Moe Flannery, Collections Manager for Ornithology & Mammalogy at Cal Academy shows us some jaws that didn't move too well in life.

QUEST recently went across town to spend the afternoon with Moe Flannery, Collections Manager for Ornithology & Mammalogy at Cal Academy. She invited us over for a bit of sleuthing with some of her favorite skull & bone specimens from the sea. By comparing the skulls of healthy animals to those who met an untimely death, and factoring in evidence from the report and scene of the stranding, Moe can often formulate a story of what may have happened to the animal, as well as surmise larger patterns in it's population and ecosystem.

We started with California Sea Lions (Zalophus californianus), an abundant pinniped in our Northern California waters. The Cal Academy has over 28,500 mammal specimens in their vast collection, including 3000 California sea lion skulls. Some of the specimens– such as those with injuries (such as shark bites or broken bones) or congenital deformities, certainly pulled at my heartstrings, But, seeing animals that had been killed (or had their death hastened) due to "human interaction" definitely got my hackles up. In our video we take a look at 2 examples of human interaction, but sadly they are not the only two examples in the collection.

My favorite skull by far was the beastly and beautiful adult male Northern Elephant Seal (Mirounga angustirostris). Although they are no slouch with the flesh intact, without such they made the black bear skull on the table look positively puny. At up to 14 feet long and 5,000 pounds in size, they are in fact the largest mammal breeding in the San Francisco Bay area.

One of the most fascinating skulls we saw in the Cal Academy collection actually did not make it into our video. At one point during our behind-the-scenes tour, Moe had us help her pull down a heavy, coffin-shaped wooden box. She opened the top to reveal a 5-plus-foot-long skull of an elderly female Killer Whale (Orcinus orca). Although associated more with the Northwest, orcas are found off of our shores as well, and every once in a while wash up on the beach. Moe was able to guess at the age in part by looking at the condition of the teeth. The teeth of the lower jaw were worn down to mere nubs, that would have likely been sitting at or below the gum line. Not much use for catching fish. It is surprising that she was able to live that long without a decent bite, but given the high level of social organization in orca pods, perhaps not. Some researchers have observed these whales sharing their catch with each other.

In this Episode

QUEST on KQED Public Media.In our second episode of Science on the SPOT, join us on a behind-the-scenes trip deep into the massive collection of marine mammal skulls at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. You'd be surprised how much you can learn about an animal's life– and death– by reading their bones. For your viewing pleasure, we've embedded a blog-sized version here. If you'd like to embed it on your blog (pretty please), go to the story page and grab the embed code.

So what should you do if you find a marine mammal stranded on the beach? If it is dead, call Moe Flannery & company at 415-379-5381 and they will try to salvage it for research. You can also report your finding via email at marinemammals@calacademy.org. If it is still alive, please call the Marine Mammal Center at 415-289-SEAL (415-289-7325) – they will come down and try to rescue it. Make sure to note where and when you found the stranded marine mammal.

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Science on the SPOT goes behind the scenes at local San Francisco Bay Area labs, follows breaking discoveries, and gets you special access to obscure science locations and collections.

Our First Episode

In our first installment of the series, Suiting Up For Science: Swimming with Sharks we get in the tank at the Monterey Bay Aquarium to meet the intrepid dive team who keeps the enormous Outer Bay Exhibit spic-and-span while swimming in 40 pounds of stainless steel, shark-resistant armor. For your viewing pleasure, we've embedded a blog-sized version here. If you'd like to embed it on your blog (pretty please), go to the story page and grab the embed code.

Share Your Ideas

Do you know someone who has to wear special gear for your job in science, engineering, or technology? Are you that person? Leave a comment below if you have an idea of which science fashionista we should visit next. Suiting up for Science is just one type of story we'll be doing, so other ideas are welcome, too.

How to Watch Science on the SPOT

We'll be tweaking things a lot (both technically and editorially) over the coming weeks so stay tuned. Well, not exactly tuned, as you won't see these segments broadcast on KQED-TV. To see all episodes of SOTS, you can go the main SOTS page:

http://science.kqed.org/quest/series/sots/

They are available for streaming here on the QUEST website (look stories with the green corner stripe), via our main QUEST Video Podcast (both iTunes and RSS), on YouTube, and our first foray into High Definition video podcasting, the Science on the SPOT High Definition Podcast (iTunes and RSS). For the record, our current HD podcast spec is 1280 x 720, 5mbps H.264 video, 128k AAC audio. Let us know how it looks. I personally think it looks incredible on Apple's iPad, but YMMV.

