Good News 7 Northeastern States & NYC Form Public Health Partnership

What do you do when the federal government tosses out all protocols to keep the country healthy? Join with other states who have intellgence enough to Know how to keep their residents safe. That's what happened with northeastern states who have banded together to ensure residents are healthy since the federal CDC has become so corrupt and useless. It's unfortunate for those in NH and VT, though, as they have Republican governors. Although there are differing reports about whether VT joined. There are also some reports Maryland and Delaware may join the partnership, but I've been unable to confirm at the time of this blog. Here's the story about this Health Partnership.

Maine joins public health partnership with 6 other states, New York City

Sep 19, 2025 Russ Reed, WABC 8, Portland, Maine

AUGUSTA, Maine —Maine is one of seven states that have formed a regional public health partnership that also includes the largest city in the country.

The Northeast Public Health Collaborative was officially announced Thursday, but officials from Maine, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York State, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and New York City revealed they have been working together since early this year.

The voluntary coalition of public health agencies held its first in-person meeting in Rhode Island last month, and said that it has already formed working groups to identify opportunities for collaboration and shared planning across public health disciplines, including emergency preparedness and response, vaccine recommendations and purchasing, data collection and analysis, infectious disease, epidemiology and laboratory capacity and services.

"The people of Maine are known for their resilience, neighborly support and a collaborative approach to solving community challenges. This spirit is evident in the Northeast Public Health Collaborative, which serves as an incubator for solutions in public health," Dr. Puthiery Va, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a statement. "By working together, we can build a more adaptable, sustainable and resilient public health framework for the region."

PURPOSE OF THE COLLABORATIVE

The collaborative said its shared goal is to protect the health, safety and well-being of all residents by providing information based on science, data and evidence, while working to ensure equitable access to vaccines, medications and services.

"As the Trump administration politicizes and undermines our nation's public health system, our state will work closely with our neighbors to promote and protect the health and well-being of Maine people," Gov. Janet Mills said in a statement.

Last week, Maine's Governor Janet Mills directed the Maine CDC to issue a standing order authorizing qualified health care professionals, including pharmacists, to administer the 2025-26 COVID-19 vaccine. The order serves as a prescription for all Mainers, allowing them to receive the COVID-19 vaccine at pharmacies, clinics and health care offices across the state.

The only states in the Northeast that are not part of the collaborative are New Hampshire and Vermont, which are the only two states in the region that currently have Republican governors.

Book of the Week: A Superhero Graphic Novel to Avoid

As an avid reader, and comic book collector since the 1970s, I've read countless books, comics and graphic novels. Recently, I bought an old graphic novel about a Supergirl series from the 1990s, and it was the worst thing I've ever read related to the Superman family of characters. There's a good reason why, too.

(Pictured: This 1990s graphic novel collects DC "Showcase 96" issue #12 with the character origin, and the first 9 issues of this awful series) 

IT STARTED IN 1985- When DC comics created the famous "Crisis on Infinite Earths" 12-issue story that changed comic book history, and merged the "multiverse"- that is, countless versions of Earth vibrating at different frequencies (same for all planets and universes), the original Supergirl, Linda Danvers, was one of two major fatalities in the story (the other was the Barry Allen version of the Flash).

AFTERMATH THE "MATRIX SUPERGIRL" - Readers wanted Supergirl back, but one of the writers of DC Comics decided to create a "Supergirl" out of a shapeshifting type of alien, known as the "Matrix" to assume Supergirl's identity and her civilian Linda Danvers role. She was created by the good Lex Luthor of a "Pocket Universe,"  using an artificial life form called the "protoplasmic matrix." This character has telekinesis (does things with her mind), shape shifts, has super strength and flight. That Pocket Universe was destroyed, so Superman took the orphaned Matrix, now turned into a humanoid form of protoplasm, back to the mainstream DC Universe where she took on the identity of Supergirl, without Supergirl's memories. ... until the writers suggested she merged with a dead Linda Danvers...

MY TAKE ON THE "MATRIX SUPERGIRL" - Truly one of the WORST characters DC Comics ever came up with. Supergirl needs to be Supergirl. Not some protoplasmic blob trying to impersonate the character. I read the first 9 issues of the 1990s series and they were AWFUL.  By the last 4 issues, I didn't care about the character, and read quickly through it. I'm glad that DC got rid of that dumb character. 

