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.
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.
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.
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.
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 and what scientists are saying should be done to prevent a deadly impact.
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 again. But these aren’t the same dirigibles - these are new and improved.
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 her boat in San Rafael's Loch Lomand Marina, granting her a front row seat to the dynamic body of water that she captures so well in her moody, intimate images.
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 meals for diners with wild appetites.
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 elusive animals.
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 pH levels threaten the entire marine food chain from coral reefs to salmon.
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 be found on the Trinity Alps. Find out if his prediction came true...
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 visits a local battery laboratory and investigates the odds of a breakthrough.
What happens when something explodes? Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory are now getting a first glimpse of the microscopic properties of an explosion.
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 cancer patients.
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.
As a physics professor at UC Berkeley, Richard Muller considers what his students would need to know -- if one were elected president. In today's lesson, he demonstrates the principles of fission and the basics of a nuclear explosion -- using super balls!
Imagine a vast grassy plain covered with massive herds of elephants, bison and camels stretching as far as the eye can see. Lions, tigers, wolves and later, humans, hunt the herds on their summer migration. Where is this? This was the Bay Area during the close of the last Ice Age. Take a trip to a time when the San Francisco Bay was just a riverbed, 20,000 to 10,000 years ago.
Solar and wind power may get the headlines when it comes to renewable energy. But another type of clean power is heating up in the hills just north of Sonoma wine country. Geothermal power uses heat from deep inside the Earth to generate electricity. The Geysers, the world's largest power-producing geothermal field, has been providing electricity for roughly 850,000 Northern California households, and is set to expand even further.
Meet the Bay Area's eclipse chasers - adventurers who travel the world to witness and document solar eclipses. In these rare moments, the moon covers the sun for a few minutes, leaving only its fiery atmosphere visible. Watch the China 2008 eclipse and learn about an invention that helped researchers photograph the sun's atmosphere in breathtaking detail.
California ranks second-lowest in the U.S. in fourth and eighth grade science achievement, according to a recent study. Since a large part of California's economy is devoted to technology, it is vital that California get its students up to speed. How bad is the problem? And what are schools and informal science education organizations doing to fill the gap?
The waters off the coast of California are some of the richest in the world. But declines in fish species have led state leaders to begin creating large protected areas, or "no fishing zones," similar to wilderness areas on land. Although controversial with some fishing groups, the idea is to protect entire ecosystems instead of single species. The hope is that a statewide network may help bring back fish, birds and marine mammals that are currently on the brink.
QUEST teams up with Make Magazine to construct the latest must have, do-it-yourself device hacks and science projects. This week we'll show you how to make a tabletop linear accelerator that demonstrates the finer points of kinetic energy by shooting a steel ball.
For hundreds of years, scientists have been poaching design ideas from structures in nature. Now, biologists and engineers at UC Berkeley are working together to design a broad range of new products, such as life-saving milli-robots modeled on the way cockroaches run and adhesives based on the amazing design of a geckos foot. QUEST visits their labs to find out what's so special about these crawling and scaling animals.
In this QUEST Web exclusive, we update a story we did last year on a plan to bring high-speed rail to California as voters head to the ballot boxes to decide the fate of Proposition 1A. Hop aboard to learn about the science behind high-speed rail travel and the obstacles that lie in its path.
Over the past 15 years, the number of people who die of AIDS each year in the United States has dropped by 70 percent. But AIDS remains a serious public health crisis among low-income African-Americans, particularly women. And in sub-Saharan Africa, the virus killed more than 1.6 million people in 2007. QUEST meets two Bay Area research groups studying innovative approaches that could lead to new treatments and possibly a cure.
Flying Foxes are a type of fruit bat - they subsist mainly off fruit juice which they obtain by squeezing pieces of the fruit pulp in their mouths. Quest visits the Oakland Zoo to meet their Malayan and Island Flying Foxes and find out more about these fascinating and charismatic critters.
Though computers have gotten faster, smaller and more versatile, it's still a big challenge to get them to demonstrate intelligent behaviors. Will machines like robots ever match -- or perhaps even exceed -- the capabilities of the human brain? QUEST meets a robot that in ten years time could take care of tasks around the house that most of us would rather not do.
Join QUEST in our latest photography feature about viewers like you who love documenting science, environment and nature here in the Bay Area. Meet architect and photographer Cris Benton. To document the rich colors of the south San Francisco Bay's salt ponds, he places his camera in a very unique position: hoisted up in the air on a kite.
Northern California has a storied, 500-year history of sailing. But despite this rich heritage, scientists and boat designers continue to learn more each day about what makes a sail boat move. Contrary to what you might expect, the physics of sailing still present some mysteries to modern sailors.
October 21st will mark the 140th Anniversary of the 1868 Hayward Earthquake. Geologists say that's important because major earthquakes happen on the Hayward fault every 140 years on average. With much of the East Bay on or near the fault, geologists and community members are working to prepare for what may be the next big one.
