As the year comes to a close, we’re thankful for the opportunity to spend time with friends and family and all the wonderful connections we’ve made with our community. In the spirit of the season, here are some fun facts about the numerous December holidays:

• Some zoos take donated Christmas trees and use them as food for the animals.
• In 1914 during World War I, there was a famous Christmas truce in the trenches between the British and the Germans. They exchanged gifts across a neutral no man’s land, played football (aka soccer), and decorated their shelters.
• 17.5 million sufganiyot (doughnuts) are enjoyed in Israel during Hanukkah. Enjoying the sweet treat during the holidays commemorates the miracle of oil.
• Several experts believe that so many holidays fall in the month of December because ancient celebrations often surrounded the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, on December 21st.
• Kwanzaa is a non-religious festival celebrated by many African-Americans from December 26th to January 1st and can be observed alongside other religious holidays, like Christmas or Hanukkah.
• Kwanzaa comes from the Swahili phrase “matunda ya kwanza,” which means “first fruits.”
• The origin of Christmas trees goes all the way back to ancient Egyptians and Romans, who marked the winter solstice with evergreens as a reminder of spring.

Hoping that you and yours have a happy holiday and a joyous new year!

Engineers at the University of California, Berkley, have developed a new way to remove contaminants from stormwater, according to an article published in Science Daily in August of 2018. By using sand coated with manganese oxide that reacts with and destroys pollutants, this innovative technology could be a long-awaited answer for communities that urgently need greater access to fresh water supply. The engineered sand could help purify the stormwater that infiltrates underground aquifers and create safe reservoirs of drinking water for these communities.

Currently, cities already use stormwater reclamation as ways to remove contamination from stormwater runoff, but fully developing this sand could create a safer, more efficient solution. This is especially pertinent in California, the place of its invention, where recent wildfires and other natural disasters make access to fresh water urgent and essential. Experiments are still ongoing, and the team of scientists and engineers hope to move on to performing field tests to work on making the sand sustainable and less labor-intensive to regenerate.
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The full article can be found here on the Science Daily website.