Book of the Week: Blood Trail by Frederic Bean

 I've been enjoying reading westerns lately, and I've read several by author Frederic Bean and enjoyed them. I recently finished "Blood Trail," published in 1993. That's today's blog! 

"Blood Trail" by Frederic Bean was a good story that kept me reading. It started out with a terrible tragedy, which became the impetus for the main character's mission. John Villalobo is a half native american and half Mexican who was married with a wife and son in Texas near the Mexican border. When he was away, he came back to find his family and an old friend were slain, so he set out to avenge them. It took him into various battles with native americans and Mexican bandits. 

A couple of times there were some graphic descriptions of some horrendous deaths... which I read through quickly. But the story was very good and kept the reader engaged. While reading, I kept thinking how is John going to survive battling all of those villains? It's a good read.

ABOUT THE BOOK: Ten years after giving up his career as the murderous pistolero Lobo, marrying and settling down with a wife and child, John Villalobo heads back to Mexico, armed only with a Bowie knife, on the trail of the men who butchered his family.  

Discovery! Medieval knight's stunning stone tomb found under ice cream shop in Poland

I love archaeology, and making discoveries of what happened in the past is fascinating. Under an ice cream shop in Poland, archaeologists discovered the burial site of a 13th century knight. That's today's blog!

 (Image credit: © ArcheoScan – Archaeological and Conservation Laboratory / Sylwia Kurzyńska)

 Medieval knight 'Lancelot' and his stunning stone tomb found under ice cream shop in Poland

LIVE SCIENCE Kristina Killgrove, August 15, 2025

Archaeologists found the body of a medieval knight underneath a tombstone that depicted him in full military regalia.

Archaeologists were surprised to discover the exceptional tomb of a medieval knight underneath an ice cream shop in the seaside Polish city of Gdańsk. The 13th-century burial includes a rare carving that probably depicts the knight himself.

"We discovered a large limestone tomb slab carved with the image of a knight in full chainmail armor," Sylwia Kurzyńska, an archaeologist with ArcheoScan who co-directed the excavation, told Live Science in an email. The carved slab is rare in medieval Poland because "only a few featured images of the deceased," she said.

Kurzyńska and her team found the monument in the historic center of Gdańsk in July, when they were excavating the grounds of a stronghold used from the 11th to the 14th centuries. Within the stronghold were the remains of a castle, a church and a cemetery.

The carved tombstone has been preliminarily dated to the late 13th or early 14th century, Kurzyńska said. Roughly 59 inches (150 centimeters) long and made out of limestone imported from Gotland, Sweden, the slab shows a man standing upright in full armor and holding a sword and a shield.

"Given that it was made out of soft limestone and lay buried for centuries," Kurzyńska said, "the preservation of the slab is remarkable — the carving, the armor and the shield are still well-defined."

Shortly after their discovery of the slab, the ArcheoScan team removed the stone and dug deeper. They found a well-preserved male skeleton but no grave goods.

"All evidence suggests that the person commemorated was of high social standing, most likely a knight or someone holding a military function," Kurzyńska said. Although the date and location of this burial coincide with the rise of the Teutonic Knights, researchers found no inscriptions or symbols to definitively link him to that order.

The discovery is an important one in Gdańsk, Kurzyńska said, as it represents "a direct link to the city's formative years, offering a rare glimpse into the lives and burials of its medieval elite."

Additional work on both the tomb slab and the skeleton is already underway.

 Researchers are documenting the slab using high-resolution 3D scanning, with the aim of reconstructing and preserving the unique carving. In addition, a chemical and genetic analysis of the bones will help them better understand who this man was and what his life was like.

"We also plan to create a facial reconstruction based on the skull," Kurzyńska said, to figure out what the knight, which the public has dubbed the "Gdańsk Lancelot," may have looked like in life.

