The Galapagos of California: The Farallon Islands.

Every so often the fog retreats from my neighborhood in San Francisco, moves out to sea and we are blessed with a world-class sunset. Adding to the oranges and reds, yellows and spiraling indigos of the evening sky, it also gives us a special chance to see the silhouette of the strange jagged fist of rock breaking up the crisp line of the horizon. I have gazed out upon the Farallon Islands for years. The archipelago is clearly the wildest part of The City-seemingly always just out of reach. (Many people don’t realize that these little islands are actually part of the City of San Francisco.) Since they are a federally protected wildlife refuge, they’re completely closed to the public. So to get a chance to actually set foot on South Farallon Island was an absolute honor.

We’ve tried to share the experience in as many ways as we can. I encourage everyone to really explore the islands through Quest. In addition to the television story, we have a radio presentation with reporter’s notes, a web exploration with video and stills, a unique audio slideshow, an interactive history timeline (also embedded below) and a Flickr set. We’ll also be adding another web-only video story and education guide. The only things we couldn’t bring you are the smell and chill of the wind. But we’ll get on that.

Farallon Islands History: Interactive Timeline

Watch the The Farallon Islands – "California's Galapagos" television story online.

The National Parks are a living record of America's past.

Living here in the San Francisco Bay Area I marvel at the diverse culture that sprouts from our surrounding parks and open spaces. In Golden Gate Park alone you can practice fly-fishing, sail a model boat, ride a horse, play golf, kick a soccer ball, tackle rugby, or pitch a horseshoe, bocce or baseball. You can see where the buffalo roam or spin round and round on an antique carousel. Skate, bike, row a boat, play music, dance to the beat of your own drum and stop to smell the roses. Nearby, down at Ocean Beach surfers ride the waves and kids make sand castles. Stroll the promenade at Crissy Field and you’ll see people soaking up the sun on the beach, flying kites, fishing off the pier or windsurfing under the Golden Gate. Go to Fort Funston where you can run your dogs down to the beach or launch your hang glider off the cliff and soar into the sky. I can go on and on but you get the picture. And that’s just here in San Francisco! Add the Peninsula, North, South and East Bay then combine all the city, county, state and federal parks with all the regional open spaces and count your blessings. It’s been said that if you go to any neighborhood in Bay Area, there is a park or a trailhead less than a mile away. These places are calling us outside to play. And in the process they are building our communities, and in many ways defining who we are and who we want to be.

Of all the activities happening in the parks, probably the most important and rewarding is volunteering to help preserve and protect these amazing places. I urge you all to pitch in. Contact your local regional parks and open space district and see what you can do to help. It’s up to all of us to make sure these wonderful places are saved and maintained for everyone in the future.

If you've watched the show, or are reading this blog about the National Parks, the chances are you also know that filmmaker Ken Burns is about to release his next series "The National Parks: America's Best Idea." Through our role in the development and distribution of the series, KQED is collecting viewer stories about their own experiences with these hallowed places. Let us know what these marvelous open spaces mean to you by sharing your story. We’d love to hear about your favorite park, Bay Area or beyond.

Watch the National Parks Special: Bringing the Parks to the People television story online.

The Great Wave off Kanagawa is often mistakenly associated with the Tsunami.

"If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"

The philosopher George Berkeley posed this philosophical question and a quick internet search found a somewhat scientific answer in an 1894 issue of Scientific American. There they wrote: "Sound is vibration, transmitted to our senses through the mechanism of the ear, and recognized as sound only at our nerve centers. The falling of the tree or any other disturbance will produce vibration of the air. If there be no ears to hear, there will be no sound."

Maybe sometimes vibrations are heard much later, only when the right person is listening.

On January 26, 1700, at about 9:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time one of the largest earthquakes ever to strike the Pacific Northwest rumbled across the Cascadia Subduction Zone. This massive earthquake sent a giant 33 foot high tsunami crashing onto shore, inundating the quiet coastline. While there is no written account describing the earthquake, tsunami or consequential damage, the devastation was enormous.

So wait. If there was no written record, how can we know the exact time and date when the tsunami struck? How can we know how big it was or what kind of damage it did? It took some digging and an impressive bit of scientific detective work by geologist Brian Atwater. First scientists discovered an unusual layer of sand in a marsh area that left a clue that a wave had struck, taken sand from offshore and brought it far inland. The scientists were able to date this thin sand deposit to around 1700, plus or minus 25 to 50 years. Then through tree-ring dating they were able to narrow that down to within five or ten years. Further study of tree roots narrowed it down even further to winter, 1700. Then investigators went to Japan and checked for evidence of a tsunami during that time. They looked for one which did not have a known earthquake associated with it. These were known as “orphan tsunami." There, in the records from 1700, was a tsunami the struck Japan, a wave that had the right pattern, right size, and was generated at the same place, the Cascadia Subduction Zone all the way on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. January 26, 1700, 9:00 p.m.

