San José photographer Doug Nomura has learned just how to track his subjects to create arresting photos of birds in flight. He focuses his work on the Bay Trail, a 300-mile trail around the Bay. QUEST joins Nomura on the bayfront in Sunnyvale as he works to photograph the many bird species that call the South Bay's mudflats home, or stop here as part of their migration.
Lying 28 miles off the coast of San Francisco, the Farallon Islands sit amid one of the most productive marine food webs on the planet and hosts the largest seabird breeding colony in the continental United States. QUEST ventures out for a rare visit to learn what life is like on the islands and meet the scientists who call this incredibly wild place home.
Armed with laser technology, Bay Area engineers are helping create detailed virtual records of the world's great monuments. Their realistic recreation of the Mexican ruins of Chichén Itzá is the basis for "Tales of Maya Skies," a new half-hour film about Maya astronomy designed especially for a planetarium.
Stanford University's Drew Endy is a synthetic biologist, or as he puts it, someone who makes biology easier to engineer. He's one of the leading lights of this relatively new scientific field which builds on disciplines like computer science, electrical engineering and genetics. Find out why Endy is passionate about the cutting edge of biology.
There's a hidden danger in San Francisco Bay: mercury. A potent neurotoxin that can cause serious illness, mercury has been flowing into the Bay since the mining days of the Gold Rush Era. It has settled in the Bay's mud and made its way up the food chain, endangering wildlife and making many fish unsafe to eat. Now a multi-billion-dollar plan aims to clean it up. But will it work?
QUEST examines how these national parks came to be preserved, the rise of non-profit land trusts in protecting and restoring Northern California's open spaces, and how these vital places are used and maintained by the communities served by them.
Simone Crew of Youth Speaks, a San Francisco literary arts organization, recites an excerpt from "Yasmeena," one of her "green inspired" poems.
Nearly 15 million Americans suffer from depression. Learn why depression is more than just "feeling blue," the difficulties of treating it with traditional medications and how new tools and research are shedding light on brain structures that may play an integral role in treating it.
Which algae are most efficient at producing oil? What other uses have algae been given throughout history? Take the QUEST Quiz to find out.
In a co-production with NOVA Science Now, QUEST explores the potential of algae-–once considered nothing more than pond scum–-to become the fuel of the future. Entrepreneurs from the Bay Area to LA are working to create the next generation of biofuels from algae. But will you ever be able to run your car off it?
With the race on to reduce global warming and fossil fuel dependency, experts in alternative energy see a bright future for renewable resources like wind, solar, hydro-power and geothermal energy. QUEST and Climate Watch team up to look at the "Smart Grid" of the future and how it might be improved to more cleanly and efficiently keep the lights on in California.
In 2004 a massive tsunami struck the Indian Ocean with a wave that reached up to 100 feet high. More than 225,000 people were killed. Bay Area researchers raced to the scene to learn everything they could about these deadly forces of nature. The information they gained provides a 'Rosetta stone' for helping to understand the geologic history of tsunamis and when and where they may strike again. Is California at risk?
Although not as famous as its bald cousin, Golden Eagles are much easier to find in Northern California - one of the largest breeding populations for Golden Eagles is right here in the Mount Diablo valley. Meet one of the largest birds of prey as QUEST visits the Lindsay Wildlife Museum in Walnut Creek, CA.
East Bay photographer Harold Davis combines his loves of the natural world with modern digital photography to create images that show the ordinary in an extra-ordinary way. After many years as a commercial photographer, he decided to move back the Bay Area and change his focus.
Imagine living cells acting as memory devices; biofuels brewing from yeast, or a light receptor taken from algae that makes photographs on a plate of bacteria. With the new science of synthetic biology, the goal is to make biology easier to engineer so that new functions can be derived from living systems.
Paul Doherty of the Exploratotium performs a "sit-down" lecture on one of Sir Issac Newton's most famous laws.
In 1924 a hunter purposely released a handful of wild boar in Monterey County. Now the pigs number in the hundreds of thousands and reside in all but two of California's 58 counties. Big, fast, smart and hungry, these animals often out-compete native species and damage fragile native ecosystems. Now hunters are stepping up to be part of the solution.
Could you have a career studying rare Amazon River Dolphins, tiny octopuses and endangered sea horses? Healy Hamilton does, and she works with kids to encourages them to become scientists.
She's spent much of the last five decades exploring and protecting the world's oceans. Find out why legendary marine biologist Sylvia Earle thinks that we may only have a few years left to save what she calls "the blue heart of the planet."
Chocolate: It's been revered for millennia by cultures throughout the world. But while it's easy to appreciate all of its delicious forms, creating this confection is a complex culinary feat. Local chocolate makers explain the elaborate engineering and chemistry behind this tasty treat. And learn why it's actually good for your health!
Ever wonder why a vulture's head is bald? QUEST visits the Lindsay Wildlife Museum in Walnut Creek, CA, to meet their resident Turkey Vulture and learn about what life is like in the Bay Area for these bald "beauties."
What happens when you flush the toilet? For most of us, what's out of sight is out of mind. But large numbers of sewage spills into San Francisco Bay are forcing cities, water agencies and the public to take a closer look at wastewater and its impacts on the health of the bay. QUEST investigates the causes of the spills and what's being done to prevent them.
If you live in Oakland, how long does it take for sewage to flow from your house, through the EBMUD plant and into the bay?
Seahorses are some of the most enchanting and mysterious creatures in the ocean. They are also in trouble, struggling to survive in threatened habitats around the world, while large-scale trading of seahorses for the traditional Chinese medicine market goes unchecked. Meet the Seahorse Sleuths - local scientists who are working to unlock the secrets of these elusive creatures so that they can save them from extinction.
QUEST goes to the Exploratorium to learn how and why helium changes the sound of your voice.
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 understanding of asthma's causes could one day lead to measures to prevent kids from developing the disease.
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 to protect the coho in Northern California and explores the important role salmon play in the native ecosystem.
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.
