tested for nitrates, total dissolved solids, pH, and salinity…then pinpointing where contamination was coming from using a contour map of industries and where the samples were collected.

• Streams and rivers using topographic maps to observe how river move along the surface and the observable structures from the interactions between water and the surface (things like natural levees and oxbow lakes).

• Geologic maps – looking at the geographic distribution of rock units exposed at the Earth’s surface. Maps of Webster County MO, Bright Angel Quandrangle, AZ (part of the Grand Canyon), and the Williamsville Quadrangle, VA (part of the Appalachian Mountains).

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The ‘streams and rivers’ lab was not on the original syllabus and there has not been an update showing which of the labs will be dropped. I hope the ones on Caves/Karst and Shorelines will still be part of the semester.

I am anticipating a flurry of activity between now and the end of the semester! There are a lot of textbook chapters in the syllabus that we haven’t done yet.

Geology Course Experiences – March 2025

Over the past month, the online geology course I am taking has proceeded with 4 more chapters of the textbook, an added role-playing activity on flooding, and a field trip being scheduled for early April! So far, the most thought-provoking chapter has been on water pollution. It is a topic I’ve learned about over a period of years but having a well-organized chapter tie everything I know together was almost overwhelming. The moves to reduce efforts to improve or preserve water quality at the Federal level while I was reading the chapter made the challenges we face near term and into the future even more troubling.

In the lab, there were sedimentary and metamorphic rocks to look at and then some different kinds of labs…looking a cross sections and oceanography. I skipped one of the labs because it was raining, and I decided I didn’t want to be out and about – a benefit of being a retired person. I took pictures of the rocks we looked at in the lab and made ‘flashcards’ for myself to help me learn to recognize them. Of course – the HCl test and scratch plates are also needed for identification too.

 I met my daughter for lunch after most of the lab sessions before heading back home.

Gleanings of the Week Ending March 15, 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 Largest Harbor in Ancient Greece Is Centuries Older Than We Thought - A discovery of lead pollution and 5 lumps of brown coals were carbon dated to the days of the Bronze Age.

When This Brilliant Author Died, She Left Behind a Legacy of Grief, Haunting Poetry and Surprising Resilience – I remember reading Silvia Plath books as a teenager.

Maple seeds’ unique spinning motion allows them to travel far even in the rain, a new study shows – Autorotation keeps the seeds in the air for longer, so they travel farther. The researchers studied how raindrops that hit the seeds reduce the time they are in the air. The next part of the study will look at rolling samaras (from tulip poplar and ash trees).

Rare Footage Shows Baby Polar Bears Emerging from Their Den in the Arctic - At birth, polar bears are blind, nearly hairless and weigh just over a pound—about the same as a loaf of bread. But they spend their first few months snuggled inside a snowy den, fattening up on their mother’s milk. By the time they emerge in the spring, the cubs are covered in fluffy white fur and weigh 22 to 26 pounds. Scientists have managed to capture rare footage of a polar bear mother and her cubs leaving their den in the Arctic for the first time.

Summer Heat Wave in South America - In February 2025, an area of high pressure parked over the southern Atlantic Ocean, causing temperatures to soar in parts of South America. As of February 27, Argentina noted that six provinces were under a red-level (very dangerous) alert for extreme heat.

The world's strongest ocean current should be getting faster – instead, it is at risk of failing – The Antarctic Circumpolar Current - five times stronger than the Gulf Stream and more than 100 times stronger than the Amazon River. Fresh, cool water from melting Antarctic ice is diluting the salty water of the ocean, potentially disrupting the vital ocean current.

More Than 1,500 Sandhill Cranes Killed by Bird Flu in Indiana - In recent weeks, biologists with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources have counted hundreds of dead sandhill cranes statewide. At least 500 of the birds were found dead in Jackson County, in the south-central part of the state, in early January. So far, no sick or dead cranes have been reported in Nebraska.

Inside the Clear Waters of England’s Ancient Chalk Streams - A globally rare type of waterway found almost exclusively in England—these rivers’ specific features both create rare biodiverse habitats and make them uniquely vulnerable. Burbling up from aquifers formed in chalk layers that date back to the Cretaceous Period, these rivers exist only where chalk sits close to the Earth’s surface. That’s why of the 200-odd identified chalk streams in the world, nearly all of them are found in England, where 66 million years ago a shallow seabed collected the skeletons of aquatic creatures—the makings of chalk. Ideal habitat for trout and Atlantic salmon.

How our lungs back up the bone marrow to make our blood - Researchers at UCSF found hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) in human lung tissue that make red blood cells, as well as megakaryocytes, which produce the platelets that form blood clots.

