Gleanings of the Week Ending December 13, 2014

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.

Drugs in the environment affect plant growth - Water treatment is unable to remove many of the drugs from sewage….so they are showing up in the water supply. This study was about the impact of the drugs (still in low concentrations) on plants - and they did find some changes. It looks like this is another dimension to think about when it comes to sustainability of the planet.

Art That's Made with Snow and Ice - Maybe I’ll try a simple pattern in my backyard when we get a good snow! The spirals appeal to me.

Climate change already showing effects at Kennedy Space Center - Not so surprising since it is right on Florida’s Atlantic coast. We were there in November 2013 and noticed how close much of the visible infrastructure was to the sea. There is a lot of commercial development along that coast too; it will probably face similar challenges.

Finding infant Earths and potential life just got easier - Did you know that Cornell has an Institute for Pale Blue Dots?

What really helps women achieve a good work-life balance? - The problem is broader than a time conflict based on this research. It points to a ‘glass cliff’ phenomenon whereby women and minorities are more likely to be placed in leadership positions which are risky or precarious….which exacerbates any ‘fit’ problems at work and thus impacts the perception of work-life balance.

Food: The rarely-seen robots that package what we eat - Two videos (pancakes and salami processing) and a short explanation. They are much faster and more reliable that people!

A Quick Tour of Germany's National Parks - Wow! Lots to see in Germany.  The post includes links for additional info about each one.

The Wonderful Geometry of Budapest's Spiral Staircases - Dizzying images…also beautiful.

Chesapeake Bay region streams are warming - I live in the watershed for the Chesapeake Bay. All the states have programs to monitor and improve the water quality flowing into the bay. It is challenging with so many things changing.

Early warning signals of abrupt climate change - Signals of a reorganization of the Atlantic ocean’s circulation….bad news. 

Gleanings of the Week Ending December 06, 2014

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 Ways Airports Are Actually Getting Better - Some good trends. I’ve noticed the increasing number of art work particularly - like the floor mosaics in one of the DFW terminals.

Wanderers - A short video. Wish we were doing more space exploration these days….thrilled that the Orion test flight yesterday was successful.

WHO Report: Climate Change to Cause 250,000 “Extra Deaths” a Year by 2030 - Not good.

This Linguistic Family Tree Is Simply Gorgeous - It’s only the Indo-European languages….not all the world’s languages. It would be interesting to see all of them in this same format

Apple Crisp - Yum. I have some apples in my refrigerator I need to use up quickly….this will be a good way to use them!

The Chemistry of Poinsettia Plants - Did you know that the pigment in the red leaves changes color with pH? This could be a project to try as your poinsettia sheds its petals!

Losing air: barrage of small impacts likely erased much of the Earth’s primordial atmosphere - Since I am in the middle of an ‘Origins’ course on Coursera - I am noting this type article more. There is geochemical evidence that Earth’s atmosphere may have been completely obliterated at least twice since its formation. This research investigates a possible mechanism.

Citizen science increases environmental awareness, advocacy - Talking and thinking are enhanced by doing when it comes to really understanding something. It happens is so many areas of life.

New Model of Media Consumption in 'Age of Interruption' - 15 hours a day is the average…that is almost every waking hour! I’m disappointed that they did not have statistics for the ‘retired’ segment of the US population. The average hours are a bit high for me (very high on days that I am leading nature hikes!) and the distribution (at least for me) is heavily skew toward computer (tablet and laptop) rather than the other types of media….largely because of courses, ebooks and the amount of writing I like to do. And there is another difference too - I am not sedentary in front of my laptop when I am at home (Swopper chair).

The weird world of everyday liquids - I’m always liked these kind of images. There are videos worth viewing too.

Gleanings of the Week Ending May 10, 2014

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.

Dynamic Paintings of Birds Capture the Essence of Flight - Appealing work.  I usually like photographs of birds in flight better than paintings….but these are an exception.

The Coming Antibiotic Crisis, Revealed in Maps - Will we eventually revert to infections that kill like in pre-antibiotic days?

Inside Turkey’s Top Archaeological Sites - From the Dialogue of Civilizations: Gobekli Tepe (oldest human-constructed ceremonial site in the world) and Zeugma (mosaics). Links are included to photos, galleries and virtual tours of the sites. There is also a link at the bottom of the article to other posts about the Dialogue of Civilizations.

10 Spring Cleaning to Dos for Your Digital Abode: Part II - I posted the Part I of this list a few weeks ago I my cleanings list.

Basic science finds corporate refuge - With funding from the US government declining, corporations are picking up some of the funding shortfall.

A History of Garbage in Space - In just over half a century, we’ve created 17000 objects in earth orbit. The majority of them are ‘fragmentation debris.’

What's Your Major? 4 Decades of College Degrees, In 1 Graph - This is a graphic to looks at - move the cursor over it to get numbers that correspond to the colors. Click on the one and a graph with just that major will appear. Physics is almost non-existent in the graph (higher in 1970 than now).

Watch Stunning First Simulation of Universe’s 13-Billion-Year Evolution - In a little over 4 minutes, a simulation of the universe from the beginning to now.

