QUEST Community Science Blog
Road-tripping the coastal landscape
Too many Americans are falling victim to inertia. It’s so hard to get out of our house when we could be sucked in video games or TV. Unfortunately, this is leading to a nationwide epidemic of obesity, according to the Surgeon General. My solution to this problem is to get out and have more, real-life [...]
Post on May 04, 2007 by Donovan Rittenbach
Efficient, Healthy, Sustainable, and Affordable?
Photo: John WoodwardThere were many rude awakenings in my transition from the priesthood and life in a religious community (I was a member of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a community of priests, brothers, and sisters founded as a teaching order in France in the mid-18th Century). Religious priests, unlike diocesan priests, take a vow [...]
Post on May 04, 2007 by Jim Gunshinan from QUEST Northern California
Falcon Fascination
Photo Credit: Glenn Nevill PhotographyOne of the season's most suspenseful wildlife dramas is now taking place via web cam. Peregrine falcons were almost extinct two generations ago. Now much more prolific, two pairs of Peregrine falcons are carrying out their mating season under the gaze of thousands of observers, both online, thanks to cameras placed [...]
Post on May 03, 2007 by Amy Standen
Painting the Town Green
2nd graders at STRAW's Watershed Education Summit use a handmade model to demonstrate how wetlands help filter pollutants from runoffDuring the past couple weeks, I managed to get out from behind my desk to attend two fabulous events. Flanking Earth Day on each side, the events showcased the broad and compelling spectrum of work that [...]
Post on May 03, 2007 by Ann Dickinson
Curing diabetes with stem cells
Quite a title huh? But some new research in JAMA suggests that it is true. At least these 14 patients haven't had to inject insulin for 1-35 months (so far). These folks were all on their way to having Type 1 diabetes. As you probably know, Type 1 diabetes happens when a patient’s immune system [...]
Post on May 02, 2007 by Dr. Barry Starr
Video Games– Access for All
Can someone who's quadriplegic or hearing impaired play a video game? QUEST TV takes you to the international Game Developers Conference celebrated recently in San Francisco, where a group of gamers used colorful tactics to convince mainstream developers to make video games that are accessible for everyone. You may watch the Video Games– Access for [...]
Post on May 01, 2007 by Gabriela Quirós
Underwater Flight with Graham Hawkes
Graham Hawkes, an internationally renowned ocean engineer/inventor, has been responsible for the design of many of the manned and remote underwater vehicles in use today. Mr. Hawkes currently holds the world record for the deepest solo dive, which he achieved while test piloting his Deep Rover submersible. Now he’s taking that expertise and building new [...]
Post on May 01, 2007 by Chris Bauer
LIDAR: Lasers Nab Leadfoots
LIDAR (Light-Imaging Detection and Ranging) is the new generation replacement for the older Radar systems that police have been using to catch speeders. LIDAR uses an IR Pulsed Laser Diode to measure speed, distance and direction. By using beam width of less than one-degree, it’s significantly more accurate than the older radar systems. As the [...]
Post on May 01, 2007 by Chris Bauer
Of Arctic sea cows and Russian fur-traders
Drawing of a Steller's Sea Cow circa mid 18th centuryWhen we think about kelp forests, we envision froclicking sea otters, kelp fronds, sea urchins and a suite of other nearshore marine organisms. And, until a few hundred years ago, a 30 foot-long dugong. This isn't a joke: Steller's sea cow (Hydrodamalis gigas) was a North [...]
Post on Apr 27, 2007 by Nick Pyenson
Hinode means sunrise
A typical, Earth-sized sunspot as seen by Hinode. Credit: Hinode, National Astronomical Observtory of Japan (NAOJ)A new day has dawned– so to speak… Last September, the Japanese space agency, JAXA, launched a new solar observatory satellite, originally designated as "Solar-B." Upon its successful launch, the spacecraft was bestowed its nickname, Hinode (pronounced “heh NO day”), [...]
Post on Apr 27, 2007 by Ben Burress
Relaxing the rules on toxic reporting
For the past two decades, U.S. factories that put toxic chemicals into the air and water had to report them, in detail, to the federal government and the public. The Bush Administration recently lowered those requirements by rewriting Environmental Protection Agency rules. That means, in California alone, as much as 6-hundred thousand pounds of toxic [...]
Post on Apr 26, 2007 by David Gorn
Can I keep him?
American Robin fledglingFor five years, I was the ZooCamp (www.oaklandzoo.org) director at the Oakland Zoo, a fantastic camp serving preschool to high school and offering campers a week of nature activities, animal observations, hands-on learning and fun. Along with our strategically planned activities always came those unplanned teaching moments that only nature can offer. Like [...]
Post on Apr 25, 2007 by Amy Gotliffe
Nobel Laureate George Smoot and the origin of the Universe
QUEST TV talks with George Smoot, big bang researcher at UC Berkeley and winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics. You may watch the George Smoot TV story online. Sudden Oak Death and Science of Big Waves (episode #108), which also features this short story, airs tonight on QUEST at 7:30pm on KQED 9, [...]
Post on Apr 24, 2007 by Josh Rosen
Plant Plague: Sudden Oak Death
Devastating over 1 million oak trees across Northern California in the past 10 years, Sudden Oak Death is a killer with no cure. But biologists now are looking to the trees' genetics for a solution. You may also watch this story online in its entirety, and see additional photos in our flickr photo set. Sudden [...]
Post on Apr 24, 2007 by Amy Miller
Science of Big Waves
A monster lurks just off the coast of Northern California. Known as "Maverick's," this surf break north of Half Moon Bay generates some of the biggest waves in the world, and draws the big wave surfers that live for them. But what makes these waves so big? QUEST talks with scientists who are getting to [...]
Post on Apr 24, 2007 by Chris Bauer
Why does it … matter? Part II
Half hour exposure of star trails above the Keck Telescopes taken by yours trulyThe dark matter that I discussed in my last post is quite bizarre, but makes up only a small fraction of the universe. The dominant material in the universe actually appears to be some kind of "dark energy". Since no one has [...]
Post on Apr 23, 2007 by Kyle S. Dawson
Energy efficiency: get your ducts in a row
Getting ready for the summer? Want to be more comfortable and save some money? Then pay attention. A good percentage (up to 30% by some estimates) of energy for heating and cooling homes is lost through leaky ducts. The California Energy Commission rightly figures that connecting a high efficiency furnace to leaky ducts is like [...]
Post on Apr 20, 2007 by Jim Gunshinan
Discuss the "Earth Day Special: The History of Environmental Justice" radio report
Thirty-seven years after the first Earth Day, studies are still finding that people of color and low-income families have higher rates of exposure to hazardous waste sites and industrial polluters than the general population. A debate continues over why that is and just what to do about it. QUEST radio takes a look at the [...]
Post on Apr 19, 2007 by Amy Standen
The Diablo is in the details
Students play in caves at rock city. Photo by Jason StalterMount Diablo is a monstrous conniption fit of a geological formation that erupted into Northern California’s landscape 165 million years ago. It juts out of nowhere in the gentle rolling curves of a line of hills that runs from San Jose up to Martinez. At [...]
Post on Apr 19, 2007 by Donovan Rittenbach
The Once and Future Bay
The spot where I am sitting used to be Bay. And yet these days– even from my second story office window at the old Hamilton Army Airfield– you can’t see water. In fact, you’d have to walk past a couple blocks of houses, climb a levee, cross acres of abandoned and weed-studded runways, and scramble [...]
Post on Apr 18, 2007 by Ann Dickinson