Gold Jewelry Found at Karnak Temple - Karnak was the largest and one of the most important religious sites in ancient Egypt. An Egyptian-French team was investigating the northwest sector of the precinct when they uncovered a ceramic vessel that contained a collection of gold jewelry and statuettes dating to the 26th Dynasty (664–526 b.c.). One of the statuettes depicts the Theban triad of gods: Amun, his wife Mut, and their son Khonsu. Archaeologists also discovered several mudbrick buildings dating to the same era that were likely used as workshops or storage facilities connected to the Karnak temples.

Gleanings of the Week Ending February 22, 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.

A Five-Pound Hunk of the World’s Oldest Known Synthesized Pigment Was Found in Nero’s Palace – Egyptian Blue. The pigment is a synthetic pigment produced by firing a mixture of silica, limestone and minerals containing copper and sodium carbonate at high temperatures. The Roman architect Vitruvius recorded the recipe in his treatise De Architectura in the first century B.C.E., reflecting how the color spread through the Mediterranean world. Archaeologists discover traces of Egyptian blue that are all but imperceptible to the human eye. For instance, with the help of microscopes and luminescent imaging, researchers at the British Museum discovered that Egyptian blue once adorned the Parthenon marbles.

See the First Stunning Images Taken by the Blue Ghost Lunar Lander on Its ‘Scenic Route’ to the Moon – It still has a few months before reaching the moon….lots of Blue Marble views.

Changing cholesterol over time tied to risk of dementia – Interesting result. I wondered if cholesterol fluctuation is more concerning that merely being high….that there in an underlying reason for the fluctuations that indicates a problem that is not being directly addressed by the medications that generally are trying to lower cholesterol.

Astronomers have spied an asteroid that may be heading for Earth. Here’s what we know so far – On December 22, 2032,  the asteroid 2024 Y04 might collide with Earth. It was first detected on December 27, 2024 and will continue to be observed until it will be lost to our telescopes until we will see it again in 2028 and refine what we know….be able know for sure whether there will be a collision and where on earth the collision will be. In just the past few years, we have discovered 11 asteroids before they hit our planet. In each case, we have predicted where they would hit, and watched the results. We have also, in recent years, demonstrated a growing capacity to deflect potentially threatening asteroids.

An Arctic 'beyond recognition' by 2100 - Under 2.7 degrees Celsius of warming, the Arctic region is likely to experience the following effects:

• Virtually every day of the year will have air temperatures exceeding pre-industrial temperature extremes.

• The Arctic Ocean will be free of sea ice for several months each summer.

• The area of the Greenland Ice Sheet that experiences more than a month of surface temperatures above 0 degrees Celsius will quadruple compared with pre-industrial conditions, causing global sea levels to rise faster.

• Surface-level permafrost will decrease by 50 percent of pre-industrial levels.

Study Highlights Challenges to The Electrification Of Homes In The US - Solar powered homes demonstrated impressive resilience during summer heat waves. However, they proved remarkably vulnerable during winter storms. In fact, fully electrified homes were nearly three times more vulnerable to winter outages, compared to those drawing power from mixed energy sources. The integration of distributed energy resources such as solar and battery storage has emerged as a critical factor in household resilience.

Sky skimmers: The race to fly satellites at the lowest orbits yet – A handful of pioneering companies have begun work on designs for satellites that may be able to orbit the planet at unusually low altitudes while simultaneously harvesting air and using it to make propellant – literally on the fly. This new generation of orbiters could enable ultra-high-definition surveillance of activities on the ground, or superfast satellite-based communications. The race is on. (I wondered if the US activities mentioned in the post are going to survive budget cuts.)

Low-level traffic air pollution linked to liver damage and fatty liver disease - When we inhale air pollution, the very tiny particles known as PM2.5 enter the bloodstream through the lungs. The liver, which filters toxins from the blood, then accumulates these substances, which can include heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, nickel and zinc. The study authors suggest avoiding peak hour traffic, taking less congested routes when walking or cycling or consider wearing a mask, and keeping car windows closed with air recirculation mode on while driving in heavy traffic.

Hitting Its Stride or Hitting a Wall? South Texas at a Watershed Moment - Between extreme heat, flooding, drought, and the vagaries of politics and international trade, there is a growing fear that the Valley’s boom times could come to a grinding halt — or worse, that the region will experience the same type of climate-related exodus that has pushed many of today’s current immigrants to its doorstep. An even bigger question is whether the region has become a harbinger of mounting international tensions over shrinking resources that are expected to play out with more frequency in coming years.

Searching the entire sky for the secrets to our universe - As soon as the end of February, NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory will launch a new telescope into orbit around the Earth. SPHEREx will join the ranks of other space telescopes, filling in a crucial gap by detecting infrared light with wavelengths too long to see with the naked eye. It's an important addition because no single instrument can fully perceive the universe and its contents. Infrared can also be used to detect the unique fingerprints of particular molecules in the universe, including the basic components of life — water and organic materials frozen in the ices of interstellar dust clouds where stars are born.