# flora and fauna (blogs) — RSS Amplifier Recent posts from the 2 feeds in the RSS Amplifier directory that cover flora and fauna. Page: Feed: --- ## [How does a city-state of just over six million people now cover roughly 40 percent of its total water demand with what its citizens flushed down the toilet a week earlier?](https://solardaily.com/so-q-how-does-a-city-state-of-just-over-six-million-people-now-cover-roughly-40-percent-of-its-total-water-demand-with-what-its-citizens-flushed-down-the-toilet-a-week-earlier/) _2026-08-21 · Solar Daily Editorial Team · Solar Daily_ Singapore's five NEWater plants recycle used water through microfiltration, reverse osmosis, and ultraviolet disinfection to supply up to 40 percent of the city-state's water demand — a model now being copied from Phoenix to Delhi. The post How does a city-state of just over six million people now cover roughly 40 percent of its total water demand with what its citizens flushed down the toilet a… ## [The bar-tailed godwit flies from Alaska to Tasmania in a single 11-day flight covering roughly 13,560 kilometres without eating, drinking, or landing, and shrinks its own liver and intestines mid-flight to save weight](https://solardaily.com/so-the-bar-tailed-godwit-flies-from-alaska-to-tasmania-in-a-single-11-day-flight-covering-roughly-13560-kilometres-without-eating-drinking-or-landing-and-shrinks-its-own-liver-and-intestines-mid-f/) _2026-08-20 · Solar Daily Editorial Team · Solar Daily_ A pigeon-sized bird just flew nearly 9,000 miles without landing, eating, or drinking—by quietly dismantling its own body mid-journey. The post The bar-tailed godwit flies from Alaska to Tasmania in a single 11-day flight covering roughly 13,560 kilometres without eating, drinking, or landing, and shrinks its own liver and intestines mid-flight to save weight appeared first on Solar Daily . ## [In 1928, Alexander Fleming returned from a Suffolk holiday to find a Petri dish of Staphylococcus contaminated by a blue-green mould possibly carried from a mycology lab downstairs, and the clear ring of dead bacteria around the fleck became the accidental start of the antibiotic era](https://solardaily.com/so-in-1928-alexander-fleming-returned-from-a-suffolk-holiday-to-find-a-petri-dish-of-staphylococcus-contaminated-by-a-blue-green-mould-possibly-carried-from-a-mycology-lab-downstairs-and-the-clear-r/) _2026-08-20 · Solar Daily Editorial Team · Solar Daily_ A lab mistake that killed bacteria became the gateway to modern medicine—but Fleming's real genius was recognizing what others would have simply discarded. The post In 1928, Alexander Fleming returned from a Suffolk holiday to find a Petri dish of Staphylococcus contaminated by a blue-green mould possibly carried from a mycology lab downstairs, and the clear ring of dead bacteria around the fleck… ## [What happened when a New England river had its century-old dam removed in 1999, and how far upstream did Atlantic salmon and shad return within a single decade?](https://solardaily.com/so-q-what-happened-when-a-new-england-river-had-its-century-old-dam-removed-in-1999-and-how-far-upstream-did-atlantic-salmon-and-shad-return-within-a-single-decade/) _2026-08-18 · Solar Daily Editorial Team · Solar Daily_ Removing Edwards Dam in 1999 reopened Maine’s Kennebec River to migratory fish. Within nine years, Atlantic salmon and shad had returned as far as Lockwood Dam, roughly 63 river miles from the sea. The post What happened when a New England river had its century-old dam removed in 1999, and how far upstream did Atlantic salmon and shad return within a single decade? appeared first on Solar Daily . ## [A single lightning flash on 29 April 2020 stretched 768 kilometres across Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas in 7.39 seconds, a bolt long enough to reach from London to Hamburg along a single channel of superheated plasma five times hotter than the surface of the Sun](https://solardaily.com/so-a-single-lightning-flash-on-29-april-2020-stretched-768-kilometres-across-mississippi-louisiana-and-texas-in-7-39-seconds-a-bolt-long-enough-to-reach-from-london-to-hamburg-along-a-single-channe/) _2026-08-18 · Solar Daily Editorial Team · Solar Daily_ On 29 April 2020, a single lightning flash stretched 768 kilometres across Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi in 7.39 seconds — a bolt long enough to reach from London to Berlin, traced by NOAA's GOES-16 satellite from geostationary orbit. The post A single lightning flash on 29 April 2020 stretched 768 kilometres across Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas in 7.39 seconds, a bolt long enough to reach… ## [In 1839, a 19-year-old Edmond Becquerel dipped two platinum electrodes into an acidic solution in his father’s Paris laboratory, shone sunlight on one of them, and watched a current appear on the galvanometer — the first recorded