MASmith
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masmith.bsky.social
MASmith
@masmith.bsky.social
140 followers 520 following 76 posts
Mostly here for renewable energy and public health news/insights, and appreciative of those on this site who share their expertise. Also enjoy the nature photography. Views are my own.
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masmith.bsky.social
A commentary in Science nicely summarizes the contributions of the Mitchell, et al. article. I particularly liked this quote from a co-author:
www.science.org/content/arti...
The field reminded them of early genetics research, when scientists hailed every tenuous link found between individual genes and health conditions. In that early work, “everybody was jumping up and down and saying ‘there’s something there!’ when, in fact, everybody was finding something slightly different,” Bishop says.
November 14, 2025 at 11:54 PM
masmith.bsky.social
Raven portraiture
#birds #ravens
Raven in profile, with black iridescent wings folded on its back and with tan/light brown blurred background
November 12, 2025 at 2:08 AM
masmith.bsky.social
Saw a common buckeye butterfly on a walk at Brookside Gardens, Montgomery County on Sunday morning. Torn wings indicate life hasn't been easy, but it's still here. #NaturePhotography
Common buckeye butterfly on a chain with foliage in the background. The butterfly has little pieces of both wings missing.
October 7, 2025 at 12:28 AM
masmith.bsky.social
Solar steps up to the plate .... natural gas, not so much

www.canarymedia.com/articles/sol...
October 4, 2025 at 1:44 AM
masmith.bsky.social
Beautiful evening in Boston along the Charles River
Sunset at Charles River with light from the seeing sun lighting up the river.
September 27, 2025 at 11:54 PM
masmith.bsky.social
Great article on an important vaccine for young children, but it didn't identify the NIH researchers who made the critical discovery. From Perplexity AI, the answer is below:
September 23, 2025 at 10:59 PM
masmith.bsky.social
Sunrise over the Mississippi River, New Orleans.
Sun rising over the Mississippi River with an urban landscape in the foreground.
September 19, 2025 at 11:59 AM
masmith.bsky.social
Found this on the ground. Held it up to the sky by its stem and took a picture of it. The stem was distracting, so took it out of the picture. Would love to know what it is. Oak gall? Tree fruit? Something else?
#Nature #NaturePhotography
A round tree fruit (perhaps) made of hexagonal sides with spikes in the center of each hexagon.
September 10, 2025 at 2:06 AM
masmith.bsky.social
Seagulls following the Cape May-Lewes ferry
#birds #birdphotography
Multiple sea gulls in flight over a choppy, frothy sea
September 9, 2025 at 12:51 AM
masmith.bsky.social
Queen Anne's lace seed head at Garrett Family Preserve in Cape May NJ
Monochromatic picture of Queen Anne's lace seed head.
September 4, 2025 at 1:14 AM
masmith.bsky.social
On Lewes-Cape May ferry yesterday and saw Indianapolis LNG tanker exiting Delaware Bay. It can carry 30,000 metric tons of LNG that has a life cycle CO2 equivalent of > 100,000 metric tons.
Picture of the LNG tanker Indianapolis in Delaware Bay with clouds in background
September 2, 2025 at 12:55 PM
masmith.bsky.social
Half moon, early evening August 31
Half moon against black backdrop, monochromatic
September 1, 2025 at 12:50 AM
masmith.bsky.social
Sunset
Sunset with rays of sun in lower right and pink colored clouds in upper right
August 24, 2025 at 1:48 AM
masmith.bsky.social
Swallowtail butterfly at Brookside Garden
Swallowtail butterfly on small lavender flowers with dark background
August 11, 2025 at 12:35 AM
masmith.bsky.social
Lantern fly trying to get into my 5th floor office through the window. Don't know how long I can hold it off.
Lantern fly on outside of window as viewed from inside, with blue sky background.
August 8, 2025 at 1:59 AM
masmith.bsky.social
Ground is covered by the three-parted fruit capsules from the Golden Rain Tree (Koelreuteria paniculata)
The Golden Rain Tree (Koelreuteria paniculata) is known for its showy, papery, three-parted fruit capsules that resemble Chinese lanterns. Picture shows many fruit capsules together.
August 4, 2025 at 2:32 AM
masmith.bsky.social
For those who like data, a Danish cohort study showing no increased risk for autoimmune, atopic or allergic, or neurodevelopmental disorders associated with early childhood exposure to aluminum-adsorbed vaccines.
