Gleanings of the Week Ending June 06, 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.

05/18/2026 The Scientist How Extreme Heat May Be Raising the Risk of Gestational Diabetes - A growing body of research shows that climate change-driven extreme heat may be increasing the risk of GDM. Studies from around the world are also pointing to critical windows of vulnerability, suggesting that rising temperatures may be shaping maternal health in overlooked ways.

05/19/2026 BBC Japan is gripped by mass allergies. A 1950s project is to blame - Large-scale afforestation after World War II was carried out by public works, funded by tax revenues, to prevent soil erosion. Aiming for rapid reforestation, the government chose to plant reams of only two different native, fast-growing evergreen species that could quickly reforest landscapes and provide wood for future use in construction: the Japanese cedar, sugi, and the Japanese cypress, hinoki.

05/26/2026 Planetizen Two years after California reintroduced beavers, they are transforming the landscape into a 'climate-resilient powerhouse' – Collaboration between California Native American tribes and California Department of Fish and Wildlife….a  beaver created wetland complex created since 2023.

5/26/2026 Yale Environment 360 Warming Is Raising the Risk of Encounters with Venomous Snakes – When I went through Master Naturalist training in Maryland more than a decade ago – we were told that cottonmouth moccasins were not found in Maryland….that they were found as far north as Viriginia. I wondered at the time how long it would take for temperatures to warm enough for them to move northward. The post says that “Cottonmouth moccasins in the US are forecast to head as far north as New York” although it does not say how soon.

05/14/2026 The Scientist Bioelectric Contact Lenses Alleviate Depression in Mice - This wearable, drug-free approach holds promise for transforming how depression and other brain conditions are treated, including anxiety, drug addiction, and cognitive decline. The problem is, sugi and hinoki trees also produce large amounts of lightweight pollen which can easily drift into cities. It's this pollen, often released all at once from the monoculture plantations, that is responsible for most seasonal allergies in Japan.

05/26/2026 Science Daily Scientists say they’ve reversed brain aging with a simple nasal spray - The therapy relies on microscopic biological particles called extracellular vesicles (EVs). These tiny structures naturally transport genetic material between cells. In this case, they were loaded with microRNAs, molecules that help regulate important biological processes in the brain. Once inside the brain, the treatment targeted immune cells involved in chronic inflammation. Scientists also found that it restored activity in mitochondria, the tiny structures inside cells responsible for producing energy. Aging and inflammation can damage mitochondria, leaving brain cells less efficient and more vulnerable to decline. (More work required before the treatment can be testing in humans).

5/26/2026 BBC The hidden dead zones spreading across the Baltic Sea floor - Cod fishing has collapsed. It may take more than 400 years for the maritime environment to recover from factors such as overfishing, oxygen depletion and rising sea temperatures. Some believe it may not happen at all.Areas of the sea floor with little or no oxygen, known as "dead zones", appear to be creeping closer to Bornholm's beaches. This is due to human pollution from fertilizers and sewage creating huge algal blooms, which, when they die, sink to the sea floor and cover it. Their decomposition uses up the available oxygen, kills the living organisms that depend on it, and – as a result – creates dead zones.

5/25/2026 Our World in Data Five million children die every year — what do they die from? – Worldwide 44% die from infectious diseases and 42% die from birth disorders….but there is a huge difference between low and high income countries.

5/21/2026 My Modern Met Amazing Winners of This Scientific Microscopic Imaging Contest Capture the Unseen Beauty of Life – I always enjoy magnified photography of life…the world we cannot see without our technology that often is quite beautiful.

5/22/2026 Artnet A 4,500-Year-Old Building Near Stonehenge Has Been Brought Back to Life - More than 100 volunteers have built a 20-foot high structure using the tools and techniques of Neolithic England - ecreating stone tools, using a woodland management technique known as coppicing, and creating a cement-like mixture of chalk, water, and straw called chalk daub.

Gleanings of the Week Ending May 31, 2025

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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