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Catherine Bannister

@cbannister.bsky.social
2.4K followers 1.4K following 7.3K posts

Contumacious and curious, an avid follower of useless information. To learn more about the Smithsonian Campaign for Our Shared Future, go here: oa.si.edu To help #EndALZ please visit alz.org To protect our beautiful National Parks, npca.org

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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 11h
Ha. Good.
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 19h
My mathematical dad would be proud. #EndALZ
scitechdaily.com
The Hidden Mathematics of Alzheimer’s Plaques Could Reveal New Treatment Strategies
Mathematics may offer a new way to investigate the complex chemistry behind Alzheimer’s-related plaque formation.
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 22h
#AlphabetChallenge #WeekMForMachinery
A large but simple scale for weighing casks of sherry - like this dusty black one hanging from the iron chains in Jerez, Spain
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Well, at least I won’t be missing anything while I’m out of the country for much of October. Cubs didn’t seem to want it bad enough in the end.
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Sorry @shorebird.bsky.social our Theo series will have to wait another year. Cubs will likely join BoSox on their couches v soon
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Way to lose a challenge in the first AB, PCA. 🙄
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Willson!!
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Congrats, White Sox! (Can you ask da Pope to wave a pinky over the north side, please??)
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Because I want all the baseball I can get, I hope all the WC series tie up today and force Game 3s. Except White Sox and Houston. Houston needs to get the L. 😊
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
That is some sloppy baseball by Astros in the 1st
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Phillies go back to back! ❤️ ⚾️
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Like this! A simple saliva test could help assess cognitive decline.
scitechdaily.com
A Simple Saliva Test Could Offer Clues About Brain Aging
Consistently high and irregular levels of the stress hormone cortisol are linked to faster cognitive decline in older adults.
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Cool! #EndALZ (Now keep on researching until you don’t need a spinal tap to find it 😊 )
scitechdaily.com
Scientists Identify a Potential New Alzheimer’s Disease Marker
The fluid surrounding the brain may hold another clue to Alzheimer’s, with elevated levels of an enzyme called meprin-β raising the possibility of a new disease indicator.
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
#AlphabetChallenge #WeekMForMachinery
An old olive press in a stone building in Greece. Creamy stone walls and grey slate floor, the press is a big black screw set on a wooden frame above large square concrete vats. To the left is a large wooden column with arms sticking out for turning the press
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Ugh. Clayton Kershaw on the call for the Cubs game?
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
MLB once again screwing Chicago fans by putting their WC series on Peacock and not network TV.
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
#AlphabetChallenge #WeekMForMachinery
A piece of telephonic machinery in the Pena Palace in Sintra, Portugal. Given that the last resident would have moved out in 1910-ish, this is probably a mechanism for communicating internally within the palace (only a guess - I really don’t know). It is a rich brown wood with brass and metal knobs, switches and bells and a small handset that dangles from a small wooden lip that juts out from near the middle of the piece, which is mounted to a cream colored wall.
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Need da Bears to pass along these good vibes to both our baseball teams tomorrow
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
It was an absolutely spectacular Fall day today
Buckingham Fountain in Chicago’s Grant Park is bubbling away in front of a turquoise Lake Michigan dotted with sailboats under a clear blue sky
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Well that was cool, da Bears!
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I love this account.
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
#AlphabetChallenge #WeekMForMachinery
The enormous copper still and surrounding equipment and pipes at the Tomatin distillery in Scotland.
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Canoers (canoeists?) on the river this afternoon
A green canoe with 4 people in it floats along the north branch of the Chicago River, approaching the Webster Avenue bridge. The side of the river is bordered with steel walls under lush greenery that drips down their sides. The river itself is also a green-brown color and the skyline peeks in from the right in the distance behind a long glass and concrete building.
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Liked it so much I came back for Opening Night
program for Steppenwolf Theatre’s ‘Top Dog/Under Dog’
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Willson’s back!
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I love that on Tuesday *all* Chicago baseball fans will be stressed out at the same time.
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Reposted by Catherine Bannister
ProPublica @propublica.org · 27/09/2026
On the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, a 162-page White House report argued the Smithsonian had “moved the Museum’s mission away from straightforward historical education and scholarship toward an extreme political activism.”
propublica.org
How the Smithsonian Became the Latest Front in Trump’s Culture War
The Smithsonian — particularly its National Museum of American History — has faced withering pressure from the Trump administration. It’s the culmination of decades of criticism by conservatives and o...
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Deep learning application that I can get behind. Researchers find a surprising link between bone density and brain aging.
scitechdaily.com
Researchers Find a Surprising Link Between Bone Density and Brain Aging
Routine chest CT scans may contain clues about more than bone health.
