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Science/Environment

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Climate science and policy from a California perspective, produced by KQED.

QUEST

The QUEST Community Science Blog explores science topics within Northern California.

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Nuclear Safety, Cost Issues Loom As U.S. OKs Reactor

A coalition of groups plans to sue to stop the project, citing the nuclear meltdown in Japan.

A New Weapon Against Nukes: Social Media

A State Department official wants to crowdsource the fight to control the world's nuclear weapons.

'Amasia': The Next Supercontinent?

In 100 million years or so, the Americas and Asia could fuse. Or so predicts a new model.

Could Cheap Gas Slow Growth Of Renewable Energy?

Low gas prices might dampen political will to move to something even cleaner, like wind power.

From KQED

Astronomer Dimitar Sasselov, director of Harvard's Origins of Life Initiative, joins us to discuss his new book "The Life of Super-Earths" and to explain why he thinks planets larger than Earth offer the best prospects for finding life as we know it.

The Trouble With Sugar

Researchers at UCSF argue that sugar poses a danger to health and should be regulated like alcohol and tobacco. Is sugar just empty calories, or something much worse?

First Person: Lera Boroditsky

Aboriginal people in Australia are better at finding their way around because they use compass directions instead of simply describing things as to the left or right. That's just one of several findings from Stanford psychologist Lera Boroditsky, who claims language greatly influences our thoughts and perceptions. It's a radical departure from modern linguistic theory.

PBS NewsHour

News Wrap: At Least 2 Killed, 100 Hurt by Possible Tornadoes in Alabama

In other news Monday, at least two people were killed and 100 hurt when possible tornadoes struck Alabama. The huge system stretched from the Great Lakes to the Deep South, where the heaviest storms were hitting. Also, a U.S. Marine pleaded guilty to dereliction of duty in the killing of two dozen Iraqis in 2005.

Could Keystone Pipeline Plan Be Revived After Obama's Rejection?

President Obama denied TransCanada Corp.'s application to build the Keystone XL pipeline Wednesday, a project that would have carried oil 1,700 miles from the tar sands of Canada to refineries in Port Arthur, Texas. Hari Sreenivasan discusses the president's decision and the next steps with The Washington Post's Juliet Eilperin.

How 2011 Became a 'Mind-Boggling' Year of Extreme Weather

From snowstorms to floods and tornadoes, severe weather wreaked havoc across the United States this year, with 2011 marking far more extreme weather events than a typical year. Hari Sreenivasan discusses the science behind this year of extreme weather with NOAA's Kathryn Sullivan and Weather Underground's Jeff Masters.

Testing Hybrids and Tossing Sandals in the Fight Against 'Wheat Rust'

Scientists say they are making promising strides in their race against Ug99, a stem rust disease that, left unchecked, could wipe out 80 percent of the world's wheat crop. But this is a science of watching plants grow. The race is a marathon and the number of farmers forced to be in it will likely drop in the years ahead.