Ever Hear of "Pallas' Cat"? - It's a Strange Cat in the Wild

Pallas's cat is one of the oldest feline species in the world (over 5.2 million years old) and lives in the wilds of Central Asia. The Pallas's cat was first described in 1776 by Peter Simon Pallas, who observed it in the vicinity of Lake Baikal. Pallas' Cat is also known as one of the grumpiest kind of cats!  Today's blog is about that fascinating cat species!   

(Photo: Pallas' cat. Credit: Calgary Zoo.) 

One of the world's oldest felines is Wild Pallas' Cat   

 By Sascha Pare, LIVE SCIENCE, August 23, 2025

Pallas's cat is a small wild cat native to Central Asia with short legs and dense fur, making it look bigger than it really is — but the yelps it makes in stressful situations betray its size.

Pallas's cats are very grumpy-looking wild cats. (Image credit: xtrekx/Getty Images)

QUICK FACTS 

• Name: Pallas's cat (Otocolobus manul) 
• Where it lives: Steppes and high-elevation grasslands in Central Asia, particularly Mongolia and China 
• What it eats: Small rodents, including gerbils, hamsters and pikas, small lizards and birds
• Size: 50 to 60 centimetres (1.6 to 2.0 feet) long, with a 10 to 20-centimetre (4 to 8 inches) long tail
• Weight: 1.8 to 4.9 kilograms or 4 to 11 pounds

 Pallas's cat, also known as a manul, is a feline from Central Asia that yelps like a small dog and has such short legs that it sometimes struggles to run after prey. Researchers think it is one of the oldest living cat species in the world, having diverged 5.2 million years ago from a leopard ancestor.

Although it looks stocky, Pallas's cat isn't actually much bigger than a domestic cat beneath its long, dense fur. This thick coat provides insulation against its environment, the freezing cold of Central Asia's steppe and high-altitude grassland ecosystems. The species is rarely seen because it is solitary and very secretive, spending the daytime in rock crevices and marmot burrows.

Fun Facts from the Calgary Zoo about Pallas’s Cats

• ·         Pallas’s cats are typically solitary, only coming together to mate.
• ·         Kittens will begin to learn how to hunt from their mothers at three weeks of age.
• ·         They prefer to hide and sleep during the day.
• ·         This species has a variety of vocalizations, including growling, yelping, and purring.
• ·         They use scent to mark their territories.
• ·         Pallas’s cats are ambush predators.
• 

(Photo:A Pallas's cat at Rotterdam Zoo)

Pallas's cat comes out at dusk to hunt and stays out until dawn. It is an ambush predator, meaning it waits at the exits of rodent burrows until its prey appears — although some cats also stick their paws in to scoop out a meal, according to the Smithsonian's National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute.

Even if Pallas's cat is active during the day, the feline is hard to spot. Its coat is usually gray or light tan, but it can change color with the seasons to better blend into the local landscape, according to the National Zoo. Most of the hairs also have white tips, giving the cat a mottled or frosted appearance that is difficult to distinguish from rocks and shrubs in its natural surroundings.

 For even more camouflage, Pallas's cat has rounded ears set so low on its head that it can peer over rocks without its ears peeking out. The only part of its body that protrudes is its bushy tail, which is about half as long as the head and body combined, according to the Felidae Conservation Fund.

Unlike other small cats, which have slit-like pupils, Pallas's cat has rounded pupils that are good for judging distances. The cat also yelps when it is scared or excited, which makes it sound more like a small dog than a feline, according to the National Zoo — but the species purrs and growls like any other small cat.

In the wild, Pallas's cat typically lives eight to nine years, according to the National Zoo. The cat uses scent to mark its territory, which is unusually large for such a small feline, with a range typically covering 3.5 to 7 square miles (9 to 18 square kilometers).

DISCOVERY! Keratin extracted from sheep's wool repairs teeth in breakthrough

Here's a discovery I can "sink my teeth in" - something to repair teeth. As someone who has "soft teeth" from tetracycline. Back in the 1960s and 70s if your mom took tetracycline, you likely have cavity prone teeth with weak enamel. It's a fact that tetracycline given to pregnant women can make a baby's teeth weaker by binding to calcium in developing teeth, causing discoloration and potentially contributing to enamel hypoplasia (thinning of enamel). Now there's something that may offer a little help.