photovoltaic effect, nearly a century before anyone could explain why it worked](https://solardaily.com/so-in-1839-a-19-year-old-edmond-becquerel-dipped-two-platinum-electrodes-into-an-acidic-solution-in-his-fathers-paris-laboratory-shone-sunlight-on-one-of-them-and-watched-a-current-appear-on-the-galva/) _2026-08-17 · Solar Daily Editorial Team · Solar Daily_ In 1839, teenage Edmond Becquerel dipped two platinum electrodes into an acidic solution in his father's Paris lab and watched sunlight generate an electric current — the first observation of the photovoltaic effect, and the mechanism behind every solar panel on Earth today. The post In 1839, a 19-year-old Edmond Becquerel dipped two platinum electrodes into an acidic solution in his father’s… ## [The people who host every holiday, remember every anniversary, and keep the family group chat alive aren’t naturally organised, they often watched what happened in their childhood when nobody bothered, and quietly decided it wouldn’t happen again on their watch](https://solardaily.com/so-p-the-people-who-host-every-holiday-remember-every-anniversary-and-keep-the-family-group-chat-alive-arent-naturally-organised-they-often-watched-what-happened-in-their-childhood-when-nobody-bothere/) _2026-08-14 · Solar Daily Editorial Team · Solar Daily_ The family member who hosts every holiday and keeps the group chat alive rarely became that person by accident. Psychology research on childhood emotional neglect and intergenerational family dynamics suggests they're often keeping a quiet promise made in childhood — that the silence they grew up in wouldn't repeat on their watch. The post The people who host every holiday, remember every… ## [How did a desert country with almost no rain grow tomatoes and peppers for European supermarkets while cutting freshwater use per crop by more than half over four decades?](https://solardaily.com/so-q-how-did-a-desert-country-with-almost-no-rain-grow-tomatoes-and-peppers-for-european-supermarkets-while-cutting-freshwater-use-per-crop-by-more-than-half-over-four-decades/) _2026-08-13 · Solar Daily Editorial Team · Solar Daily_ A water-scarce region transformed itself into Europe's vegetable factory by obsessing over plumbing, not innovation headlines. The post How did a desert country with almost no rain grow tomatoes and peppers for European supermarkets while cutting freshwater use per crop by more than half over four decades? appeared first on Solar Daily . ## [Why does a Roman harbour wall submerged in salt water for 2,000 years keep growing stronger while modern concrete piers built in the same sea crumble within decades?](https://solardaily.com/so-q-why-does-a-roman-harbour-wall-submerged-in-salt-water-for-2-000-years-keep-growing-stronger-while-modern-concrete-piers-built-in-the-same-sea-crumble-within-decades/) _2026-08-10 · Solar Daily Editorial Team · Solar Daily_ Roman harbour walls poured before the birth of Christ are still gaining strength in salt water while modern piers spall and rust within decades. The reason is a hot-mixed recipe of quicklime and volcanic ash that lets seawater trigger its own repair. The post Why does a Roman harbour wall submerged in salt water for 2,000 years keep growing stronger while modern concrete piers built in the same… ## [A perovskite solar cell can be printed from a liquid ink and processed below 150 degrees Celsius, cool enough for some plastic substrates, and the resulting film is about 100 times thinner than a human hair yet converts sunlight to electricity at efficiencies now rivalling rigid silicon cells made from crystals grown near 1,414 degrees](https://solardaily.com/so-a-perovskite-solar-cell-can-be-printed-from-a-liquid-ink-and-processed-below-150-degrees-celsius-cool-enough-for-some-plastic-substrates-and-the-resulting-film-is-about-100-times-thinner-than-a-h/) _2026-08-10 · Solar Daily Editorial Team · Solar Daily_ Perovskite solar cells self-assemble from a liquid ink at oven temperatures, coat films thinner than a wavelength of light, and — stacked on silicon — have now reached certified efficiencies above 35%, well past what any single silicon cell can achieve. The post A perovskite solar cell can be printed from a liquid ink and processed below 150 degrees Celsius, cool enough for some plastic… ## [100,000 Bonus Points Await You (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/0igTGSK1KwIU) _2026-08-10 · **Sponsored**_ Earn 100,000 bonus points after spending $5,000 in the first 3 months. ## [Why did the largest tree-planting programme ever attempted start swapping trees for grass on its driest slopes, after 10 million hectares of one fast-growing species drained the soil dry several metres down?](https://solardaily.com/so-q-why-did-the-largest-tree-planting-programme-ever-attempted-start-swapping-trees-for-grass-on-its-driest-slopes-after-10-million-hectares-of-one-fast-growing-species-drained-the-soil-dry-several/) _2026-08-07 · Solar Daily Editorial Team · Solar Daily_ {"content":" The Loess Plateau covers about 640,000 square kilometres of north-central China — an area roughly the size of France — and for most of the twentieth century it was the single most erode The post Why did the largest tree-planting programme ever attempted start swapping trees for grass on its driest slopes, after 10 million hectares of one fast-growing species drained the soil dry… ## [River Meschio's source](https://yingxue.bearblog.dev/sorgenti-del-meschio-source-of-river-meschio/) _2026-07-31 · yingxue · Snow-reflected light_ Le sorgenti del Meschio, visited on Sunday 12th of July. Cat's of the borgo before reaching the river's source. The house they were in front of said "careful of cats". The path in the forest, before arriving. The crystalline waters of the source of the river. Extremely beautiful but also a little scary. They are still and transparent, reflecting everything above. Still, you cannot see the bottom:… ## [Let me change](https://yingxue.bearblog.dev/let-me-change/) _2026-07-14 · yingxue · Snow-reflected light_ There is nothing more desirable than change. Like a field of grass awaits the rain in this humid weather; So do I await the thunderstorm and the freshness of summer. There is nothing more tedious than same. Days rotating in a nauseous manner, The anticipation of nothingness. Let the thunders strike through this empty space, Let the colors of the flowers contrast the deep blue of the sky, Let me… ## [Herbarium I](https://yingxue.bearblog.dev/herbarium-i/) _2026-07-11 · yingxue · Snow-reflected light_ Thanks to my colleague, I have got to know the name of some plants around our workplace. I've always wanted to be able to identify more plants. Now I want to write here those I've learned of thanks to her, so I can have my personal "herbarium". The field elm / Olmo campestre \[Ulmus minor\] A deciduous tree native to Europe. Tiny flowers and the fruit, called samara, it's flat and green. At work… ## [Tiny thoughts](https://yingxue.bearblog.dev/tiny-thoughts/) _2026-07-05 · yingxue · Snow-reflected light_ Watching insects move about and inspecting them from up close is enjoyable and makes me happy. I like the idea of working with a laptop, but when it comes to it I have nothing to do or write about. Dante has been sitting next to me on the sofa while I have done various things today, it makes me want to get a bigger couch so we can all sit comfortably together. Like the one we have in the living… ## [The mountains of Lago Morto](https://yingxue.bearblog.dev/the-mountains-of-lago-morto/) _2026-07-05 · yingxue · Snow-reflected light_ ## [Some photos of Dante](https://yingxue.bearblog.dev/some-photos-of-dante/) _2026-06-24 · yingxue · Snow-reflected light_ ## [Resin memento](https://yingxue.bearblog.dev/resin-memento/) _2026-06-02 · yingxue · Snow-reflected light_ I graduated last year and, as it's tradition here, I wore a laurel crown to the graduation ceremony. The crown had been hanging in my room for a bit: the laurel leaves dried up and it was collecting dust. As I did not want to throw it out just like that, I decided to make a memento with resin out of some of its leaves instead. This is the final result. It is full of air bubbles, the surface it's… ## [Being alone](https://yingxue.bearblog.dev/being-alone/) _2026-06-01 · yingxue · Snow-reflected light_ A fortnight ago, I went for a walk up the mountain with Ollie, to a spot a friend recommended for its quietness. At first I parked at the wrong spot and walked for a bit, but the impact of the landscape I saw was immediate: there was only me and Ollie and the mountain, which the road passed through. This place is near home, yet it seemed to me that I had traveled to a far away and secluded space.… ## [Helping a rained-on-bee](https://yingxue.bearblog.dev/helping-a-rained-on-bee/) _2026-05-15 · yingxue · Snow-reflected light_ It has been raining quite a bit these past few days, and it got colder again, I don't mind the rain but I don't like the cold. I found a little bee on the windshield of my car today. I initially thought she was dead since she was legs up. I put my things in the backseat of the car and when I looked again: "Oh, you are alive". I've been talking aloud to myself more often lately. I think it's the… ## [Realtime AI Arbitrage Terminal (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/bgu0zYyDdOWr) _2026-05-15 · **Sponsored**_ Realtime auto-trading across exchanges with scored setups, backtesting, and risk controls. ## [Sinking](https://yingxue.bearblog.dev/sinking/) _2026-05-07 · yingxue · Snow-reflected light_ Just for a little while, under the sunny breeze, I want to crawl back to earth, To the warmth of the decomposing leaves; I want to be buried in the comforting brown, And fall asleep to the endless deep.