Ocean acidity is dissolving shells of tiny snails off U.S. West Coast - Scientists has previously thought it would be decades before this result of ocean acidification would be observed. It appears that this is one consequence of climate change that is happening faster than anticipated.

Neuroaesthetics - A relatively new field that studies the way humans process beauty and art.

Gleanings of the Week Ending February 8, 2014

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.

Syphilis: Then and Now - The recent research on the origin and manifestation of treponemal diseases (syphilis, yaws and bejel) is reported along with the history of research about them.

Splendid Botanical Gardens Full of Stained Glass Murals - Cosmovitral in Toluca, Mexico. A botanical garden in the old city market.

A map showing gender inequality around the world - Using the Gender Inequality Index (GII) from the UN Human Development Programme. There are many parameters for the index and the US does not The full 2013 Human Development report is available here (The Rise of the South: Human Progress in a Diverse World).

Printed Eye Cells Could Help Treat Blindness - The ability to print retinal cells could lead to new therapies for retinal disorders such as macular degeneration....just one of the technologies with potential to improve the quality of life for older people. Not being able to see well produces a cascading effect on mobility and self-confidence that often leads to rapid physical decline.

40 more maps that explain the world - From Max Fisher at the Washington Post. Take your time, enlarge the maps that interest you the most…there is a lot to learn from these 40 maps!

Why 259,969 people taking the same class at the same time might just be the future of education - Co-founder of Coursera, Daphne Koller reminiscing. “We need a way to integrate education much more deeply into the fabric of our lives in a lifelong way,” she says. “And that’s what we’re doing.” And several other recent articles about MOOCs and online education: MOOCs by the numbers: Where are we now? (with infographic); Two giants of online learning discuss the future of education (Salman Khan and Sebastian Thrun); and Next Gen School Board: Governance Challenges & Opportunities in the Digital Age

Fiery-red coral species discovered in the Peruvian Pacific - Coral reefs and communities in Peru are just beginning to be studied….more discoveries likely.

C40 Cities Releases Landmark Research Revealing Expansion & Acceleration of Climate Actions in Megacities - 98% say climate change presents significant risks to their populations and infrastructure; more than 8,000 climate actions are underway and 41% of those actions are at a transformative, citywide scale. C40 cities in the US are: Austin, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington DC (details of all cities in the C40 is here) Infographic with a link to the full report included in the article.

A Beautiful Map of Global Ocean Currents - Wow! It’s worth going to the site to look at the visualization in more detail too (click on the globe to enlarge, drag to rotate OR click on the word ‘earth’ in the lower left corner of the image and then experiment with the different projections of the ocean currents at the surface).

Organic Shmorganic - An attempt to sort out the value of organic fruits and veggies for children.

Gleanings of the Week Ending January 25, 2014

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.

All of these outbreaks could have been prevented with vaccines - The US has taken a backward step when it comes to outbreaks of diseases like measles and whooping cough. It’s very sad that the downturn has been so abrupt in the past 4-5 years….and that we know why; when will the toll of these diseases reach a tipping point toward increasing mandates for vaccination. All my vaccinations are up to date (and I may ask for a whooping cough booster at my next annual physical since some if my volunteer work is with children).

Wellcome Images - Digital images from the many historical sources made available under Creative Commons licensing by the Wellcome Library, London. All low resolution images are freely available for download for personal, academic teaching or study use. The image at the right is a Mark Catesby illustration of a magnolia blossom and pod.

Top 20 Metropolitan Areas in the U.S.A., 1790-2010 - A very busy chart…but worth look at for a bit. Expand it and take a look. Some cities peaked early (like Baltimore); some didn’t get started until much later (like Dallas and Houston). New York has stayed at the top since it surpassed Philadelphia in the early 1800s.

An earthquake threat is building up in the central U.S. - Lots more people living in the area than there were in the early 1800s (when the last big earthquake occurred there.

Designing Your School of Choice: mySchool - An essay by Adam Renfro about his vision for ‘school.’ There are so many options for future schools….the big challenge will be to choose those options wisely. The balance between needs of the student and society will become more nuanced. It is interesting to observe the uniformity implied by core curriculum, testing, and building structures with the explosion of easily available learning environments that are anything but uniform.

How a Versatile Gut Bacterium Helps Us Get Our Daily Dietary Fiber - Another bit of evidence that our bodies are complex ecosystems with many organisms interacting…..organisms that we need to be healthy!

What's the best place to see or visit in your area? - This is a post where the comments are the main content.  I know in my area I have favorites - and the ones I recommend depend on the interests of the person asking!

To MOOC or Not To MOOC - Infographic. I learned a new acronym: SPOCs is (Small Private Online Courses)

NASA Finds 2013 Sustained Long-Term Climate Warming Trend - The Earth’s temperature has risen about 1.4 degrees F since 1880. The average temperature in 2013 was 1.1 degrees F since the mid-20th century. There is a video showing the temperature changes over the past 6 decades.

Roasted Chickpeas - A recipe I’m going to try this week.