(Image:  This study establishes keratin as a promising, sustainable platform for functional enamel regeneration, offering a clinically translatable approach for repairing demineralized dental enamel lesions and restoring enamel architecture. Credit:  Sara Gamea, Elham Radvar, Dimitra Athanasiadou, Ryan Lee Chan, Giacomo De Sero, Ecaterina Ware, Sunie Kundi, Avir Patel, Shwan Horamee, Shuaib Hadadi, Mads Carlsen, Leanne Allison, Roland Fleck, Ka Lung Andrew Chan, Avijit Banerjee, Nicola Pugno, Marianne Liebi, Paul T Sharpe, Karina Carneiro, Sherif Elsharkawy 

12 August 2025

 

https://doi.org/10.1002/adhm.202502465)

Keratin extracted from sheep's wool repairs teeth in breakthrough

LIVE SCIENCE, Skyler Ware published August 19, 2025

Dental treatments from sheep’s wool and other hair could be used to coat teeth to repair enamel and prevent tooth decay, according to a new study.

After extracting keratin — a protein found in hair, skin and fingernails — from wool and applying it to teeth, scientists found that the substance formed a protective crystal-like coating that mimicked natural tooth enamel.

The finding could support sustainable, low-cost treatments for early tooth decay within the next two to three years, according to the researchers.They reported their findings August 12 in the journal Advanced Healthcare Materials.

"Keratin offers a transformative alternative to current dental treatments," study coauthor Sara Gamea, a dentistry researcher at King's College London, said in the statement.

 "Not only is it sustainably sourced from biological waste materials like hair and skin, it also eliminates the need for traditional plastic resins, commonly used in restorative dentistry, which are toxic and less durable. Keratin also looks much more natural than these treatments, as it can more closely match the color of the original tooth."

Untreated tooth decay is the world's most common oral health condition, affecting some 2 billion people worldwide. Over time, acidic foods, poor oral hygiene, and everyday wear and tear can break down the protective enamel that covers a person's teeth. Losing that enamel can lead to pain, cavities and tooth loss.

"Unlike bones and hair, enamel does not regenerate," study coauthor Sherif Elsharkawy, a researcher specializing in prosthodontics at King's College London, said in a statement. "Once it's gone, it's lost forever."

Officially Published! "Ghosts of Linville Manor - Investigating Maryland's Most Haunted House"!

 Published TODAY! Already a #1 New Book: "Ghosts of Linville Manor - Investigating Maryland’s Most Haunted House”

Now available in Paperback and E-book- Both went live today, Sept. 15, 2025, just in time for Halloween.

The book went on pre-sale September 1 and hit #1 in Maryland Travel Guides on Amazon the next day. (It's Rob's SIXTH #1 book!)

Winn Brewer, Linville Manor’s owner and Innkeeper teamed up with best-selling paranormal author and medium, Rob Gutro to convey the hauntings and history of the Upper Marlboro, Maryland home turned event location.

BUY THE BOOK: https://www.amazon.com/Ghosts-Linville-Manor-Investigating-Encounters-ebook/dp/B0FP9YJT7T?ref_=ast_author_mpb

MORE INFO ABOUT THE BOOK: https://robgutro.com/blog/f/ghosts-of-linville-manor-1-new-book-by-rob-gutro-winn-brewer

Idiot of the week: NH Man Accused Of Driving Drunk At 124 MPH on I-93

Last week's idiot was a drunk driving teenager in Maine. This week's idiot is a drunk driving 58 year old adult from New Hampshire. What's with all the drunk speeders in northern New England? Maybe if New Hampshire didn't have liquor stores off the Interstate, there would be less of them...?

Mancheter, NH Man Accused Of Driving Drunk At 124 MPH on I-93  

Tony Schinella, Patch Staff May 5, 2025

WINDHAM, NH — A man from Manchester was arrested last month after being accused of drunken driving at excessive speeds, according to New Hampshire State Police.

Around 7:10 p.m. on April 26, a state trooper patrolling the northbound side of Interstate 93 in Windham saw a driver in a Ford Mustang “changing lanes recklessly” that was clocked at 124 mph.

The red 2023 Mustang was stopped and the driver, Michael J. Stone, 58, of Manchester, was questioned. He was arrested later on an aggravated driving while intoxicated charge. Stone was released and will be arraigned in Salem District Court at a later date, state police said.

