RenoVous

 The County Music Awards were last week and so we had a red carpet. Reba McEntire - Host Darius Rucker - Host Maren Morris Carrie Underwood Kelsea Ballerini Taylor Hill Bobby Bones Morgan Wallen Little Big Town Miranda Lambert Charley Pride - Lifetime Achievement Award Lauren Alaina

  This is a wrinkle-faced bat, one of many found in a cluster of trees in Costa Rica. It is called lek behavior, the gathering of two or more males in a communal area to perform courtship displays.  Video and audio can be played  Here  which shows that they rub their wing tips together while emitting ultrasonic echolocation calls.  They also caught mating on film. I purposely used the above image as the intro because - are you ready for this? They're not cute.  But as you can see, the adult males have some extra skin that they use as a face mask.  What the team learned in Costa Rica is that they lower the mask when mating.  The population appears to be nomadic, as they did not return to the same area the following year. Not only is this a rare bat species, but lek courtship itself is also rare - it is only known to be used by 12 mammal species.   The study of bats is called Chiropterology.

 I just still think this Bird Library is so fun. I recently became aware of a Peregrine Falcon nest cam.  The young ones are about ready to fledge. They're in Australia, so there is a time difference. And how about some Barn Owls? *Click the top banner to read more on the project. This is a cam on the Mississippi River, meant to view migrating birds as well as other river wildlife.

  A trip to the river and I was more interested in the train tracks....

  Remembrance Day in the UK was November 8. Tomorrow, in the US, is Veteran's Day. Today is Forget-Me-Not Day, meant to remember those injured in battle. Judge Robert S. Marx was a decorated World War I soldier who started selling the flowers in order to raise money for the disabled veterans, and to remind people of the sacrifices these soldiers had made.  He founded the Disabled American Veterans Foundation in 1920. Forget-Me-Nots are also used to promote Alzheimer's Awareness.  The top photo was taken at a Walk to End Alzheimer's event we participated in, raising money for care, support, and research. Don't forget. Days of the Year Alzheimer's Association

  Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris Yui Sakuma Olivia Palermo Diane Kruger Rihanna Kylie Jenner Victoria Beckham FLOTUS-Elect Jill Biden Emma Corrin Lady Gaga Vogue

 We're dropping the "Fun" again as we look at some info regarding the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. Researchers in London analyzed the organs of 41 patients who died of Covid-19 between February and April 2020 at the University Hospital of Trieste. They found just under 90% showing characteristics typically seen in pneumonia death, and this could explain why many who recover from the virus have lingering symptoms. What they're seeing is extensive blood clotting in the lung's blood vessels, and a study released earlier this week suggests the virus itself triggers the release of autoimmune antibodies that cause blood clotting. They've also found evidence of syncytia - the fusion of different cells into single large cells.  Lung cells were found to be abnormally large with many nuclei. Further, they discovered RNA of the virus still lurking in the single-celled layer that lines the blood vessels and the surface epithelial cells of the lungs, which might explain l...