Mother Nature.

09/21/2026

09/21/2026

The Atlantic just made it to September 21 without a hurricane.

Last time that happened? 1914.

Fay almost ruined it last night. It hit 70 mph. Hurricane strength is 74.

Now it’s falling apart, and nothing else is expected for at least a week.

09/12/2026

🚁🐾 While most people are asleep, one New Jersey restaurant owner is out in the dark, scanning the woods for heat signatures — because somewhere out there, someone's dog is lost and terrified.

Michael Parziale runs a restaurant by day. By night, he flies thermal-imaging drones across the Jersey Shore, searching for missing pets that traditional searches have given up on.
He built an 18-drone fleet through his nonprofit, the U.S.A.R. Drone Team, and in just two years, that fleet has helped reunite more than 120 animals with their families — dogs, cats, even a cow — using heat signatures invisible to the naked eye but unmistakable from above.

Some rescues happen fast, in minutes. Others take much longer, hours of scanning frozen fields and thick brush before a small, warm shape finally appears on screen.

Parziale does it all as a volunteer, dedicating countless hours and even training military veterans in drone piloting along the way — a tribute, he says, to his father and grandfathers who served in the World Wars.

Every reunion looks the same in the end: relief, tears, and a family made whole again.

📸 Michael Parziale, U.S.A.R. Drone Team, Manasquan, NJ — reported by the New York Post and DroneXL.

08/30/2026

Predators can have big impacts on the landscape, and not just by doing what they do best—killing and eating their prey. The mere presence of a predator can alter the behavior of animals further down the food chain, causing cascading changes to the ecosystem. It’s a phenomenon known as the “ecology of fear,” and according to a new study published in the Journal of Helminthology, even the lowly mussel lives in fear of the tiniest predators.

Marine biologists from Denmark’s Aarhus University put blue mussels (the same ones you might cook up with white w**e, garlic, and linguini) in a tank with one of its most common micropredators, the parasitic flatworm Himasthla elongata. These tiny worms enter the mussels through the bivalve’s inhalant siphon, which they use to suck in water and filter out the algae they feed on. In the presence of the worm, the mussels narrowed their tubes, reducing their filtering activity by more than a third. When the team introduced a second species of parasitic flatworm (Renicola roscovita), filtration fell by more than half.

In the next experiment, the researchers put the mussels in a tank with chemical signals taken from the common periwinkle. These harmless marine snails don’t pose any direct threat to the mussels, but they are important hosts for H. elongata. Surprisingly, the mussels responded the same way, trimming their filtration activity by 42 percent.

“The snail itself doesn’t harm the mussel, but its presence can be a sign that parasites are nearby,” study author Pernille Kibak said in a statement. “It may almost work like a warning sign in the water: There is reason to be on your guard.”

Still, the researchers aren’t sure which chemical cues the mussels are responding to—introducing compounds from both infected and uninfected periwinkles had the same effect. Snail juice in general, it seems, is enough to make a mussel clam up.

According to the team, these findings could have important ecological implications. A single blue mussel can filter over 25 gallons of water a day, and mussel banks can contain millions of them. If they get spooked and turn off their filtration en masse, it could lead to overgrowths of algae, reduced nutrient cycling, and murky waters that may become inhospitable to other critters. Additionally, cooler waters tend to kill parasites off, so this dynamic could present a problem as warming oceans become more flatworm-friendly.

“That’s what makes this response so interesting,” Kibak said. “We’re looking at something that happens in an individual mussel, but because blue mussels play such an important role in coastal ecosystems, even small changes in their behavior could potentially matter on a much larger scale.”

And all from a tiny little worm.

Study link: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-helminthology/article/avoidance-of-parasites-by-blue-mussels-mytilus-edulis-effect-of-parasite-species-and-chemosensory-cues/42A3E66EFC7B5C7E057C11394BDA24AE

08/12/2026

12/20/2025

🐿️ The Squirrel: “YOUR PEANUTS FEEL LIKE LOVE. MY BONES CALL IT A DEFICIENCY.”

YOUR PEANUTS FEEL LIKE LOVE. MY BONES CALL IT A DEFICIENCY.
“A peanut-only diet drains calcium from my body. Peanuts are legumes, not nuts—they are high in phosphorus, which forces my body to ‘steal’ calcium from my own bones to balance my blood. Mix in natural foods and let me find wild nuts so I don’t limp into a short, painful old age.”

The Biological Reality: Squirrels require a precise Calcium-to-Phosphorus (Ca:P) ratio. High‑phosphorus foods like peanuts or sunflower seeds, when fed exclusively, cause the body to leach calcium from bones and teeth to maintain blood levels, leading to permanent disability.

📰 FIELD REPORT: The Phosphorus Trap
Angle: Demineralization through “junk food.”
Squirrels are biological athletes that require structural integrity to survive. Peanuts and sunflower seeds are the equivalent of “junk food” for them. When phosphorus levels in the blood become too high, the parathyroid gland triggers the removal of calcium from the skeletal system. This leads to “soft bones,” where a simple jump can result in a shattered pelvis or spine.

🧩 THE ANATOMY OF A HIDDEN DEFICIENCY
1. “Glass Bones” and Paralysis
Extreme Fragility: A squirrel with MBD (Metabolic Bone Disease) can break a limb or its back just by missing a jump by a few inches.

Neurological Failure: Calcium is vital for nerve transmission; severe deficiency leads to seizures, tremors, and hind‑limb paralysis often mistaken for being hit by a car.

2. Dental Malocclusion
Brittle Teeth: Without calcium, incisors—which grow continuously—become brittle and break.

Starvation: If teeth break unevenly, they do not wear down properly, eventually preventing the squirrel from eating at all.

3. The Addiction Factor
Caloric Preference: Much like humans, squirrels will choose high‑fat, high‑calorie peanuts over the mineral‑rich bark and buds they actually need.

🤝 Our Duty: Diversify for Protection
Supporting a squirrel means respecting their complex nutritional needs.

🛡️ The Action: The Balanced Buffet
Limit Peanuts: They should never exceed 5% of their total intake; treat them as a rare “candy,” not a meal.

Offer Whole Nuts: Provide hazelnuts or walnuts in the shell to help wear down their teeth naturally.

Direct Calcium: Leave a cuttlebone or naturally shed deer antlers in the yard; squirrels will gnaw on them for pure calcium.

Plant for the Future: The best help is planting native oaks, hickories, and maples that provide natural, mineral‑rich buds and mast.

A squirrel’s agility is its only defense. By balancing our offerings, we ensure these backyard acrobats keep the strong bones and sharp teeth they need to thrive in the canopy. Don’t turn a wild athlete into a fragile pet.