Editor's note: This post was derived from information supplied by the New Hampshire State Police and does not indicate a conviction.

Hero of the Week: 11 Year old girl rescues 5-year-old neighbor who fell down a well

This week's hero is a girl in Massachusetts who discovered a 5 year old neighbor fell into a well, and she called for help!

(Image: Juliana Fischer (right) rescues 5-year-old neighbor (left) who fell into the well pictured)
 

Heroic 11-year-old girl rushes to save toddler, 5, stuck in 20-foot-deep well

NY Post, Caitlin McCormack ,Mon, August 18, 2025 at 1:10 AM EDT

An intrepid young girl rushed to her neighbor’s aid when she heard a desperate mom shouting for help after her 5-year-old son plummeted down a 20-foot-deep well in their Massachusetts neighborhood.

Juliana Fischer, 11, was at her home when she heard her neighbor, Kathleen Freeman, screaming for her son and pleading for someone to help.

11-year-old Juliana Fischer rescued her 5-year-old neighbor from a well. WHDH 11-year-old Juliana Fischer rescued her 5-year-old neighbor from a well. WHDH

“I heard these screaming, like these screams, and someone saying, ‘Call 911,’” Juliana told Local 12.

The preteen didn’t waste a single moment asking questions and sprinted outside, following the sounds of Freeman’s shouts while she called the police.

Freeman’s son, Jack Buss, had fallen into the deep water well that had been concealed by a cover that slipped out of the way while the toddler was walking over it.

All the while, Jack told the outlet, he was looking — and shouting — for his “mama.”

“I heard a scream that I’ve never heard before from my son,” Freeman told the outlet.

The stunned tyke was able to stand at the bottom, surrounded by chunks of concrete and clutching a nearby pole. Freeman, stuck above ground as she watched her son sob at the bottom of the well, tried to console him the best she could as Juliana reached her side.

The 11-year-old quickly assessed the situation and grabbed a nearby ladder, carefully lowering it into the well with her father’s help so Jack could climb out.

The child clambered up largely unscathed, save for a few minor scratches.

“He was really brave, and I’m so thankful for Juliana. It was a very good feeling when he got out of the well,” Freeman told the outlet.

Responding crews didn’t have much work left after Juliana’s resourceful approach. They placed a heavy metal plate on top of the well with bricks just to make sure it wouldn’t slide off again, but assured the concerned mom they would eventually find a more permanent solution.

Jack was taken to a nearby hospital for an extra assessment. Juliana, meanwhile, shrugged off her good deed. “I don’t know. Anyone would have done the same thing,” she told the outlet. Still, Freeman’s family is celebrating Juliana as a neighborhood hero.

Book of the Week: WESTERN: Shadow of a Star by Elmer Kelton

I've always loved Westerns and cowboys, so the latest book I enjoyed was "Shadow of a Star" by Elmer Kelton. It was written in 1959, and this writer really knew the old west. I learned words that I had never heard before, like "hostler" - which is a person who takes care of horses in a stable. The book was fast moving, had great characters and a great story of a young deputy named Jim-Bob, who comes into his time.  I will be reading other books by this late author. 5 of 5 stars.

ABOUT THE BOOK: Deputy Sheriff Jim-Bob McClain isn't sure he's ready to follow in his father's footsteps as the law in Coolridge County. In fact, he has a hard enough time keeping the peace between the drunks in the local saloon. But with tough Sheriff Mont Naylor to back him up he figures he can handle whatever comes his way.

Jim-Bob's first real assignment is no piece of cake. He must escort a ruthless outlaw into the hands of justice. All seems well with the lawless killer firmly in Jim-Bob's custody. But nothing prepares him for an angry mob, determined to take the law into their own hands and provide their own brand justice: a hangman's noose.

Shadow of a Star is a gripping tale by Elmer Kelton, voted one of the best Western Writers of all time by Westerns Writers of America, Inc. 

Uranus has a new, hidden moon, James Webb Space Telescope reveals

Just when you think we've found all the moons around the planets in our own solar system, the 29th moon orbiting Uranus has been discovered. There's actually so much we don't know about our own solar system.  

