Physics
The Planet Hunters
Do other planets like Earth exist? To find out, a team of astronomers from the University of California is building a new telescope in the hills east of San Jose. QUEST finds out what the chances are that there are others like ours somewhere in the cosmos.
Video on May 05, 2008 by Chris Bauer from QUEST Northern California
Super Laser at the National Ignition Facility
It's the largest laser beam in the world and it's being built in the Bay Area. The National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory will shoot tremendous bursts of energy at an area the size of a pencil eraser. The goal? To create fusion ignition, a potential clean energy source for the 21st century.
Video on Apr 15, 2008 by Chris Bauer from QUEST Northern California
Producer's Notes - Super Laser at the National Ignition Facility
Inside the National Ignition Facility. Lawrence Livermore National Lab is building the world's largest laser. Actually, the National Ignition Facility won't have only one laser beam. It will use 192 world-class lasers, all firing simultaneously. In a few billionths of a second about 500 trillion watts, which is nearly 1000 times the power generated in [...]
Post on Apr 15, 2008 by Chris Bauer
Urban Heat Islands
Buildings, concrete, asphalt, tar roof tops and industry have caused cities to reach higher temperatures than surrounding rural areas. Now, green-minded architects are taking cooler approaches to their designs.
Audio Report on Apr 04, 2008 by Craig Miller from QUEST Northern California
QUEST Lab: Aerogel
It looks like frozen smoke. And it's the lightest solid material on the planet. Aerogel insulates space suits, makes tennis rackets stronger and could be used one day to clean up oil spills.
Video on Apr 01, 2008 by Amy Miller from QUEST Northern California
Living in the Sun's Atmosphere
Illustration of a blast of solar wind impacting Earth's protective magnetic field. Credit: NASABreathe in, exhale. Feel the air in your mouth, windpipe, and lungs. That's a sample of Earth's atmosphere: the thin layer of gases enveloping our planet. Did you know that the Sun also has an atmosphere, and that the Earth is inside [...]
Post on Mar 28, 2008 by Ben Burress
Equinox Season
It's approaching that time of year again: Spring Equinox. The blaze in my home's interior hallway has been signaling this for the last week. The shadow of Chabot's "solar clock" at noon on the equinox produces a pattern of solid green straddling the gnomonI noticed late in the afternoon a couple days ago that the [...]
Post on Mar 14, 2008 by Ben Burress
Nap time for the Sun: solar cycles
Extreme close-up of the Sun's visible surface, showing 'bubbling' cells of convecting gas–each the size of Northern California. credit: Hinode JAXA/NASA/PPARCBy all accounts, a new cycle-Cycle 24-in solar activity has begun… something you probably didn't notice since the beginning of a solar cycle is quite subtle…. First things first: what is a solar cycle, and [...]
Post on Feb 15, 2008 by Ben Burress
Your Photos on QUEST TV – Call for Submissions
View our original YPOQ pilot featuring photographer Russ MorrisDo you love photographing Science, Environment and Nature in Northern California? Would you like to collaborate on a 2-minute QUEST TV short about your photography for an audience of over 100,000 viewers? We're launching a call for submissions for our new series of TV shorts, "YPOQ: Your [...]
Post on Feb 13, 2008 by Craig Rosa
Where in the web?
Saturn's moon Epimetheus from the Cassini spacecraft. Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA and APOD. On the bus in Denali National Park a few years ago, I found myself sitting next a couple from the East Bay. If you’ve ever been on the Denali bus, you know that it’s a long ride and [...]
Post on Feb 11, 2008 by Kyle S. Dawson
Astronomy on the Wing
More than meets the eye: The constellation Orion in visible light (left) and infrared (right) Visible light image: Akira Fujii; Infrared image: Infrared Astronomical SatelliteSome months ago my blog, "SOFIA: Fly By Night," talked about the up-and-coming astronomy ace of the night skies, SOFIA: the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy–a 2.5 meter infrared telescope built [...]
Post on Feb 01, 2008 by Ben Burress
Converting the Comets Back into Stars
Star or Comet?Yesterday was a very long day at work. I was stuck in meetings with our collaborators for over 6 hours! To make it worse, we spent the entire time discussing a single topic. I even wrote my last paper on it. What could possibly be so captivating, you ask? Remember the solar wind [...]
Post on Jan 29, 2008 by Kyle S. Dawson
Centers of the universe
Cosmic microwave background and the infant universe. From the WMAP science team.It was on the UC Berkeley astronomy website this morning that I was reminded of something I had wanted to post for QUEST. About a month ago, Cal publicly announced the Berkeley Center for Cosmological Physics. This was quite a big deal for the [...]
Post on Jan 14, 2008 by Kyle S. Dawson
Super Laser
It's one of the most expensive high-tech projects the United States has ever attempted, and some say it will never work. QUEST visits the National Ignition Facility in Livermore, where scientists will soon aim the world's largest laser at a target the size of a pencil eraser. The goal? Nuclear fusion — and, they say, [...]
Post on Jan 10, 2008 by Amy Standen
Super Laser
QUEST visits the National Ignition Facility in Livermore, where scientists will soon aim the world's largest laser at a target the size of a pencil eraser. The goal? Nuclear fusion — and, they say, the answer to the world's clean energy needs.
Audio Report on Jan 10, 2008 by KQED QUEST staff from QUEST Northern California
Catching rainbows from distant galaxies
A single email on Sunday afternoon brought my weekend to a screeching halt. Some collaborators made a very exciting discovery and needed to confirm if it was real. This would be the last time we'd have for almost another year on the 10 meter Keck Telescope so I jumped at the chance and scheduled it [...]
Post on Jan 09, 2008 by Kyle S. Dawson
Moons Visited and Revisited
A volcanic eruption on the surface of Io taken by the Voyager spacecraft. Credit: NASA/VoyagerPlanets hog a lot of press, inside and outside the Solar System, but there's a lot to be said for those "second class" worlds that are the satellites of the planets–some of which would be true planets (fascinating ones, too) if [...]
Post on Dec 21, 2007 by Ben Burress
Cutting Tailpipe Emissions: What Next?
For decades, California has gotten waivers in order to enact air quality standards more strict than federal law demands. But this time, for the first time, the Environmental Protection Agency said no. And the reason was that California hadn't given a compelling reason why it should have authority to regulate the tailpipe emissions that cause [...]
Post on Dec 21, 2007 by Amy Standen
Mollusk Madness: can we collect shells responsibly?
Listen! You can hear the sounds of the ocean, but is it getting quieter? Last week while snorkeling in Roatan, Hondoruas, I came face to face with a Conch. Not a shiny shell in a gift shop, but a moving creature, shuffling along the sea floor, munching on grasses and just being a mollusk. I [...]
Post on Dec 19, 2007 by Amy Gotliffe
Winds of change: the climate of the solar system
Several billion years ago, our solar system was nothing more than a nondescript cloud of gas. There was no sun, no planets– just a lot of hydrogen, a bit of helium, and trace amounts of the carbon, oxygen and the other elements that we take for granted here on Earth. How is it that the [...]
Post on Dec 18, 2007 by Kyle S. Dawson
