Biology
Salmon Runs, Grizzly Bear Dreams
Using grizzly bears in the Pacific Northwest as a proxy for the benefits salmon deliver to ecological communities, a new study argues that letting more salmon migrate into coastal streams will lead to downstream improvements for the ecosystem and eventually the offshore salmon catch.
Post on Apr 18, 2012 by Liza Gross from QUEST Northern California
Science on the SPOT: New Hope for Heart Repair
Scientists in San Francisco have coaxed mouse hearts to repair themselves from within.The breakthrough could lead to treatments for 5 million people in the United States whose hearts were damaged after they survived heart attacks.
Video on Apr 18, 2012 by Gabriela Quirós from QUEST Northern California
Stanford Marine Biologists Share Their Artistic Side
The third annual Hopkins Marine Station Amateur Art Show was held this past weekend in Monterey, California.
Post on Apr 17, 2012 by Danna Staaf from QUEST Northern California
Divining Human History with DNA
Everyone knows about how genetics is changing how we look at and treat human disease. But what may be less appreciated is what it can tell us about human history.
Post on Apr 16, 2012 by Dr. Barry Starr from QUEST Northern California
Wildflowers are Waking Up in the Bay Area
Around San Francisco Bay this time of year, the open hills and valleys are a rich green velvet. Lengthening days and spring rains are coaxing the grasses and wildflowers to life.
Post on Apr 13, 2012 by Sharol Nelson-Embry from QUEST Northern California
Cinematic Science from The Farm to France
Monday was the 182nd birthday of Eadward Muybridge, the moving picture pioneer who first answered the question: Do all four feet of a galloping horse leave the ground at once? Muybridge's remarkable contributions to film often overshadow his instrumental role in kickstarting the science of biomechanics . . .
Post on Apr 10, 2012 by Danna Staaf from QUEST Northern California
What Makes It So Easy To Be Green (in Nature)?
At a fundamental level, green objects look green because they reflect green wavelengths of light back to our eyes, while absorbing red and yellow. But organisms have evolved to be green for a wide variety of reasons.
Post on Apr 09, 2012 by Helen Taylor from QUEST Northern California
Science on the SPOT: Monarch Meetup
Monarch butterflies migrate from all over the western United States to overwinter along the California coast. Conservation Biologist Stu Weiss uses specialized photographic equipment to study what makes good monarch overwintering habitat.
Video on Apr 05, 2012 by Joshua Cassidy from QUEST Northern California
Fair Game? On Lions, Hunters and Wildlife Policy
Trophy hunting mountain lions is legal in every Western state except California. When the head of the state’s Fish and Wildlife Commission, a life member of the NRA, killed a young lion in Idaho, state legislators and environmental and animal welfare groups called for his resignation. What should Californians expect of state officials in charge of setting wildlife policy?
Post on Apr 04, 2012 by Liza Gross from QUEST Northern California
Geneticists Solve Van Gogh's Mutant Sunflowers After 125 Years
Most admirers of Vincent van Gogh's iconic "Sunflower" paintings gaze upon the golden inflorescences without any awareness of the scientific conundrum they pose. But researchers from the University of Georgia have finally cracked the case with a paper published in PLoS Genetics.
Post on Apr 03, 2012 by Danna Staaf from QUEST Northern California
Prop 71: Stem Cell Funding Was Overhyped But Worth It
Remember back in 2004 that big debate about whether California voters should fund embryonic stem (ES) cell research? Well it passed and now 8 years later, people are starting to ask what we have to show for it.
Post on Apr 02, 2012 by Dr. Barry Starr from QUEST Northern California
Life Aquatic and Terrestrial: California Newts
Over the last couple of weeks I've visited the seasonal ponds in the East Bay at Sibley Volcanic Preserve and small creeks at Briones Regional Park and found California newts engaging in their spring rituals of courtship and mating.
Post on Mar 30, 2012 by Sharol Nelson-Embry from QUEST Northern California
The Circus of Evolution
I was super-excited to see Totem because A) a friend who saw it in San Francisco raved about it, and B) it's about evolution! How cool is that? Cirque du Soleil says of their latest touring show, "TOTEM traces the fascinating journey of the human species from its original amphibian state to its ultimate desire to fly."
Post on Mar 27, 2012 by Danna Staaf from QUEST Northern California
The Salmon are Back! (But Why?)
Biologists say more than 800,000 Sacramento Chinook are off the coast right now. It’s the biggest number they've seen since 2005.
Audio Report on Mar 23, 2012 by Amy Standen from QUEST Northern California
Small Rewards: Tiny Frogs and Chameleons Find and Fill a Niche
Recent discoveries of a Lilliputian lizard and elfin amphibian, fascinating in their own right, highlight one of the most enduring questions in biology: what controls the evolution of body size? They also provide a rare bright spot amid the relentless reports of endangered and disappearing amphibian and reptile species around the world.
Post on Mar 21, 2012 by Liza Gross from QUEST Northern California
Round Up Rebels: The Rise of the Superweed
As any biologist would have predicted, weeds are becoming resistant to the herbicide Round Up. But they aren't resistant because they took up a gene that had been added to the GM crops. They are resistant because that is what happens when you overuse an herbicide.
Post on Mar 19, 2012 by Dr. Barry Starr from QUEST Northern California
Feds Pay For Out-of-the-Box Energy Ideas
Did you know the federal government has a clean tech venture fund? QUEST talks with the head of the program, ARPA- E, about some potentially transformational energy ideas.
Audio Report on Mar 17, 2012 by Andrea Kissack from QUEST Northern California
Gigantic Journeys: Humpback and Gray Whale Migration
Perhaps no living thing has a better appreciation of the continuity of the seas than the largest animals in them: whales.
Post on Mar 16, 2012 by Sharol Nelson-Embry from QUEST Northern California
Millipede Mystery: A New Fluorescent Subspecies on Alcatraz?
During a routine February survey on Alcatraz Island, surveyors found no sign no rats. Instead, they discovered a colony of millipedes glowing with an intense white light.
Post on Mar 14, 2012 by Thibault Worth from QUEST Northern California
Grazing a New Trail
In California's arid San Joaquin Valley, scientists propose a novel approach to managing the landscape to benefit the threatened lizards, kangaroo rats, and squirrels who call it home. Livestock grazing, often demonized in the conservation world, can actually help create livable habitat for smaller creatures when well-managed.
Post on Mar 13, 2012 by Helen Taylor from QUEST Northern California