And you can make story suggestions for Science on the SPOT, as well as QUEST radio and TV, at anytime.

Great for Teachers

One reason we're making a few different download options available is that we want teachers to have easy access to the stories, even if they can't stream our stories on the web due to a slow connection, or have a totalitarian regime school district that blocks YouTube. And at 3-5 minutes in length, we're hopeful they'll be easy to incorporate into classroom curricula.

Cal Academy and The 11th Hour Project are bringing some excellent speakers to town.

Maybe this is a reflection on my choice in friends, but the above quote is a common comment about the Academy's wildly successful adults only Nightlife program (just check Yelp). Yet if you go a touch deeper than the rockin' DJ, numerous bars, and diverse exhibits, there is a wealth of interactive programs to exercise your brain. This month may bring the most celebrated speakers yet, all thanks to the folks at the 11^th Hour Project, a non-profit dedicated to creating a sustainable world.

Opening the month are Dan Kammen & Sally Benson discussing the emerging green energy economy, focusing on the novel technological solutions to the global energy issues. In case you were worried about their credentials, Dan is the lead author for the UN IPCC panel (they netted a Nobel Prize in 2007) and Sally is one of the pre-eminent U.S. experts on carbon sequestration.

On 9/10, Annie Leonard takes the stage to discuss her popular polemic, The Story of Stuff. Annie's tale is 20 minute tale of our unsustainable production and consumption pattern. The viral video is now well past 7 million views, all from a filmmaker who was curious what happens to all our "stuff".

Maya Lin, the Chinese-American artist who designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, unveils her new sculpture titled "What is Missing?" in the East Garden on 9/17. She'll discuss the new piece, which is dedicated to raising awareness of biodiversity and habitat loss, as well as her artistic process.

Finally, 9/24 is the night for the disappearing glaciers. Orvile Schell, the director of the Center on US-China Relations, has been documenting the decline through photography. Beyond his stunning photos, Orville will discuss his work to create a cooperative strategy between the US and China (the top 2 greenhouse gas emitters) to reduce their carbon emissions. Filmmaker and mountaineer David Breashears will also discuss the glacier disappearance through his 1^st hand accounts of traveling to receding sites on the highest peaks of the world. He knows a thing or two about high peaks; David was the first American to summit Mt. Everest twice.

California Academy of Science's Nightlife

Where: California Academy of Sciences

When: Every Thursday in September, 6-10 PM

Cost: Tickets are $12 ($10 for Academy members).  Many of the programs below require passes. Please check the Nightlife page for more information.

Thursday, September 3^rd 2009

Professors Dan Kammen, coordinating lead author for the IPCC, and Sally Benson, Director of the Global Climate and Energy Project, debate the Green Energy Economy.

Thursday, September 10^th, 2009

Author & Filmmaker Annie Leonard recounts a Story of Stuff.

Thursday, September 17^th, 2009

Celebrated artist Maya Lin (she designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in D.C.) unveils her new sculpture in the East Garden. In addition, Chef Laura Stec & Climatologist Eugene Cordero cook up a low carbon diet.

Thursday, September 24^th, 2009

Orville Schell, current Director of the Center on US-China Relations, unveils his photographs of retreating glaciers as we chart a path to the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. In addition, American Mountaineer David Breashears, director of the IMAX film Everest, shares his adventures on the edge of the disappearing glaciers.

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Often at the California Academy of Sciences, you will see docents out on the floor of the museum with an example from our live animal collection.

You've probably heard of this bacteria before, as an unpleasant bug that sometimes finds its way into high-protein foods such as meat, fish, and eggs. It is also naturally found on and in many reptiles, and does not usually make the animals sick, but if passed to humans– particularly young children, the elderly and infirm — it can cause a serious infection called Salmonellosis.

But selecting the right anti-microbial was not as easy a choice as we thought it would be.

Food and Drug Administration published reports question the use of antibacterial soap and hand sanitizers, saying that it found no medical studies that showed a link between a specific consumer antibacterial product and a decline in infection rates. Plus, regular soap kills 90% of bacteria and leaves little impact on the environment.

Additionally, anti-bacterial products like Purell use synthetic polymers known as Triclocarban and triclosan to kill off bacteria. Triclosan is known to promote the growth of resistant bacteria, including E. coli, and both pose environmental toxicity risks; after washing your hands or washing the dishes they can get into the waste water system. Because they do not break down or get filtered out during waste water treatment, up to 75 percent of the original amount gets into the Bay. Once in the environment, these products have been known to disrupt the health of marine life and other wildlife.