(Image:  Uranus in an image captured by the James Webb Space Telescope. (Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI)

 Uranus has a new, hidden moon, James Webb Space Telescope reveals

Ben Turner, Live Science, August 20, 2025

Uranus' 29th moon was hidden inside the planet's dark inner rings, new observations from the James Webb Space Telescope reveal.

The moon, for now dubbed S/2025 U1, is just 6 miles (10 kilometers) in diameter, which is why it was invisible to other telescopes and the Voyager 2 spacecraft when it made its 1986 flyby of the icy planet.

Now, the James Webb Space Telescope's (JWST) Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) has detected glints of sunlight in a series of ten 40-minute long-exposure images of Uranus, which revealed the elusive moon's presence. The discovery hints that much more remains hidden around Uranus, the astronomers who found the moon say.

(Image: Uranus and some of its moons, with S/2025 U1 circled. (Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, M. El Moutamid (SwRI), M. Hedman (University of Idaho))

"No other planet has as many small inner moons as Uranus, and their complex inter-relationships with the rings hint at a chaotic history that blurs the boundary between a ring system and a system of moons," Matthew Tiscareno, a senior research scientist at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, and a member of the research team, said in a statement. "Moreover, the new moon is smaller and much fainter than the smallest of the previously known inner moons, making it likely that even more complexity remains to be discovered."

First spotted in 1781 by the German-British astronomer Frederick William Herschel, Uranus is the seventh planet from our sun and orbits it at a distance of 1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion km), nearly 20 times farther than Earth, according to NASA.

DISCOVERY! Archaeology student finds rare ninth-century gold in 90 minutes of 1st excavation!

How incredible is this?! An archaeology student from Florida on her first-ever excavation found a medieval artifact! That's today's blog.

(Photo: An archaeology student discovered the gold object on her first excavation. (Image credit: Portable Antiquities Scheme / Newcastle University))

Archaeology student finds rare ninth-century gold 'within the first 90 minutes' of her first excavation

By Kristina Killgrove LIVE SCIENCE August 14, 2025

An archaeology student from Florida struck gold in the U.K. just 90 minutes into her first-ever excavation, when she discovered a rare ninth-century artifact that may have had a religious or ceremonial use.

"I couldn't believe I'd found something so quickly into my first excavation," Yara Souza, a student at Newcastle University in the U.K. who is from Orlando, Florida, said in a statement. "It was actually quite overwhelming," she said, and "I was really geeking out over it!"

The enigmatic gold object is just 1.6 inches (4 centimeters) long and is shaped like a small knob. It is nearly identical to — but a bit larger than — a similar item discovered by a metal detectorist in 2021. That artifact has been identified as a ball-headed pin dated to roughly A.D. 800 to 1000, during the early medieval period.

Both gold artifacts were found at the same location near a major ancient Roman road, now called Dere Street, in the county of Northumberland in northeast England. This road was important in Roman times for sending supplies into the northernmost extent of the empire in Scotland in the second century.

Because gold was associated with high status, experts think the two similar artifacts are connected and may have had a ceremonial or religious use, rather than being a simple accessory.

"We know that Dere Street continued to be a major thoroughfare long after the Romans," James Gerrard, a professor of Roman archaeology at Newcastle University who led the excavation, said in the statement. "It is possible that this pair of objects may have been deliberately buried."

BREAKTHROUGH: Scientists transform 'forever chemicals' in water into fluoride with new process

In Maine, PFAS contamination has significantly impacted some farms, primarily due to the historical practice of spreading biosolids (sewage sludge) as fertilizer. This practice, once state-approved, has led to PFAS contamination in soil and water, affecting farm products and livelihoods. Some farms have been abandoned!  ***Now, there's been a scientific breakthrough to help rid these PFAS, and research is on-going. I sent the Journal article and the Live Science feature to the Univ. of Maine Dept of Agriculture and to the Maine Dept of Environment to ensure they've heard of this. Hopefully the discovery will help make these lands usable again. 

