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Huge colonies of penguins in Antarctica fill the air with ammonia, which boosts particles in the atmosphere that allow climate-cooling clouds to form

Despite a huge media fanfare in which Colossal Biosciences claimed to have resurrected the extinct dire wolf, the company's chief scientist now concedes that the animals are merely modified grey wolves

Ecologist Susan Harrison always manages to come through when I’m low on photos, as I am now. Today she sends us a batch of birds from Ohio. Susan’s captions and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.

Magee Marsh, Ohio and its many warblers (and others)

The Great Lakes are a significant obstacle for songbirds struggling north from the tropics to breed in the vast, insect-rich expanses of high latitude North America.  Abundant warblers and other small migrants congregate in mid-May in the boggy forests along the lakes’ southern shores.  There, many species tank up on bugs and await favorable winds for the long water crossing, while others settle and breed.

In turn, birdwatchers also convene for this annual avian spectacle. Mid-May at Magee Marsh, on Lake Erie east of Toledo, has become known as “The Biggest Week in American Birding”.   A friendly and festive atmosphere prevails as throngs of birders move along boardwalks peering into dense foliage and high treetops.   This year, I was fortunate to combine a work trip with seeing peak migration at Magee Marsh.

Prothonotary Warbler (Protonotaria citraea) nesting pair:

Magnolia Warbler (Setophaga magnolia):

Blackburnian Warbler (Setophaga fusca):

Bay-breasted Warbler (Setophaga castanea):

Chestnut-sided Warbler (Setophaga pensylvanica):

American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla):

Black-throated Green Warbler (Setophaga virens):

Black-throated Blue Warbler (Setophaga caerulescens):

Cape May Warbler (Setophaga tigrina):

Black-and-white Warbler (Mniotilta varia):

Warbling Vireo (Vireo gilvus):

Philadelphia Vireo (Vireo philadelphicus):

Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus):

I’m making this into a separate post because it pains me so much: it was the first thing I read online when I woke up this morning.  Surely as a result of worldwide Jew hatred, instigated by the pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli protestors in America (indeed, throughout the world), a pair of young aides at the Israeli embassy in Washington were shot to death by, yes, a “Free, free Palestine” protestor. The murder took place right outside the Capital Jewish Museum, also in Washington. From the NYT (article archived here):

Two young Israeli Embassy aides were shot and killed outside an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in downtown Washington on Wednesday night by a man who shouted pro-Palestinian slogans after he was detained, according to law enforcement officials.

The close-range shooting occurred shortly after 9 p.m. on a street outside the Capital Jewish Museum, where the American Jewish Committee was hosting a reception for young diplomats. The area is the heart of official Washington, packed with federal buildings, embassies and museums. The Capitol, the F.B.I.’s Washington field office and the headquarters of the Justice Department are all near the museum.

The suspect, identified as Elias Rodriguez, 30, of Chicago, was detained shortly after the shooting and there was no ongoing threat to public safety, law enforcement officials said.

Pamela A. Smith, the chief of the Metropolitan Police Department, told reporters at a news conference that Mr. Rodriguez exclaimed, “Free, free Palestine,” after he was in custody. He also informed the police where he had discarded the weapon used in the shooting, Chief Smith said.

Israel’s foreign ministry identified the victims as Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim. Mr. Lischinsky was a research assistant in the political department at the embassy and Ms. Milgrim organized trips to Israel, according to the ministry.

Yechiel Leiter, the Israeli ambassador, said at the news conference that the two people killed were a couple about to be engaged. “The young man purchased a ring this week with the intention of proposing to his girlfriend next week in Jerusalem,” he said.

But being the NYT, the paper couldn’t resist putting in this paragraph:

After the deadly Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel, the Israeli military began a campaign in Gaza has devastated the enclave. It set off a wave of pro-Palestinian protests, including at Israeli embassies and at American college and university campuses. The Israeli Embassy in Washington has been a particular focus for protesters.

Did the NYT forget that the protests against Israel and for Palestine began immediately after the October 7 attacks, and Israel did not launch its invasion into Gaza until a week later, and a full-scale invasion nearly three weeks later? But that’s irrelevant; what’s clear is that Israel was never going to get the world’s sympathy, if it attacked Hamas—except perhaps for a day or two.

A bit about the couple from the WSJ:

Nissim Otmazgin, a dean at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem who taught Lischinsky, said he was gentle, hardworking and an idealist who was interested in building bridges between Israel and other countries. He spoke English, Hebrew, German and Japanese.

“He knew he wanted to be a diplomat. It was his dream,” he said. “A dream that shattered.”

Milgrim, who was American, worked at the Israeli Embassy’s department of public diplomacy and said on her LinkedIn profile that she was passionate about Israeli-Palestinian peace-building. She had worked as a Jewish educator.

“Her energy, thoughtfulness, and unwavering belief in dialogue, peace, and equality inspired everyone who had the privilege to work alongside her,” said a statement by Tech2Peace, an organization that Milgrim had worked at that brings together Palestinians and Israelis through tech.