So Academy scientists went in search of an alternative product that does not contain the above 2 agents, and has recommended Vionex Antimicrobial Soap for our public programs. Commonly used in the medical, dental, and law enforcement industries, Vionex uses a different antimicrobial agent called PCMX, or parachlorometaxylenol, which is considered significantly less toxic to humans and other mammals that Triclocarban and Triclosan.

What you can do at home

Even if you are not handling reptiles daily like we are, you can take action to reduce exposure to toxic anti-microbials. Whenever possible avoid products that are labeled “anti-bacterial.” Products that are likely to be anti-bacterial are most hand-sanitizers, hand wipes, cleaning products, and dishwasher detergent. If you must use hand-sanitizers, consider natural ones such as Hand-Sanz (found at Whole Food or Bristol Farms).

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After some cajoling from the wife, I trekked down to the library to check out the science section. I was amazed at the bevy of great pop science books. Most are accessible, quick reads on pretty much every science topic under the sun. However, I'm a social creature, I wanted to discuss science books with peers.

A few quick searches and voila! Science book clubs exist right here in the Bay Area (one of them hosted by myself so I'd have more control on book selection). Lively discussion and science books, it's a good combination.

Down to a Science Book Club

Book: "How We Decide" by Jonah Lehrer

When: Monday, May 25th, 7-9 PM

Where: Books Inc, 601 Van Ness @ Turk, 2 blocks north of SF City Hall

Details: Ever had a experience of option paralysis? Like when you are looking at the 11 different types of Cheerios in the cereal aisle? If you're anything like me, decision making is an "interesting" process. Jonah Lehrer tackles the neurobiology of decision making and points out a few ways you may be able to overcome that paralysis. Watch Jonah discuss decision making at the Commonwealth Club or listen to him discuss Choice on RadioLab.

California Academy of Science Book Clubs

Teens Talk Books: Underwater Explorations

Book: Shark Life: True Stories about Sharks and the Sea by Peter Benchley

When: June 6th, 11:00 am in Education Classroom

Where: California Academy of Sciences

Coming face to face with the jaws of a great white shark.  Chasing leaping orcas near Vancouver.  Swimming with hoards of hammerheads in the Sea of Cortez.  Benchley, the author of Jaws, shares his many underwater adventures with sharks and other marine creatures, while helping the reader learn more about these majestic creatures, how to swim with them safely, and why it is vital for us to protect our oceasn.  Join us for a discussion of Benchley's fascinating read!

Reservations: Free with admission to the museum, but participants should call the Naturalist Center at 415-379-5494 to reserve a space.

Bookworms (Adult Book Group): Why Do Oceans Matter?

Book: Sea Change: A Message of the Oceans by Sylvia Earle

When: June 16th, 6:30 pm in the Naturalist Center

Where: California Academy of Sciences

Details: In recognition of World Ocean Day this month, the group will read and discuss noted marine biologist Sylvia Earle's book which is both a plea for ocean conservation and a very personal story of her own lifelong exploration of life in the deep.

Reservations: Free.  Reserve a space by calling 415-379-5494.

This Week In Science Online Book Club – Hosted by TWIS.org

An Ocean of Air: Why the Wind Blows and Other Mysteries of the Atmosphere

Details: Most of the time we hardly notice that we're moving through air. But when a storm system whips it into a whirling mass that grows into a tornado or a hurricane, then the air around us makes headlines. Science consultant Walker (Snowball Earth) presents a lively history of scientists' and adventurers' exploration of this important and complex contributor to life on Earth, from Galileo's early attempts to show that it has weight to the explorations by 20th-century scientists Oliver Heaviside and Edward Appleton of the ionosphere, which acts as a giant mirror bouncing radio waves from one side of the globe to another. Walker provides readers with easy-to-follow discussions of the science behind the discovery that carbon dioxide levels are rising exponentially.

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Yuri Alexyevich Gagarin, "Columbus of the Cosmos"

Yuri Alexyevich Gagarin was a Soviet cosmonaut.  He was the first human in space and is often referred to as "the Columbus of the Cosmos".   His spacecraft Vostok-1 orbited the Earth on April 12, 1961 for the duration of 108 minutes.   Yuri's Night, usually celebrated on April 12^th celebrates this historic first flight.

Yuri's Night also celebrates another April 12^th anniversary notable in the annals of space travel.  Twenty years after Yuri Gagarin's historic flight, the first NASA space shuttle flight, STS-1 was launched into space.  STS is short for Space Transportation System.  NASA names each flight STS with the chronological number after it.  STS-1 was launched on April 12, 1981; the shuttle orbited the earth 37 times during a 54.5 hour mission.

