Learn how to use the Smithsonian Wild website to find amazing camera trap photos of mammals from around the world

The post Learn to use the Smithsonian Wild website of amazing animal photos! appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Just like humans, great apes can catch the flu. That’s why the Smithsonian’s National Zoo’s primate keepers train our gorillas and orangutans—like Iris, featured here—to […]

The post Get a flu shot? These orangutans did…. appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The chief appeal of The Anatomy of Palms is some 800 color photographs that document the extent of palm anatomical diversity.

The post With 800 color photographs, new book takes a fascinating look inside palms appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A spike in texts and calls to crisis hotlines reflects Americans' growing anxiety about the coronavirus and its impact on their lives.; Credit: Richard Bailey/Getty Images

Normally, Laura Mayer helps the most acutely suicidal callers find the nearest hospital emergency room. But in a pandemic, that has become a crisis counselor's advice of last resort.

"It's a difficult decision because we do know that by sending them into an overburdened health care system, they may or may not get the treatment that they need," says Mayer, who is director of PRS CrisisLink in Oakton, Va., which also takes calls for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. "The resources may or may not be there, and we're exposing them to the illness."

So instead, counselors are devoting more time to each caller, offering ad hoc therapy and coaxing them to talk through their pain. These days, that pain often has many sources: lost jobs, severed relationships and sick family.

"The type of call and the seriousness of the call is very different this year than it was in previous years," Mayer says. "There's environmental issues, internal issues, family issues. ... It's never one thing."

America's crisis centers and hotlines are themselves in crisis. As people grapple with fear, loneliness and grief, on a grand scale, those stresses are showing up at crisis hotlines. Not only are the needs greater, but their clients' problems are more acute and complex and offer a window into the emotional struggles Americans face.

Across the board, hotlines of all kinds are reporting increases in volume.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration saw a fivefold increase at its National Helpline in March. The Crisis Text Line says its volumes are up 40% in the pandemic, to about 100,000 conversations a month.

Volunteer counselors and good Samaritans are responding by lining up to help.

But Mayer says the heaviness takes its toll. Those offering this kind of support end up needing support themselves.

"This illness is starting to impact each of our crisis workers and counselors themselves personally," she says. "So everyone is kind of a client right now, and that's been really challenging."

Nancy Lublin, CEO and co-founder of the Crisis Text Line, says she is bracing for sustained need. "This echo of the physical virus, the mental health echo, we fear it's going to last a very long time and that the intensity will remain," she says.

Over the last two months, the focal point of the emotional pain has shifted, she says. Initially, the spike in traffic was over anxiety about the virus itself. That shifted to complaints of isolation. Now, texters talk of depression and grief.

"So we've doubled the number of conversations that are about grief, and there the top two words that we see are 'grandma' and 'grandpa,' " she says.

And it's no longer just young people texting. Adults are complaining of loneliness, sexual abuse and eating disorders.

"As the quarantines go on and continue, we're seeing it's the people over the age of 35 who are increasing at a higher percentage of our volume," Lublin says. "For the first time, we're seeing people over the age of 60 texting us."

Texting is an ideal medium, she says, for those stuck at home with no personal space: "You don't have to find a quiet space where no one else can hear you."

And for some, that might be the only form of escape. The text line has seen a 74% increase in references to domestic violence. "We see words like 'trapped' [and] 'hurt,' " says Lublin.

Many shelters have shut down, and some of those in-person centers, including the Salvation Army in Philadelphia, now rely on their own hotlines instead.

Arielle Curry, director of the Salvation Army's anti-human trafficking program, says many of her clients can't afford cell phones and have lost touch; those who remain in contact are in dire straits, searching for a shorter supply of money or drugs, and are often suicidal. Curry says addressing those acute emotional needs by phone is frustrating; sometimes she doesn't even know where they are and can't send help to intervene.

"You can't ... comfort someone and look them in their eyes and support them face-to-face," she says. That makes it hard, Curry says, not to feel helpless and hopeless herself.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Covering walls with plants can significantly reduce the temperature of building walls during hot summer months. A recent study of three different types of these ???living walls??? in Italy suggests that they can be 20??C cooler than a bare wall on sunny days. An added advantage is that living walls can be retrofitted to existing buildings.

Sharks aggregate in ‘hotspots’ in the North Atlantic Ocean and are at risk from overfishing by longliner vessels that target the same areas for fishing, a recent study has concluded. Researchers found that the shark and fishing-fleet ranges overlapped by 80% in the North Atlantic and call for international regulation of shark catches to protect at-risk shark populations.

The discomfort associated with hot, dry summers in some urban areas can be reduced by planting the most appropriate trees in open city spaces, according to a recent study. The researchers identified the Indian laurel fig as the most effective tree for this purpose in the Greek city of Chania.