There is no justification for murdering these young people. You can say that they worked for Israel, but they were not combatants.  I talked to Malgorzata this morning, and she thinks this murder is a harbinger of violence to come; that it somehow will justify copycat murders of Jews in other places. That is what “globalizing the intifada” really means.

I hope Malgorzata is wrong, but I wouldn’t place money on it. One thing for sure is that this killing will do nothing to “free Palestine”. What Gaza needs to be freed from is Hamas.

Here’s an uncredited picture of the murdered pair from Tom Gross’s newsletter. What makes this even sadder is that in a week Yaron would have proposed to Sarah in Jerusalem, and now they will never be a married couple.

The crime is being investigated as a hate crime, supported by the new finding that someone with the same name as the suspect left a long (900-word) anti)-Israel manifesto online. I can’t find the manifesto online, but here’s part of a summary:

The approximately 900-word statement — written in the clear language of an English major, dated May 20 and published online around the same time the shooting occurred — mentions the high death toll in Gaza and notes the ineffectiveness of nonviolent protests against Israel, including the self-immolation of US Air Force serviceman Aaron Bushnell. It also expresses dissatisfaction with American support for Israel.

The Solar System is a whopping 26,000 light-years from the heart of the Milky Way, where a mysterious and dense region—shrouded in thick gas and dust—holds one of the Galaxy’s most active zones: the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ). A team of scientists have unleashed a cutting-edge 3D model of this region, mapping out everything from massive molecular clouds to young stars in the making. Armed with powerful radio telescopes and infrared observatories, they’ve pieced together a detailed map, offering a rare glimpse into the heart of our Galaxy’s chaotic core.

Galaxies are stellar factories generating stars at different speeds—some working at a breakneck pace while others trickling along! We have known for a long time that the availability of raw materials makes a difference to stellar formation, but according to a new paper which surveyed 1,000 galaxies the location of the matter plays a role too. Those with a high stellar formation rate seem to have a high volume of gas reserves in the heart of their densest star clusters with the highest concentration of stars.

About 30-40% of the produce we grow ends up wasted. This is a massive inefficiency in the food system. It occurs at every level, from the farm to the end user, and for a variety of reasons. This translates to enough food worldwide to feed 1.6 billion people. We also have to consider the energy that goes into growing, transporting, and disposing of this wasted food. Not all uneaten food winds up in landfills. About 30% of the food fed to animals is food waste. Some food waste ends up in compost which is used as fertilizer. This still is inefficient, but at least it is recycled.

There is a huge opportunity for increased efficiency here, one that can save money, reduce energy demand, reduce the carbon footprint of our food infrastructure, and reduce the land necessary to meet our nutritional needs. Increased efficiency will be critical as our populations grows (it is estimated to likely peak at about 10 billion people). But there is no one cause of food waste, and therefore there is no one solution. It will take a concerted effort in many areas to minimize food waste, and make the best use of the food that does not get eaten by people.

One method is to slow food spoilage. The longer food lasts after it has been harvested, the less likely it is to be wasted due to spoilage. Delaying spoilage also makes it easier to get food from the farm to the consumer, because there is more time for transport. And delayed spoilage, if sufficient, may reduce dependence on the cold chain – an expensive and energy dense process by which food must be maintained in refrigerated conditions for its entire life from the farm until used by the consumer.

A recent study explores one method for delaying spoilage – injecting small amounts of melatonin into plants through silk microneedles. The melatonin regulates the plants stress response and slow spoilage. In this study they looked at pak choy. The treated plants had a shelf-life (time in which it can be sold) from 4 days to 8 without refrigeration, and with refrigeration shelf life was extended from 15 days to 25. This was a lab proof-of-concept, and so the process would need to be industrialized and made cost-effective enough to be viable. It also would not necessarily be needed in every situation, but could be used in areas with a cold chain is very difficult or expensive, or transportation is slow. This could therefore not only reduce waste, but improve food availability in challenging areas.

Perhaps the most effective way to extend shelf life is through irradiation, a proven and cost-effective method. This exposes food to either gamma rays (from cobalt-60 sources), electron beams, or x-rays, killing most microorganisms and delaying ripening or sprouting. This is completely safe – the resulting food is not radioactive. The radiation just passed through it. There is no significant difference in nutritional value and only subtle changes to taste (compared to the effects of pasteurization on milk). The effectiveness depends on the food item being irradiated – fresh produce may last for an additional week, meat for an additional month, and dried goods for months or even years. This process not only reduces food waste and reliance on the cold chain, it reduces foodborne illness as well.

The main limitation of irradiation is public acceptance. Studies show that between 40-50% of people would accept irradiated food, but this number increases to 80-90% with education. In the US irradiated food is considered not organic – yet another perfectly safe technology opposed by the counterproductive organic lobby. Part of the problem is mandated labeling that mostly scares rather than informs consumers.

