QUEST Science Video Podcast: Episodes
The rates of childhood asthma in the United States rose 160% from 1980 to 1994 and have remained high ever since, making this chronic lung illness the country's third most common pediatric disease. QUEST meets Bay Area researchers who are investigating possible environmental and social culprits. Their ...
Randy Davis and his adopted dog, Lucky, explore the far reaches of the Bay Area via mountain bike. Once there, Randy photographs spectacular locations that are typically hard to access by car or foot. His eye for light and shadow show a different side of CA’s state parks that most visitors don’t get to see.
Because of a sharp decline in their numbers, the entire salmon fishing season in the ocean off California and Oregon was canceled in both 2008 and 2009. At no other time in history has this salmon fishery been closed. The species in the most danger is the California coho salmon. Quest looks at efforts ...
Special web-only presentation from QUEST Radio. Fifty-five years after its construction, the Bevatron, a landmark particle accelerator at Lawrence Berkeley National Labs that helped pioneer physics discoveries and win several Nobel prizes, is about to be demolished.
The world's climate is changing and California is now being affected in both dramatic and subtle ways. Get an in-depth look at the science behind climate change as we explore the environmental changes taking place throughout the state.
Call them demolition derby astrophysicists: NASA scientists in Mountain View are building a spaceship they will deliberately crash into the moon later this year, sending up a 40-mile high cloud of debris. Their goal? To find water, in the form of ice, which could one day support a moon base.
Did you know that opossums are good to have in your backyard? Learn why and a bunch of other cool critter facts when we visit the wildlife ambassadors that live at the Lindsay Wildlife Museum in Walnut Creek, CA.
Lawrence Berkeley National Labs just turned on a $27 million electron microscope. Its ability to make images to a resolution of half the width of a hydrogen atom makes it the most powerful microscope in the world.
Everyone knows that eight planets orbit the Sun. But thousands of other objects, including icy comets and football field-sized asteroids, are also zooming around our solar system. And some of them could be on a collision course with Earth. QUEST explores how these Near Earth Objects are being tracked ...
How much electrical power will a nickel buy you? This week the Exploratorium shows us how to make an LED flashlight battery for only five cents.
Photographer Laura Watt has lived in the Bay Area for most of her life but it was not until she started sailing in San Francisco Bay at age 35 that she began to appreciate the patterns, textures and colors of the precious water that surrounds us all. Self-described as "trawler trash," she lives aboard ...
Ever wonder how to make krill shakes, squid tacos or fishy sausages to tempt the taste buds of a 400-pound mola mola? The chefs at the Monterey Bay Aquarium prepare such meals daily to feed thousands of species, from otters to octopi to sharks. Find out what it takes to come up with nutritious and tasty ...
The Hindenburg wasn't the only air ship to end in a catastrophic crash. In 1935, the USS Macon went down in 1000 feet of water off the coast of Monterey, California. Now, as scientists study the recently-discovered wreckage, dirigibles are returning to the Bay Area and are poised to rule the skies once ...
As the Bay Area has become more urban, many wild animals have disappeared. But not mountain lions. These large cats live surprisingly close to us, and yet they're not as dangerous as many believe. Now, researchers in the mountains north of Santa Cruz are using new technology to learn more about these ...
Melting glaciers, rising temperatures and droughts - all are impacts of global warming. What receives much less attention is the toll that climate change is taking on the health of our oceans. The sea, it turns out, absorbs carbon dioxide emissions, which are causing it to become more acidic. Changing ...
It's been 150 years since Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species. Yet his ideas remain as central to scientific exploration as ever. QUEST follows researchers who are still unlocking the mysteries of evolution, like entomologist David Kavanaugh, who predicted that a new beetle species would ...
What happens when something explodes? Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory are now getting a first glimpse of the microscopic properties of an explosion.
If you're looking to buy an all-electric car you can drive on the freeway, your options are limited. $100,000 will buy you an electric sports car from Tesla. But an affordable all-electric vehicle remains elusive, due to the difficulty in making a battery that is powerful, long-lasting, and cheap. QUEST ...
Humans and dogs have been partners for thousands of years. Now our canine friends are joining the fight against cancer. Researchers are training dogs to to smell cancer in the breath samples of human patients. And by studying cancers in dogs, we may discover new treatments for cancer in human and canine ...
Foster City photographer and naturalist John Albers-Mead describes visiting the tide pools near Half Moon Bay as "a treasure hunt that changes by the minute." QUEST joins Albers-Mead on Moss Beach at low tide as he captures these sometimes-sunken treasures with his digital camera.