 

(Image:) Scheme of the treatment of the photodegradation of different PFAS in a field-derived PFAS sample collected from aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) contaminated water. Credit: Universoty of Adelaide, Australia. *

Scientists transform 'forever chemicals' in water into fluoride with new process 

 By Ben TurnerLIVE SCIENCE, August 18, 2025

Exposure to a sunlight-activated catalyst broke down 99% of a forever chemical, leaving behind recyclable fluoride.

Scientists have developed a new method to break down harmful "forever chemicals" by exposing them to a sunlight-activated material.

Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are chemicals found in many household products, including cookware, cosmetics, dental floss and waterproof clothing. True to their nickname, the chemicals take thousands of years to break down, enabling them to accumulate in the environment and our bodies.

PFAS have been used since the 1940s. Initially, they were valued for their nonstick properties, but now they are linked to a number of health impacts, including increased risks of autoimmune disease, developmental disorders, reduced fertility and cancer in humans. This has led some PFAS to be banned. But with nearly 15,000 types having been produced, roughly 98% of the U.S. population has these chemicals in their blood.

Now, a team of researchers has found a way to break down the chemicals, reducing them to components that include fluoride, which is harmless at low doses. They published their findings July 25 in the journal Small.

"PFAS contamination continues to pose a global health risk, and this research represents a critical step toward safer communities and cleaner ecosystems," lead researcher Cameron Shearer, a materials scientist at the University of Adelaide in Australia, said in a statement.

PFAS owe their persistence to their strong chemical bonds; they consist of a head (often charged oxygen molecules) linked to a tail of carbon and fluorine atoms. For PFAS to degrade, this bond must be broken — but this process is very difficult to achieve using traditional methods.

"Many water contaminants are degraded by adding a reactive chemical that binds to the carbon," Shearer said. "However, in PFAS molecules, the carbon atoms are protected in such a way that makes this process nearly impossible."

**************VIDEO:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cm2hJs5Kkc

(May 2, 2023 Toxic PFAS, also known as "forever chemicals," have been found in farmland soil throughout the U.S. One family in Maine had to give up their farming dreams because of contaminated soil. Roxana Saberi reports. CBS NEWS)

In recent years, researchers have been developing methods to break down PFAS using materials called photocatalysts, which absorb incident light to speed up chemical reactions. The scientists behind the new study turned to a photocatalytic material called cadmium indium sulfide, known for its ability to release reactive oxygen species — or free radicals — after being exposed to visible light.

After mixing the material with one common PFAS called perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), the researchers watched as the photocatalyst absorbed light to generate free radicals that attacked the fluorine atoms in the bond.

Under optimized conditions, this led to the "complete breakdown" of around 99% of the PFOS molecules. The byproducts were components which the scientists say can be isolated and used to make toothpaste and fertilizer additives.

"The materials we have developed through our research could be used as part of PFAS-treatment chains that first capture and concentrate PFAS in water, which can then be degraded through exposure to our light-activated materials," Shearer said. "We plan to build on this study through our ongoing work improving the stability of the materials before they can be applied to large scale systems."

Local Fun: Visited the Hamilton House, South, Berwick

In August we were joined by our friends Dave and Laurie who drove up from Massachusetts to spend a day with us exploring local history. Today's blog we'll explore the Hamilton House in South Berwick, Maine, This Georgian mansion became a National Landmark, and you'll learn all about it (and Uranium glass) in today's blog!

(Photo: L to R: Tom, Rob, Dave, Laurie at the Hamilton House) 

ABOUT THE HAMILTON HOUSE - The Jonathan Hamilton House, also known as the Hamilton House, is a historic house at 40 Vaughan's Lane in South Berwick, Maine. Built between 1787 and 1788 by a merchant from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, this National Historic Landmark is a little-altered and high quality late Georgian country house. It is located at 40 Vaughans Ln, South Berwick, ME 03908

(Photo: Looking at the Salmon Falls River that acts as the border between Maine and New Hampshire. This is the view from the Hamilton House. Credit: R.G.)

ON A RIVER BANK - The house sits in a picturesque setting overlooking the Salmon Falls River. At the back of the house was a dock, which was constructed for ships that were built for trade with England and throughout the U.S. East Coast. When the War of 1812 happened, though, trade with England ceased (of course, because it was a war with England), so the trade business/shipping went bankrupt!!