Elderly people are at particular risk from the damaging health effects of hot summers in European Mediterranean cities, such as Athens, Barcelona and Lisbon, but in North African and Middle-Eastern Mediterranean cities, such as Tunis and Tel-Aviv, younger people are more vulnerable, a recent study concludes. This is particularly concerning, the researchers suggest, given the insufficient resources available to deal with this public health problem in some countries.

Marine biodiversity conservation in the north-east Atlantic needs a combination of more adaptable management strategies and international co-operation, a new study says. This is required to deal with a potential increase in marine conservation hotspots under climate change.

The development of future recycling technologies must be informed by data about products and materials that will enter the waste stream, but such forecasts are subject to a high level of uncertainty. In this study, researchers have proposed a methodology for predicting emerging waste materials, applying it to silicon-based photovoltaic (PV) panels. The findings show that closed-loop recycling — when post-consumer waste is recycled to make new products — of PV panel materials could mitigate up to 0.2% of the annual environmental impact of Flanders1, Belgium, if suitable technology was developed.

A thin layer of lighter coloured asphalt applied to road surfaces could significantly lower surface temperatures in hot urban areas, according to a recent study. This could make living conditions more comfortable and reduce the amount of energy needed to cool buildings.

Most modern societies depend on fossil fuels (oil, gas and coal) as sources of energy for development and growth. Switching to renewable energy sources, such as photovoltaic (PV) systems, is necessary for sustainable development in the future. A new study suggests that it is currently much more efficient to use fossil fuels to develop PV power plants than to combust the same amount of fossil fuels in conventional thermal power plants: thus the sooner PV systems are developed, the sooner society will reduce its reliance on fossil fuels.

Researchers have summarised the most effective ways that nanostructures can improve the efficiency and lower costs of photovoltaic (PV) solar cells in a recent analysis. Sculpting ultra-thin solar cell surfaces at the nano-scale has been found to effectively boost their efficiency.

Europe could struggle to meet the target set by the renewable energy sector of 25% of electricity produced by solar energy by 2040 because the supply of materials, including rare metals, needed to produce photovoltaics (PV) is unlikely to meet demand. Production rates need to be drastically improved, according to a new study.

With authorities completely sealing the areas, FMCG companies said they are facing problem moving trucks through such localities to other places.

Ecological risk maps showing 'hotspots' of risk to wildlife from single or combined soil pollutants have been developed. These maps can be used to improve risk analysis and stakeholder communications.

A new tool has been developed which highlights ‘hot spots’ of pharmaceutical pollution in Europe, where human health and aquatic environments could potentially be affected. The results suggest that the substances and locations posing the greatest risk are not the same for the aquatic environment as for human health.

Croatian researchers have developed new indicators that can be used to analyse photochemical pollution and smog caused by ozone. The indicators are based on simple mathematical formulae and could make it easier for those who monitor pollution levels to make meaningful comparisons between different sites.

Switching to the best available emission control technologies could eliminate 99% of particulate matter pollution 'hotspots', a new study suggests. The researchers reached this conclusion by expanding the local-scale capabilities of an existing computer model that estimates the effects of air pollution policies and control measures.

Myke discovered his ranking, Grey will not switch, and they both answer #askcortex questions before the Cortexmas season begins.

AN ICONIC Hampshire hotel which closed its doors after going into administration has been bought by an international hotelier.

The post $50 million luxury hotel planned at iconic Barossa Valley winery appeared first on The Lead SA.

Watford moved another point towards Premier League safety after an intriguing lunchtime kick-off against Tottenham Hotspur ended in a 0-0 draw.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker performs social media magic like no other politician.

Nobel Prize-winning scientist Tim Hunt talked about his 'trouble with girls' this week, and women in the scientific community responded perfectly.

These adorable pictures are sure to warm even the coldest heart.

Biologists use weapons to harass Oregon sea lions into leaving an area populated by endangered salmon and other fish.

Photographing the historic Venus transit of the sun is special enough on its own, but one space photographer managed to get NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in the

It won't exactly make Venus any more desirable as a tourist destination.

Antwon Lee tells his little man "it's OK to cry" and to "stay strong" during the ordeal.

Despite the HPV vaccine being effective at preventing infections and cancers down the line, just one-third of teen girls complete the injection series.

Louisiana Gov. Jindal puts up Flickr album of gruesome oil creeping into Louisiana wetlands.

A small island in Louisiana where peppers are grown for Tabasco sauce is losing land to rising sea levels.

Misinformation and 'vaccine fears' are causing parents to forgo a safe solution to a dangerous newborn vitamin deficiency.

Eco-architect-turned-full-time vintage aluminum trailer renovator Matthew Hofmann reveals an Airstream hotel in beautiful downtown Santa Barbara.