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Who at MLB thinks this is a good idea? It is not. No way.
espn.com
MLB, White House discuss playing game at national park
The White House said in a statement that MLB asked the administration about hosting a game at a national park, adding that the National Park Service has not granted a permit to do so.
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
#AlphabetChallenge #WeekLForLookingIn
The view from a top floor hallway in the Field Museum in Chicago. The hallway is inside the building enclosed by towering glass walls that wrap around the massive stone columns and facade of the building so that you appear to be looking down at an outside entrance. (It’s still an outside entrance - you can see the revolving doors at ground level - but the beautiful portico directly abutting the building is now protected from the elements.)
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
So happy to see this pop up today - I love these and am glad for the reminder 😋
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
#AlphabetChallenge #WeekLForLookingIn
Looking into and through telescoping triangle shapes formed by inflatables lit with soft blue light and brighter spots at the Balloon Museum in Chicago this spring.
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Not loving all this “goodbye Ian Happ” talk right now. Can’t we go back to the days of One Team Forever players? (That would also mean Schwarbs was still a Cub, fwiw)
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
The pink purple rainbow was my favorite
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
The purple and pink sky over Fenway (with a rainbow!) during this Cubs-Sox game is spectacular! 😍 cc: @shorebird.bsky.social
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Chicagoland peeps! Check out this 1-night-only collab w @alzassociation.bsky.social. Before the performance, explore the connection between music, movement & memory, current research from the POINTER study & stories inspired by Rita Hayworth. On Nov 23, come down to Harris Theater to help #EndAlz
SOLO, A Journey Through Music, Movement and Memory
Conceived by Ira Antelis
Curated & Directed By Jonathan E. Alsberry
Music by Ira Antelis & Conolr Linehan
World class dancers met newly composed piano works in a series of deeply felt, singular encounters between sound and movement
205 E Randolph November 23 7:00 PM
www.solotheconcert.com
Harris Theater Alzheimer’s Association
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Fascinating. ❤️ science
scitechdaily.com
Stanford Researchers Discover That the Human Brain May Be Two Separate Organs Fused Together
A split in early brain development helped researchers grow human hindbrain neurons that could shed light on SMA and ALS.
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
#AlphabetChallenge #WeekLForLookingIn
Looking into the very narrow (and literal) bathroom in Ibsen’s home in Oslo, Norway, there is a slatted wooden floor stretching toward a skinny curtained window at the end of the room. The oval porcelain of the tub itself is surrounded within a carved wooden cabinet. There’s a very narrow table against the wall in front of the tub and covered with a fringed gold cloth and the seat and spindled legs of a chair are visible against the closest wall.
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Whew. @steppenwolfthtr.bsky.social starts their 51st season with a bang.
Program for Steppenwolf Theatre’s “TopDog/UnderDog”
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Great stuff coming out of Wash U to #EndALZ
scitechdaily.com
Alzheimer’s Brain Damage May Begin Outside the Brain
A study found that immune cells that drive neurodegeneration, the progressive damage and loss of nerve cells, originate in the body’s lymph nodes.
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
#AlphabetChallenge #WeekLForLookingIn
Looking into an aquarium filled with brightlly colored fish and purple-y coral in the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
#AlphabetChallenge #WeekLForLookIn
An exhibit in the Smithsonian American History Museum shows a model of the Marshall Field’s store in Chicago with a portion of its wall cut away and small square plastic enclosed dioramas allowing you to look into the various departments of the store as they would have been in its heyday
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
#AlphabetChallenge #WeekLForLookIn
Looking into an old ice house on Hoist Bay, Namaken Lake, MN, with a dirt floor, slatted wood walls and a tall opening across from the photographer, perfectly framing a pine tree with the lake behind
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
🤔 #EndALZ
scitechdaily.com
Scientists Link “Lonely” Sleep Waves to Memory Decline With Age
As tau builds up in the brain, the brain waves that help form memories during non-REM sleep become irregular.
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
#AlphabetChallenge #WeekLForLookIn
Hard to see in this really old photo (taken from inside and through a window) but this is my mom lifting up a 2 year old me to look through the window at my newly born baby cousin. My grandma is inside looking down at the baby and the tops of my older cousins’ heads. The baby itself is off camera.
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
#AlphabetChallenge #WeekKForKn (nice) Knockers
An old wooden door with iron diamond shaped decorations and hand-shaped knocker in the middle
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
I have 2 pair of Converse that I wear all the time. Not any more. That ad is horrible and horrifying.
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
My favorite paragraph: “The team reports that its data show the cookies are safe to eat, although institutional approval is still pending before researchers can conduct taste tests. For now, participants have evaluated their aroma, and most said they would be willing to eat the cookies…”
scitechdaily.com
Scientists Turn Plastic Waste Into Protein-Rich Cookies
Specialized microbes convert inedible materials into protein-rich snacks.
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
More interesting findings in a study to #EndALZ
scitechdaily.com
A Little-Known Protein Could Point to a New Way To Treat Alzheimer’s
A study suggests that increasing SORLA protein levels could help treat Alzheimer’s disease and other disorders involving tau protein.
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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
it’s coming
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