QUEST Community Science Blog
Smelly Rocks: Researchers Reveal The Source of "Stinkspar" Stench
The source of the stench in crushed “stinkspar” is a 200-year old mystery. Solving this puzzle took a mixture of old-fashioned chemical analysis and modern instruments.
Post on Jul 18, 2012 by Melissae Fellet from QUEST Northern California
The Bay Area Thanks Buckminster Fuller for Geodesic Domes
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is showing, for just a few more short days, an exhibit called "The Utopian Impulse: Buckminster Fuller and the Bay Area." Fuller never actually lived in the Bay Area, but the exhibit's designers seem to think he would have liked it.
Post on Jul 17, 2012 by Danna Staaf from QUEST Northern California
Hope for an Anti-Nicotine Vaccine
Recent research shows that a new vaccine led to consistently high anti-nicotine antibody levels that prevented nicotine from reaching the brain. If these findings are confirmed in people, this vaccine could be an effective therapy to help prevent nicotine addiction.
Post on Jul 16, 2012 by Jennifer Huber from QUEST Northern California
Deep, Dark Waters of Titan
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, NASA finds another ocean for us to worry about — this time on Saturn's moon, Titan.
Post on Jul 13, 2012 by Ben Burress from QUEST Northern California
Hetch Hetchy: Will We Do the Anthropocene Thing?
The Restore Hetch Hetchy proposal is the Bay Area's first serious encounter with Anthropocene engineering.
Post on Jul 12, 2012 by Andrew Alden from QUEST Northern California
Post on Jul 11, 2012 by Bradley Berman from QUEST Northern California
Introducing the Higgs Boson
The Bay Area has a big community of physicists involved with the Higgs boson project, and the Physics Department at UC Berkeley has scheduled a special seminar on the topic this coming Friday.
Post on Jul 11, 2012 by Christopher Smallwood from QUEST Northern California
Tracking Big Cats to Learn Their Secrets
Learning to see the landscape through the eyes of a wild carnivore helps Bay Area residents appreciate the essential ecological roles bobcats, mountain lions, and other predators play in ecosystems. New research shows that lion leftovers feed a surprising diversity of other species.
Post on Jul 11, 2012 by Liza Gross from QUEST Northern California
Oriental Ink Painting with a Computer Instead of a Brush
Traditional occidental painting techniques like watercolor or oil build an image from many layered brush strokes. You don't usually notice the individual strokes unless you stand very close. But in traditional oriental ink painting, called sumi-e, the brush strokes are the painting.
Post on Jul 10, 2012 by Danna Staaf from QUEST Northern California
Seeding Life Through the Universe
Watching Prometheus the other day with my son got me to thinking about panspermia. This is the idea that life sometimes spreads through the universe by riding on interstellar flotsam and jetsam like meteors or asteroids.
Post on Jul 09, 2012 by Dr. Barry Starr from QUEST Northern California
First Flight: Bald Eaglet Expected To Leave Lake Chabot Nest Soon
Hatched on Earth Day, expected to fledge on the Fourth of July, bald eagles are nesting at Lake Chabot. Find out the local story of our national symbol.
Post on Jul 06, 2012 by Sharol Nelson-Embry from QUEST Northern California
All My Children: Making and Donating a Rock Collection
A set of rock specimens, collected for teaching kids, has become a group of friends. Is this normal?
Post on Jul 05, 2012 by Andrew Alden from QUEST Northern California
Post on Jul 04, 2012 by Melissae Fellet from QUEST Northern California
Ocean Overrun With Gentle Gelatinous Salps
What looks like a jellyfish but is closely related to humans? The answer is an oceanic animal called a salp, and right now the waters off California are teeming with unprecedented numbers of these creatures.
Post on Jul 03, 2012 by Danna Staaf from QUEST Northern California
Help the Sea On Your Next Overseas Vacation
If the chance to travel abroad and participate in an ongoing ocean research project sounds more appealing to you than poolside Mai Tais, here are seven sea-friendly ideas for your next vacation.
Post on Jul 02, 2012 by Helen Taylor from QUEST Northern California
Voyager: Old Spacecraft, New Frontier?
Thirty-five years after beginning a remarkable journey that started with encounters of Jupiter and Saturn, Voyager 1 may once again be making a historic scientific encounter: the boundary between our Solar System and interstellar space!
Post on Jun 29, 2012 by Ben Burress from QUEST Northern California
Side Trips from Interstate 5: Stony Creek Valley
Visit some classic rocks in the little-trafficked country lying just over the hills of the western Sacramento Valley.
Post on Jun 28, 2012 by Andrew Alden from QUEST Northern California
People's Parks: Protecting Open Spaces for Everyone
Thanks to a novel partnership between California State Parks and the Sonoma County-based nonprofit LandPaths, nearly 3,400 acres of open space filled with old-growth redwood, Douglas fir and majestic oaks in the Willow Creek watershed of the Russian River are open to visitors for the price of an hour-long orientation.
Post on Jun 27, 2012 by Liza Gross from QUEST Northern California
"I Flamed Amazement": The Physics of St. Elmo's Fire
Ariel personified St. Elmo's Fire, the glow that can appear around ship masts and chimneys during a thunderstorm. Lacking a scientific explanation for the light, people in Shakespeare's time attributed it to the patron saint of sailors. Four hundred years later, we still don't completely understand how storms create such magnificent atmospheric phenomena.
Post on Jun 26, 2012 by Danna Staaf from QUEST Northern California
Observing Life and Death in the CA Least Tern Colony
Our scientific monitoring of the CA Least Tern nesting colony turned out to be more gripping than the best TV drama as we witnessed soaring action, villains and heroes, family ties, and death by predator all within the span of three hours.
Post on Jun 22, 2012 by Sharol Nelson-Embry from QUEST Northern California
