Archive for October, 2007
From the Depths: Inspiring Art and Science
Metronome: 45" diameter, Acrylic on maple panel Tiffany Bozic, 2007 Photo credit: ©Jack Dumbacher, 2007 For 154 years, The California Academy of Sciences has explored the world, gathering over 20 million specimens that are housed in the museum's collections. The new California Academy of Sciences Artist in Residence (AiR) program is pioneering a new way [...]
Post on Oct 31, 2007 by Cat
Gay Genes?
Gay Pride Parade in BrazilA big federal study is underway to identify the specific DNA changes that contribute to being a homosexual. Note that scientists are not investigating whether or not being gay is genetic. The evidence is already pretty strong at this point that there is a genetic component to being gay. What they [...]
Post on Oct 29, 2007 by Dr. Barry Starr
A Whale in your Backyard
Carcass of a Blue Whale, Balaenoptera musculus Credit: analog chainsawWhen zoologists speak about superlatives among animals, blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus) often play a key role at the high end of the scale of organisms. With good reason, too: they are not only the largest baleen whales, but also the largest mammals ever to have lived [...]
Post on Oct 29, 2007 by Nick Pyenson
The Return of the Canal
Not long ago, the peripheral canal was idea non grata among environmentalists, symbolizing the tug of war between northern and southern California for the state's precious water resources. Now, the canal is back. They may call it a "conveyance," but state lawmakers are once again considering a $5 billion plan to build a pipeline around [...]
Post on Oct 29, 2007 by Amy Standen
Roll over you bears! (Part 2)
Joseph Grinell (center) and team, in 1908Last time, I wrote briefly about the history of grizzly bears in California and how there are no grizzlies in California anymore (an irony, given the animal's image on many of our state's symbols). The story of the grizzly's demise in California is the same narrative for many other [...]
Post on Oct 29, 2007 by Nick Pyenson
Cosmic Chasms, Vast Voids
The Very Large Array radio telescope facility in New Mexico, the tool used to find a cosmic supervoid. Credit: National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO)There's been some excitement in the world of cosmology in recent weeks surrounding the discovery of a really, really big "hole" in space–not a black hole, which is a small and matter-dense [...]
Post on Oct 26, 2007 by Ben Burress
Fur is Flying – Bay Area Bats* in peril
Look! Up in the night sky! It's a bird! It's a bloodsucker! No, it is a beneficial friend, the bat! Bats have been around for about 50 million years and are among the earth's oldest animals: they also are some of the most misunderstood. Because they are nocturnal and strange looking, people have associated bats [...]
Post on Oct 25, 2007 by Amy Gotliffe
World Series, uncorked
Dave Barker of the Exploratorium gets some batting tipsWhen I think of baseball and science, I always remember poor Sammy Sosa. In 2003, he was suspended from seven games with the Chicago Cubs for using a bat that had cork in it–an illegal move, according to Major League Baseball rules. I certainly don't feel sorry [...]
Post on Oct 24, 2007 by Robin Marks
Beyond Edwin's Wildest Dreams
I am working on a project to build a space telescope named SNAP, SuperNova Acceleration Probe. We have applied for funding with NASA and the Department of Energy and are competing with two other projects named DESTINY and ADEPT. Crossing all of our fingers, we hope to launch the satellite into an orbit one million [...]
Post on Oct 22, 2007 by Kyle S. Dawson
Flue Shots for Houses: energy tips to save money this winter
In the Midwest and Northeast United States, homeowners are anticipating increased fuel oil costs this coming winter. Here in California, we don’t face their kind of extreme weather (in my freshman year at Notre Dame, in South Bend, Indiana, I woke up one morning in January to -25°F weather with the prospect of a one [...]
Post on Oct 19, 2007 by Jim Gunshinan
To bay or not to bay?
Can you imagine what San Francisco Bay looked like 15,000 years ago? Actually at that time– during the last ice age– San Francisco Bay wasn't a bay at all. Instead, it was a valley dotted with grazing antelope. Hills jutted up here and there (destined to become the Bay's islands). The Sacramento and San Joaquin [...]
Post on Oct 19, 2007 by Ann Dickinson
Getting the genie back in the (water) bottle
original image from flickr user "Nemo's great uncle" Three years ago, I joined a small group at the Academy of Sciences named the Greenteam. Little did I know that green issues would be such a hot topic today because of global warming. Many people feel that little to nothing can be done about turning back [...]
Post on Oct 19, 2007 by Cat
One Fish, Two Fish: The Science of Protecting Sea Life
This fall, fishing was banned or sharply limited in 18 percent of California's ocean waters from Half Moon Bay to Santa Barbara under a landmark state plan. But that was only the first part. Now, scientists need to see how fast sea life recovers. QUEST finds out: how do you count the fish in the [...]
Post on Oct 19, 2007 by Andrea Kissack
Roll over you bears! (Part 1)
Grizzly bears are iconic Californian mammals — they're on our state flag; many creeks, hills and passes are named after them; and they're the mascot of many UC schools — but you won't ever see one out in your backyard or anywhere else in California. Unlike black bears, which are relatively common in the state, [...]
Post on Oct 16, 2007 by Nick Pyenson
Grow a Backbone
Did we get our backbones from animals like this?Lately I have been reading a book by Jeffrey Schwartz called Sudden Origins. In it Dr. Schwartz talks about the idea that species are not made gradually but instead just suddenly appear (in geological time anyway). Reading the book was a bit like panning for gold. It [...]
Post on Oct 15, 2007 by Dr. Barry Starr
Geothermal Heats Up
When it comes to alternative energy, most people think of solar or wind. But the hills just north of Sonoma wine country are a world leader in another kind of clean power, and under an ambitious new project, they are about to produce even more. You may listen to the "Geothermal Heats up" radio report [...]
Post on Oct 11, 2007 by Amy Standen
Blasars, magic telescopes and quantum foam
Speed of What? An artist's concept of a "blasar"–a black hole emitting jets and flares of superhot gas. Credit: NASA/Chandra X-ray Observatory/M. WeissWe all know what it is: 186,300 miles per second, a.k.a. the Speed of Light, the maximum speed limit in the Universe, and an absolute constant speed that all light must travel at [...]
Post on Oct 11, 2007 by Ben Burress
Wild Birds Gone Wild
Or rather, Wild Birds who Tried to Go Wild but Were Instead Captured for the Pet Industry. Brock, a Yellow Naped Amazon Parrot recused by the USDAWould you like a baby kinkajou? How about a little cougar cub or maybe a herd of giraffe? All is possible with the help of the internet and the [...]
Post on Oct 10, 2007 by Amy Gotliffe
Creating artificial stars to see through the soup
Here is a picture I took during a night of observing on the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii. The laser from inside the dome at the Keck telescope creates an artificial star in the upper atmosphere that is used for adaptive optics. I mentioned before that there is one major obstacle that prevents us [...]
Post on Oct 08, 2007 by Kyle S. Dawson
The Shipping News
I hope some of our QUEST blog readers were able to attend the West Coast Green conference held September 19-22 at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco. Home Energy magazine is a media sponsor for the event and our staff handed out well over 1,000 magazines, pressed a lot of flesh, and were [...]
Post on Oct 05, 2007 by Jim Gunshinan
Twitter
Facebook
EveryTrail
YouTube
Flickr
Google +
iTunes Video
RSS Video
RSS News
iTunes Audio
RSS Audio