Table showing hazard ratios for the association between cumulative aluminum exposure through early childhood vaccination and chronic disease in children. Virtually all hazard ratios are less than 1, and the data provide no evidence to support an increased risk for autoimmune, atopic or allergic, or neurodevelopmental disorders associated with early childhood exposure to aluminum-adsorbed vaccines.
July 18, 2025 at 1:39 AM
masmith.bsky.social
The moon tonight (Nikon P950 with Topaz AI)
Picture of gibbous moon taken with Nikon P950
July 6, 2025 at 2:43 AM
masmith.bsky.social
I also remember worrying about Hib meningitis, which can leave a child neurologically devastated. It is horrific that cases are occurring again, as the Hib vaccine is so effective at preventing this tragedy.

Explore this gift article from The New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/04/o...
During my medical training in the 1980s, I worried constantly about Haemophilus influenzae Type B, or Hib, which causes devastating bacterial infections of the bloodstream (bacteremia), spinal cord (meningitis) and throat (epiglottitis). The throat infection could quickly cut off a child’s airway, requiring an emergency tracheotomy, a surgical incision into a child’s windpipe. We did blood tests and spinal taps — so many spinal taps — and we watched helplessly in the pediatric intensive care unit as children who were perfectly healthy a week earlier struggled to survive and often ended up neurologically devastated. The Hib vaccine was introduced, and in the 1990s these infections largely went away. But unless you wipe them out, these diseases come back if you stop vaccinating. For the first 25 years of his career, Dr. Adam Ratner, a pediatric infectious disease physician in New York City, never saw a child with Hib meningitis. But this spring he was an author of a report on two cases of severe disease in unvaccinated New York infants.
July 5, 2025 at 1:07 AM
masmith.bsky.social
Tax cuts for billionaires versus children (and others who depend on Medicaid)
An old wealthy man in formal attire has his arm around a young woman wearing a short dress. A little girl in tattered clothes is pulling at the wealthy old man's leg trying to get his attention, and the dialogue box says "My tummy hurts". The text at the bottom of the picture states "Forget the children. Billionaires need a tax cut so they can rent Rome for their next wedding."
July 1, 2025 at 3:17 AM
masmith.bsky.social
Tax cuts for billionaires versus children (and others who depend on Medicaid)
An old wealthy man in formal attire has his arm around a young woman wearing a short dress. A little girl in tattered clothes is pulling at the wealthy old man's leg trying to get his attention, and the dialogue box says "My tummy hurts". The text at the bottom of the picture states "Forget the children. Billionaires need a tax cut so they can rent Rome for their next wedding."
July 1, 2025 at 3:06 AM
masmith.bsky.social
Tax cuts for billionaires versus children.
An old wealthy man in formal attire has his arms around an attractive young woman. A little girl in tattered clothes is pulling the old wealthy man's pants trying to get his attention, and the dialogue box over the little girl says, "My tummy hurts." The text at the bottom of the image says, "Forget the children. Billionaires need a tax cut so they can rent Rome for their next wedding."
July 1, 2025 at 2:42 AM
masmith.bsky.social
Met up with a black crowned night heron this morning at Brookside Garden, MD.
Black crowned night heron starting intently at photographer
May 25, 2025 at 7:26 PM
masmith.bsky.social
Lovely clear sky this evening for the nearly full moon.
Nearly full moon in a blue sky
May 10, 2025 at 12:21 AM
masmith.bsky.social
Disappointing results from pilot study begun in 2020 of electric buses in Des Moines. Cold weather was particularly problematic. But, encouraging preliminary results from testing a newer generation of buses in cold weather in January 2024.
ridedart.com/blog/lessons...
Electric bus technology is still relatively new and requires time to fully scale and manufacture. As manufacturers continue building electric buses, they make improvements with each new model. DART’s Fleet Manager, Keith Welch, had the opportunity to test newer electric buses in January 2024, during a week with two major snowstorms and subzero low temperatures. He said, “they didn’t have any issues. We ran them for seven days straight in the cold and they didn’t have to come back in and charge throughout the day. The test bus returned with a minimum of 40% charge still left each day and was charged overnight.”
April 11, 2025 at 9:16 PM