Since 1961, our interest in space and the exploration of its depths has magnified.  Recently NASA launched the Kepler mission.  On March 7^th, 2009, the Kepler Mission successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida.  Kepler, which is a specialized telescope, was designed to find the first Earth-size planets orbiting stars within a "habitable zone". A habitable zone is an orbit around a star that would enable a planet to formulate and upkeep an atmosphere and the ability for water to form in pools on the planet's surface.  Liquid water is believed to be essential for the formation of life.  Thus from the nascent flight of orbiting our own Earth, space travels has evolved to look amongst other start.  This progress is certainly something worthy of celebration!

An exhibit on the Kepler Mission along with other NASA initiatives like SOFIA, LCROSS and NLSI fascinated guests last Thursday night.  For one guest, meeting Buzz Aldrin in person was the highlight of his night.   My favorite aspect of the evening was a 3-D rendered tour of the moon and neighboring space.  I am anxious to see what will be the new annal of space exploration when April 12^th and Yuri's Night comes around again in 2010.

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What does the size of a scorpion's claw mean?
Credit: kevinzim on flickr.com

The exhibits you see on the museum floor of the California Academy of Sciences are just the tip of the iceberg of the Academy's work. In fact, 90% of what we do is the education and research that happens behind-the-scenes. It is this ongoing research that in turn generates the exhibits and programming that guests enjoy.

The Naturalist Center, located on the 3rd floor, is a direct link for visitors to the education, research, and resources of the vast research collection that lies behind-the-scenes of the museum. Guests can ask questions at the Naturalist Center and they will get a reply from an Academy researcher or educator versed in that subject.

Below are some interesting questions guests have posed recently and the responses from experts on staff.

Q: How many copies of Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" were published initially?
A: The first edition and printing had a print run of 1250 copies. All the copies sold on the first day of sale according to "The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin".

Q: You have a specimen in your collections that is noted for being the most poisonous bird in the world. Do you have more information on it?
A: It is the Hooded Pitohui (Pitohui dichrous). An Academy researcher, Jack Dumbacher, experienced the toxicity of these birds first-hand when he was doing research in Papua New Guinea and decided to study them more. He found that they sequester poisons from something they feed on, much like poison dart frogs.

Q: Do owls really see in total darkness like your matching game says?
A: Renowned for their solemn, spooky mien, owls have large eyes that face forward, and arrangement that's rare even among predatory birds. This gives them binocular vision and the resultant depth perception necessary to judge distances with almost pinpoint accuracy. These fast-focusing eyes are also equipped with a mirror-like membrane that lets them sample extremely dim light twice, and a dense concentration of light-sensitive cells in the retina. While owls may not be able to see everything in total darkness, they can see what other nocturnal predators might miss.

Q: What is Arsenic and Strychnine made out of?
A: Arsenopyrite is an iron arsenic sulfide (FeAsS). Strychnine is an alkaloid extract obtained from the dried ripe seeds of Strychnos nux vomica, a small tree of the East Indies.

Q: Someone told me that the red-winged blackbirds only have that red flash in mating season – is that correct?
A: According to Western Birds, QL 683 .W4 P4 1990, these epaulets are 'most conspicuous' in the spring time, suggesting that they are there all year round but brighter in the mating season.

Q: Do you know that saying about claw and tail sizes of scorpions that tells you which ones are more poisonous than the other?
A: The simple, although not universal, rule is that scorpions with thin pedipalps (claws) and thick tails tend to be more venomous than those with stout pedipalps and thinner tails. Working through this in a logical way, we can think that a scorpion with a large claw may be able to subdue its prey with the claw. If it has thin claws, it may need to rely more on the venom from the stinger to make up for its lack of strong claws. For more information about scorpions, click here. There is also a very well written amateur information page here.

This week the Cal Academy of Sciences celebrated the millionth
visitor to its new building in Golden Gate Park

On March 3rd, 2009 at 1:00 p.m., executive director Gregory Farrington greeted the one-millionth visitor to the new California Academy of Sciences. It seems incredible that in just over five months, one million visitors have explored our new building in Golden Gate Park. Yet science museums and cultural institutions are incredibly important in these tough economic times: Museums engage and educate people about their place, culture, accomplishments and environment. With the cutbacks in education, museums are even more necessary.

