Archive for August, 2007
Measuring Up
Artist concept of NASA's Voyager 1, now the most distant spacecraft from Earth. Credit: NASAOne of the hardest things to explain to people is of the astronomical sizes and distances involved in our Universe. It's hard to explain because it’s hard for us–any of us–to really get our heads around the numbers, and what they [...]
Post on Aug 31, 2007 by Ben Burress
Tag, You're It: Sharks of the San Francisco Bay
Great Whites get all the attention, but the waters of the San Francisco Bay are teeming with other, smaller sharks (like the leopard shark), who occupy the top spot on the Bay food chain. Where do they live? What is their relationship with sharks on the coastal waters? How do their social structures work? How [...]
Post on Aug 30, 2007 by Amy Standen
Are you "science literate?" Whatever that means…
According to the National Science Board, Americans are pretty interested in science– but not all that informed about it. And in our knowledge-based society, the Board adds, this lack of understanding can have implications. But what does that mean? What don’t people know? What would they like to know? And what difference would it make? [...]
Post on Aug 30, 2007 by Robin Marks
Tiger Attacks: The Big Cats of the Sunderban Preserve
Watch Your Back in the Mangrove Forest Bengal Tiger -original photo by: Paul MannixMosquitoes are not the only ones that appear to consider humans a main protein source; Tigers in the Sunderbans Preserve in West Bengal, India, also find them to be easy prey. Some report that close to 300 people have perished in recent [...]
Post on Aug 29, 2007 by Amy Gotliffe
To Infinity and Beyond
The Hubble Deep Field: The galaxies in this image are really far away, but not as far away as the edge of the universe. I am going to spend the next couple of months addressing the questions asked by readers at the end of my late-July post. I'll start with the question that prompted the [...]
Post on Aug 27, 2007 by Kyle S. Dawson
Costs of Energy Consumption All Consuming
An Associated Press story that I read in the Contra Costa Times on Wednesday pointed to one more negative effect of our nation's conspicuous power consumption. The National Fire Protection Association reports that the number of college dormitory fires has grown from 1,800 in 1998 to 3,300 in 2005. Thirty-nine students died in fires between [...]
Post on Aug 24, 2007 by Jim Gunshinan
NASA Flying Car Challenge: future or flight of fancy?
NASA has created a Centennial Challenges series – contests for everyday people to develop new technologies that may offer inspiration for the space agency. The most famous of these is the space elevator challenge, where teams create a solar powered elevator prototype. The one that gets to the top the fastest wins. Others include space [...]
Post on Aug 23, 2007 by Lauren Sommer
Dry water?
All last week my partner and I savored a ratatouille made from a rather large and unique zucchini. What made this particular zucchini special? The answer has to do with soil enzymes, deforestation, and Skippy peanut butter. My zucchini began its life in a bountiful test garden at the DriWater factory in Santa Rosa, from [...]
Post on Aug 23, 2007 by Ann Dickinson
Up Close and Personal with an African Penguin
When a contest to name our newest penguin at the Steinhart Aquarium came around, I was more than excited. The prize after all was a picture with the chick and a rare opportunity to get close to an African penguin. My strategy for the contest was simple – submit 25 entries. Lo and behold, a [...]
Post on Aug 22, 2007 by Cat
A Level Playing Field
Living in the bay area with two school-aged sons, you'd think the news that Barry Bonds broke the all-time home run record would have been a big deal in our house. It wasn't. My kids focused on the steroids instead of home run number 755. This got me to thinking about fair and unfair advantages [...]
Post on Aug 20, 2007 by Dr. Barry Starr
Once in a Red Moon
A lunar eclipse in 2000. Credit: Conrad Jung If you haven't heard yet, there's a total lunar eclipse on the way: the event when the Moon, at the peak of its Full phase, passes through the Earth's long shadow and performs an almost complete vanishing act. Now you see it, now … or, an hour [...]
Post on Aug 17, 2007 by Ben Burress
The Salty Water Solution
Water is an ever-more precious resource in California. A dwindling snow pack and ecological challenges in the Delta have many cities looking to the ocean for answers. Desalination used to be something found only in oil-rich countries like Saudi Arabia. Now, proposals for 18 desalination plants are being studied by local officials from San Diego [...]
Post on Aug 16, 2007 by Amy Standen
…and penguin-look-a-likes from the Northern Hemisphere (Part 2)
Credit: NHM, London. With a string of Hollywood smash hits about penguins and polar bears, more people than ever now know that polar bears live near the North Pole, and penguins live at the South Pole. Penguins not only just live at the South Pole–they thrive all throughout the Southern Oceans, from the South Pole [...]
Post on Aug 16, 2007 by Nick Pyenson
The Problem with Black Holes
Image from radio observations of the very brightradio galaxy 3C31. This is an extreme example of the type of source that could interfere with a radio survey for galaxy clusters. Well, my Canadian adventure has come to an end, and it was quite the experience. Unfortunately there were more insects than there were large mammals [...]
Post on Aug 13, 2007 by Kyle S. Dawson
The Science of Bridge Safety
After the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989, almost all of the Bay Area's toll bridges underwent major upgrades – the Bay Bridge is the last of those projects. Yet even with the focus on retrofitting, there are still 40 Bay Area bridges that rate lower than the one that collapsed in Minneapolis last week. How [...]
Post on Aug 10, 2007 by Amy Standen
What Does It Mean Being Green?
"Ginormous" House First of all, I must de-confess. After making a rather dramatic confession of gross over-use of water in my last blog, it turns out the problem was not a moral failure after all, but rather a leak in the pipe carrying water from the street to our house. The leak has been fixed. [...]
Post on Aug 09, 2007 by Jim Gunshinan
Did Smokey give us the whole story?
Restoration burn at Dunham Elementary School, Petaluma. A little over a month ago, my partner and I were driving home one evening when, off in the distance, we spotted a huge column of smoke rising into the sky. We exchanged nervous glances; it appeared to be originating from somewhere uncomfortably close to our neighborhood. We [...]
Post on Aug 08, 2007 by Ann Dickinson
Genetic Tells
There is no perfect genetic tell. In poker, a tell is something you do that gives away the fact that you're bluffing. Maybe you itch your nose every time you have a bad hand. So now when you make a big bet and itch your nose, you'll lose to the players who have caught on. [...]
Post on Aug 07, 2007 by Dr. Barry Starr
Pure Perseids
A pair of glowing trails left by meteors. Picture courtesy of Carter Roberts.They're called "shooting stars"–and I'm not referring to John Wayne or Clint Eastwood. I mean meteors, and they'll be spicing up the skies near you in less than two weeks. First the news flash: The Perseid Meteor Shower, August 12, by the dark [...]
Post on Aug 03, 2007 by Ben Burress
Quest for Longevity
One of the biggest challenges for medicine in the 21st century is understanding more about the diseases that come with aging like Alzheimer's, cancer and Parkinson's. Americans have made an enormous leap in life expectancy over the past century. Now, Bay Area scientists are looking to extend lifespan, and "healthspan" to 100 years and beyond. [...]
Post on Aug 03, 2007 by Andrea Kissack
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