A new book on tree rings—Valerie Trouet’s Tree Story—blends some serious tree science with some uniformitarian mythology. The book is being heavily promoted by Johns Hopkins University.¹ Aimed at young readers, it will indoctrinate children into the same old mythology about trees, implying that tree ages can be determined by counting growth rings.^1,3

Sweden is encouraging Hittaut (recreational nature hiking) with the added encouragement of exploring places to find specific checkpoints along the hike.¹

European dippers are making the news lately, including science news in Wales.^1-3

These riparian habitat birds are indicators⁴ of freshwater stream quality, as noted below. Scientists study them to learn how badly freshwater streams are polluted—such as by non-biodegradable (non-decaying, indigestible) plastic waste products.^2,3

Under ideal circumstances, we can do a lot of good. But when circumstances handicap or restrict our potential—in ways we cannot circumvent—we just do the best that we can.

That principle is true for humans as well as in the water-filtering services of the humble bivalves we call oysters—according to recent research involving the University of Maryland.^1,2

About 3,000 years ago, the Bible taught that the “wonders in the deep” are the “works of the Lord.”¹ Now that truth has been illustrated with even greater depth by the documented sighting of a super-deep-sea octopus—about 21,000 feet deep at the ocean’s bottom, to be specific.^2,3