Earlier this year, the California Academy of Sciences commissioned a national survey of basic science literacy, administered by Harris Interactive. The results proved poor. Here's a sample:

• Only 53% of adults know how long it takes for the Earth to revolve around the Sun.
• Only 59% of adults know that the earliest humans and dinosaurs did not live at the same time.
• Only 47% of adults can roughly approximate the percent of the Earth's surface that is covered with water.
• Only 1% of adults knew the correct percentage of fresh water on the planet

Despite their poor performance, survey participants felt that science literacy and conservation were very important. Four out of five people surveyed marked science education as “absolutely essential” and directly related to the U.S. health care system, the U.S. reputation globally and the U.S. economy.

Scientists know that making new discoveries increases our understanding of our world and our place within it. Yet deepening science literacy in the general public is equally important. Scientific literacy not only engages potential future scientists, but it helps strengthen the U.S. economy. Analysts agree that science must be part of the plan for stimulating the American economy: A knowledge-based economy, including a focus on science, drives innovation, which in turn sparks new industries and subsequent jobs.

The Academy felt this survey was so important that they put the questions up on the website for anyone to try. What's your science literacy? Find out by answering the questions on www.calacademy.org.

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Coco-de-mer, the world's largest seeds

There was a great variety of unusual specimens elucidating adaptation and evolution. One caught my eye, however, because I used to pass by it every day at our Howard Street location on the way up to my desk. I had presumed it was a cacao seed, but in truth it was a Coco-de-Mer, better known as the world's largest seed.

Coco-de-Mer, also known as "the double coconut", is the seed of the Lodoicea maldvica plant, a large fan palm that reaches 25 m (82 ft) in height. The palm is only found on two islands -– Praslin & Curieuse in the Seychelles. The palm is best known for the seed of its fruit, which is the largest in the world, weighing in at 15 to 30 kg (33 to 66 lbs).

The palm species was named maldvica after the Maldive Islands, the place the seeds were first found (before the 18th century the Seychelles islands were still uninhabited). Seeds that had germinated (and were therefore hollowed out) would find their way into the water, and prevailing sea currents carried a great many of them to the Maldives. The seeds were used by indigenous people on the islands for medicinal treatments and in trade.

Many stories abounded about the source of the seeds before the truth was discovered in the Seychelles islands in 1768. Many believed the seeds came from a mythical tree that grew at the bottom of the sea. European nobles would often have the Coco-de-Mer seeds cleaned and encrusted with jewels– befitting their mythical origins — in order to display them as collectibles in private galleries. Today, the Coco-de-Mer is still considered a treasure and the seeds and plants from which they grow are protected as a rare species.

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Academy visitors can also ask questions about Academy exhibits or natural history. One day, when I was working in the Naturalist Center, a woman asked if squirrels eat bark and if so are they particularly fond of citrus bark? With a bit of research, we found out that some California-native squirrels indeed do eat bark and are fond of citrus trees. Below are some of the questions asked recently in the naturalist center, their corresponding answers as well as links to relevant fact sheets.

Q: Why is the green iguana orange? What do you feed it? (Visitor)

A: According to an Academy aquarium biologists, when males reach sexual maturity their coloring will turn orange. It's more hormonal than dietary, however diet can slightly influence color. The Academy has a male that is roughly three years old. He was rescued from a flea market as a baby in very poor condition. He is fed primarily greens (dandelion, collard, arugula) and small amounts of green beans, sweet potato, yellow squash, mango, berries, banana, papaya, cactus, and flowers along with a vitamin/calcium supplement.

Q: What is a hyrax?

A: A hyrax is related to the manatee and dugong and is the closest living relative of the elephant. More information is given on hyraxes in this fact sheet: www.awf.org/content/wildlife/detail/hyrax

Q: What is the wattage of the lights that are above the rainforest dome?

A: The electrician in the Academy noted that they are 1000 and 2000 watt bulbs.

Q: How much does the roof weigh?

A: It weighs between 2.7 and 2.8 million pounds not including the steel and concrete. More specific information is given on the Living Roof Fact Sheet: http://www.calacademy.org/newsroom/releases/2007/living_roof_fact_sheet.php

Q: How many African Penguins are in an average colony?

A: The number varies greatly and there is no true average. There are colonies with as few as 240 breeding pairs and one that was as high as 55,000 at one time. African penguin numbers have declined worldwide at an alarming rate in recent years. Decline in numbers is due to threats that range from oil spills to feral cats. Food availability and prime breeding territory are major factors in colony size as well. Today, there are an estimated 50,000 total breeding pairs worldwide. More information is given on African penguins in this fact sheet: http://combine.cs.bris.ac.uk/opencms/opencms/Richards_Homepage/My_Research/AfricanPenguin.html

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