These same problems, of course, exist for another way to extend shelf-life – genetic engineering. There is already approval for GMO apples, bananas, strawberries, tomatoes, and potatoes with extended shelf life. GMO produce is perfectly safe, something I have written about extensively. All of the tropes spread by the anti-GMO / organic lobby are false or grossly misleading. Meanwhile this technology can dramatically increase the efficiency of our food infrastructure, which is the best way to limit the environmental footprint of our food system. It is ironic that a group, organic farmers and consumers, that state they are interested in helping the environment are directly harming it, and represent one of the greatest threats to the environment. By limiting the use of GMOs they are effectively increasing land use for agriculture (which is the biggest negative effect agriculture has on the environment) and blocking the most effective methods to limit food waste.

They argue that the point of opposing GMOs is to limit pesticide use, but this is false one two main levels. First, GMO technology is not just about making pesticide-tolerate cultivars, that is one application. It makes no sense to oppose a technology because you object to one specific application. But there is also no evidence that pesticide tolerant GMOs increase overall pesticide use. They increase the use of the specific pesticide to which the plants are tolerant, but decrease the use of usually more toxic pesticides. Also, some GMOs decreased pesticide use by creating plants that are inherently pest resistant. Further, organic farmers do use pesticides – just “natural” ones that we cannot assume are safe, and are generally less effective, and therefore have to be used more frequently and is larger amounts. This is what happens when you substitute logic and evidence with ideology (such as the appeal-to-nature fallacy).

Reducing food waste may not be sexy, but this is an important area that deserves our attention. It is a huge opportunity to increase efficiency, reduce disease, improve nutrition, and decrease the environmental footprint of agriculture.

 

The post Preserving Food first appeared on NeuroLogica Blog.

A huge tsunami hit a cliff in Tonga 7000 years ago and carried a 1200-tonne boulder 200 metres inland, making it the biggest wave-lifted boulder ever found on a cliff

The history of tuberculosis is the history of mankind.

The post Book Review: Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green first appeared on Science-Based Medicine.

Airborne electric fields similar to those from nearby power lines seem to have a dramatic effect on honeybee foraging, raising concerns about widespread impacts on pollinators

We mostly breathe subconsciously, but columnist Helen Thomson finds evidence that the brain functions differently when inhaling or exhaling, or breathing through your nose or mouth

We know that planets form in protoplanetary disks, swirling collections of gas and dust that rotate around very young stars. But we don't know all the details, partly because it's difficult to see inside these disks and watch the process unfold. One question astronomers want an answer to concerns ultraviolet radiation. Does extreme ultraviolet radiation disrupt the planet-forming process?

Co-paired stars, or stars that travel together, can provide insights into processes that other stars can't. Differences in their brightness, orbits, and chemical composition can hint at different features, and scientists are beginning to exploit them. A new paper from researchers in Australia, China, the US, and Europe analyzed data to determine if one of those features - specifically the depletion of particular elements in a star - could be a sign that it has formed a planet, or if it ate one.

Dense breast tissue can make tumours hard to spot on mammogram scans, but adding another step to this screening programme could help identify such cases

A serendipitous observation has led to a surprising discovery: a new class of nanostructured materials that can pull water from the air, collect it in pores and release it onto surfaces without the need for any external energy. The research describes a material that could open the door to new ways to collect water from the air in arid regions and devices that cool electronics or buildings using the power of evaporation.

An artificial intelligence technique for detecting DNA fragments shed by tumors and circulating in a patient's blood could help clinicians more quickly identify and determine if pancreatic cancer therapies are working.

In 2022 a team discovered that high levels of OH radicals can be generated indoors, simply due to the presence of people and ozone. This means: People generate their own oxidation field and change the indoor air chemistry around them within their own personal space. Now, in a follow-up study again in cooperation with an international research team, they found that commonly applied personal care products substantially suppress a human's production of OH radicals. These findings have implications for the indoor chemistry, the air quality of occupied spaces, and human health, since many of the chemicals in our immediate vicinity are transformed by this field.

Researchers have discovered a new class of materials -- called intercrystals -- with unique electronic properties that could power future technologies. Intercrystals exhibit newly discovered forms of electronic properties that could pave the way for advancements in more efficient electronic components, quantum computing and environmentally friendly materials, the scientists said.

Researchers have discovered a new class of materials -- called intercrystals -- with unique electronic properties that could power future technologies. Intercrystals exhibit newly discovered forms of electronic properties that could pave the way for advancements in more efficient electronic components, quantum computing and environmentally friendly materials, the scientists said.

Some 13,000 years ago, the Sun emitted a huge belch of radiation that bombarded Earth and left its imprint in ancient tree rings. That solar storm was the most powerful one ever recorded. The next strongest was the 1839 Carrington Event. It was spurred by a huge solar flare that triggered a powerful geomagnetic storm at Earth. The resulting "space weather" disrupted telegraph communications around the world. Today, as we move through this year's "solar maximum", a period of solar activity that occurs every 11 years, scientists want to prepare governments for the effects of severe solar storms.