(Photo: Front of the Hamilton House. Credit: R.G.) 

ABOUT THE HOUSE - The Hamilton House is set on 50 acres (20 ha) of land overlooking the Salmon Falls River, the border between South Berwick and Rollinsford, New Hampshire. It is a 2

+1⁄2-story wood-frame building, with a hip roof, clapboard siding, four brick chimneys symmetrically placed in its outside walls, and gabled dormers on all four elevations

(Photo: One of the upstairs bedrooms. Credit: R.G.) 

ABOUT WHERE IT WAS BUILT - Hamilton House is located on the homeland of the Wabanaki. After European colonists took ownership of the area known as South Berwick, Maine, the site was purchased by merchant Jonathan Hamilton for his shipping business in the eighteenth century, farmed by the Goodwin family in the nineteenth century, and restored as the summer retreat of Emily Tyson and her stepdaughter Elise (in a wealthy railroad magnate family) at the turn of the twentieth.

(Photo: Laurie and Dave in one of the downstairs rooms. Credit: R.G.) 

WHO WAS JONATHAN HAMILTON? -  In 1783 land for the house was purchased by Jonathan Hamilton, a merchant who had profited during the American Revolutionary War by privateering. Known as Pipe Stave Landing, the property was advantageous for landing goods from his merchant ships. 

 Hamilton died in 1802, and the property was sold out of the family in 1815. For much of the 19th century it was owned by the Goodwin family, who operated a farm on the property, and let the grand house decline in condition. 

(Photo: Second floor hallway with the restored wallpaper. Credit: R.G.) 

THEN THE TYSONS BOUGHT IT - In 1898,  Emily Tyson, and Tyson's stepdaughter Elise, purchased and restored the house in the then-fashionable Colonial Revival. The Tysons made only modest alterations to the house, and restored some of its fabric, including the wallpaper in the central hall. 

THE HOUSE INTERIOR - The interior of the house follows a center-hall plan, with a wide central hall decorated with wallpaper that is a reproduction (made in 1900) of older wallpaper found in the house. The two parlor chambers and dining room have mahogany window seats, paneled chimney surrounds, and folding inside window shutters. The dining room and south parlor have wallpaper painted in 1900 by George Porter Fernald

(Photo: If you look closely at this mural, you can see large leaf clusters in the top right corner that was part of the old mural. Credit: R.G.) 

INTERESTING INSIDE STORY OF A MURAL  -  The house features two whimsical murals commissioned by the women as well as antique furnishings and handcrafted decorative arts they collected. One of the murals was originally of plants, but the last family (a mother and daughter in law) who lived there had a local artist paint over it, and incorporate some of the vegetation from the original mural into the new mural. The new mural depicts all kinds of scenes from the region, including buildings and the shoreline. 

(Photos: Other rooms in the house. There was some history about the owl print hanging in one of the rooms over a fireplace, but I can't recall the story!) 

(Photo: The Visitor's Center that sits to the side of the house. Credit: R.G.) 

VISITOR'S CENTER - The visitor's center was built after 1898, as a cottage and was not part of the original farm. It was built by the Tyson family (you'll read about them shortly). south of the house.  On one side of the cottage/visitor's center is a garden the Tyson family put in, too. 

INSIDE THE VISITOR'S CENTER - The fireplace has two iron figurines that were apparently part of a stove at one time  (see photo)  

(Photo: The garden in front of the Visitor's Center. Credit: R.G.) 

THE GARDEN -  The elaborate perennial garden, with its charming garden cottage, provides visitors with a place to stroll and picnic overlooking the river.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE HOUSE AFTER THE TYSONS? -  After the death of Elise Tyson Vaughan in 1949, the house was bequeathed to the Society for Preservation of New England Antiquities, now Historic New England.

WHAT IS A URANIUM GLASS LAMP? -In one of the rooms was a lamp made from "Uranium glass." We had never heard of it before. Apparently, Uranium glass contains a small percentage of uranium, usually less than 2%, which makes it slightly radioactive.  Uranium glass, also known as Vaseline glass, is generally considered safe to be around, but it's not recommended for use with food or drinks.  

NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARK -The house was declared a National Historic Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970