Tag: "QUEST"

The Calligrapher's Golden Touch

The Calligrapher's Golden Touch

When I was in LA this weekend and noticed that the Getty was showing a new illuminated manuscript exhibit, I had to check it out. The only work in the exhibit that wasn't centuries old belonged to San Francisco master calligrapher Thomas Ingmire.

 
Flower Blooms In Your Tea Cup? It's Water Absorption as Entertainment

Flower Blooms In Your Tea Cup? It's Water Absorption as Entertainment

Every time I drive from the South Bay to the East Bay, I pass the Numi tea factory and start to crave a hot cup. I love tea–the ritual of heating and pouring the water, the warm mug in my hands and the slow sipping as it cools–and Numi makes some of my favorites.

 
Grazing a New Trail

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.

 
The Fact and Fiction of Fantastic Hybrids

The Fact and Fiction of Fantastic Hybrids

Have you heard of the Poisonous Fiddlerfrog, whose tadpoles grow up into crabs? Or the Hummingshrew, who eats flies as well as nectar? These animals aren't real, so you'd only know about them if you've seen Voyage Through a Hidden World.

 
Fantastic Voyage: The Salmon's Uphill Struggle for Survival

Fantastic Voyage: The Salmon's Uphill Struggle for Survival

California's critically endangered coho salmon are at a crossroads. Hundreds of thousands of fish once returned to our streams to spawn. But dams, water diversion, and habitat destruction have pushed the coho to the brink of extinction. Without heroic habitat restoration and water conservation efforts, we may lose our storied silver fish.

 
Look at Nature, Get Happy

Look at Nature, Get Happy

What do hospitals and Costa Rica have in common? Science says: they both benefit from beautiful natural landscapes. In fact, we all do.

 
Plant Proteins Power Solar Panel

Plant Proteins Power Solar Panel

Simplifying the production of bio-solar cells using many different plants could bring power to the developing world. It could be a whole new way to DIY solar.

 
Beautiful Slime

Beautiful Slime

Ross's film Leviathans is on display at the Vast and Undetectable exhibit in the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery.

 
A Birder’s-Eye View of Conservation

A Birder’s-Eye View of Conservation

The Great Backyard Bird Count gives novice Bay Area wildlife watchers the chance to play field biologist in their own backyards and help scientists gather data on the incidence, abundance, and distribution of birds. Researchers will use sightings to identify trends that will help conserve these valuable indicators of biodiversity.

 
Chocolate Tasting in the Name of Science!

Chocolate Tasting in the Name of Science!

Chocolate scientists study everything from the disease resistance of cacao trees to the health benefits of the finished product. But they shy away from one critical question: which chocolate tastes best?

 
One Whale's Tale

One Whale's Tale

A rooftop is a long way from the deep blue sea, so when I learned that the skull of a juvenile minke whale was resting atop the California Academy of Sciences' living roof, my curiosity was piqued.

 
Got Science on the Brain? Come Blog with QUEST

Got Science on the Brain? Come Blog with QUEST

Got science on the brain? Come blog with us. KQED’s QUEST is looking to add new voices to our blog, which already offers commentary from our producers, reporters, and several writers from science organizations in our region. pply by February 1st.

 
Sand: Hold a Mountain in Your Hand

Sand: Hold a Mountain in Your Hand

Sand . . . we play in it, we stroll on it, we make castles out of it, but what do we really know about it? The size, shape and location of a grain a sand can tell us a lot about it's origin, makeup and history.

 
Top KQED QUEST Stories of 2011

Top KQED QUEST Stories of 2011

From hackerspaces to banana slugs, flying telescopes to cheese – it's been a quite a diverse year of storytelling here at QUEST. Here's a round-up of the top 10 video and audio stories and blog posts that you've enjoyed from the past year.

 
Algae…Soylent Green…and the Future of Biofuel

Algae…Soylent Green…and the Future of Biofuel

Can a renewable plant really replace crude oil? Find out how algae is becoming the fuel of the future — grown like a farm crop.

 
A-Head of the Curve: Interview with Concussion Expert Kevin Guskiewicz

A-Head of the Curve: Interview with Concussion Expert Kevin Guskiewicz

MacArthur "Genius" Kevin Guskiewicz discusses the research he and his team at UNC-Chapel Hill are conducting in the field of sports-related concussions.

 
Flowers to Pharmacy

Flowers to Pharmacy

The nation's first hospital in Philadelphia culled its archives to create a collection of medical and botanical texts from the 18th and early 19th century.

 
Building a Better Hose

Building a Better Hose

Depending on the atoms used and their arrangement, engineers and chemists use polymers to create almost anything from a soft toothbrush bristle to a tough bullet-proof vest.

 
Songbirds as a Measure of Farm Sustainability

Songbirds as a Measure of Farm Sustainability

John Quinn, a researcher at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, explains how he collects and uses bird calls to establish an indicator for farm healthiness known as the Healthy Farm Index.

 
Iron Mining Controversy in Northern Wisconsin

Iron Mining Controversy in Northern Wisconsin

A pristine area in Northern Wisconsin next to Lake Superior, much prized for its clean water and wilderness, is also home to 25 percent of the country’s iron ore reserves, a commercial value of $200 billion.