Can it happen again. Yes. Are we listening?

Watch the Scary Tsunamis television story online.

QUEST Producer Chris Bauer rides into the hunt in the back of a pick-up truck.

"Oh, we’ll get letters."

I knew going into this story that we might ruffle some feathers. But one of the things that made this story so intriguing to me is that it would bring up some questions about where people stand on what can be a pretty touchy subject.

So full disclosure – I generally side myself on the side of environmentalists, naturalists and true scientists. I think extremism one way or the other is generally not a good idea. I believe in the overwhelming scientific evidence that global climate change is happening and human behavior is the root cause. I'm pro-open space. I like clean air and water. I support the restoration of native ecosystems. I champion native plants and animals. I am against pollution, invasive species and uncontrolled urban sprawl. Some things we judge for ourselves one side or the other. Such as, I am for native song birds and against feral cats. But some other things don’t tie up into a pretty package. For example, I love natural ecosystems but I am not ready to support clear-cutting the cypress trees in The Presidio. I'm not a hunter. But I eat meat. I may feel some pangs of guilt when I see an animal shot but those feelings are rarely there when I purchase meat at the grocery store. I like my barbecue. That’s me. (If you eat meat too, check out our great Quest radio story on Low-Carbon Diets and get a preview of the letters we’ll receive regarding this story.)

So where do you stand? And what happens if your stances are on opposite sides of the fence? Perhaps you are for clean energy and also happen to care for the native bird populations? See our story "Fatal Attraction: Birds and Wind Turbines."

Sometimes these questions can prompt us to examine what is truly most important to us. This brings me to the invasive pigs. There are people who are adamantly opposed to all hunting or any animal control. I can understand and respect their opinions. But many of those same people also consider themselves pro-environment. So is the thought of shooting a pig so distasteful that you are willing to sacrifice the native flora and fauna? What happens to the indigenous fox, deer, ground squirrel or California quail? Are you willing to give up California's live oaks, wildflowers and other native species that may be directly impacted by this invasive species? You can’t always have it both ways. Anyway…something to chew on.

Oh, and by the way… We'll get letters.

Watch the Hog Wild television story online.

California Coho Salmon are listed as federally protected,
and are critically endangered. Image: Richard James

As we would with any loved one, we care about its health and well being. Over the years we have witnessed wanton pollution from purposeful and "accidental" sewage spills, there has been gravel mining, seemingly unchecked agri-business dumping pesticides and sucking wells dry, and more than anything, precious water has been continuously pumped out and diverted to quench the thirst of the ever-growing populations of Sonoma and Marin Counties. Each one of these factors has taken some of the life and wildness out of the Russian River. And there comes a point when the natural world and The River does not have anything left to give.

Still there is the hope that nature is resilient. One of the best indicators of environmental health on the Russian River would be the return of the native salmon. While producing our story on these magnificent fish we had the privilege to witness the incredibly dedicated conservation fishery biologists at the Don Clausen Fish Hatchery at Lake Sonoma. Seeing them work gave me a lot of hope. These men and women literally hold the future of the coho salmon in their hands. Each egg is tenderly cared for– each little growing fish is carefully identified, numbered and individually tagged before being gently released into the wild. It is an enormous, time-consuming and laborious task. But without them, the critically endangered coho salmon have little or no realistic chance of returning to the Russian River.

Sadly, it seems that much of their work may have gone for naught. In early April 2009, for just one night's frost protection, the wineries of the Russian River valley went against a request by the National Marine Fisheries Service and turned open their taps, taking so much water out of the Russian River watershed that the water-table dramatically dropped resulting in a massive coho salmon die-off. It's another heartbreaking blow to an already perilous situation. The wineries were told specifically about the consequences of their actions last year at a special meeting held by the State Water Resources Control Board. Yet to protect a small percentage of an already glutted crop, the wineries knowingly risked dooming an entire species to extinction.

For more information see:

Quick drop in water level kills coho | The Press Democrat | Santa Rosa, CA
04/04/09
Frost protection measures to save crops stranded fish in Russian River tributary

Coho killed after water diverted to protect crops | SF Chronicle
04/04/09
Endangered coho salmon killed after a sudden drop in the water level…

I have always advocated for The Russian River and its small communities and businesses. I recommend it as the perfect getaway for friends looking for a weekend exploration. Hiking, canoeing, wine-tasting or exploring–The River is the place. In turn I have also regularly recommended and sought out Russian River wines. But I doubt I'll be recommending anything from this year's vintage. I have a feeling the 2009 Russian River wines are going to leave a very bitter taste.

Watch the California's Lost Salmon television story online.

A LED flashlight powered by a battery made using five pennies.

Oops! Are we gonna get in trouble? In order to make our Five-Cent LED Battery we needed to sand the faces off 4 pennies. According to United States Code, TITLE 18, PART I, CHAPTER 17, § 331. Mutilation, diminution, and falsification of coins:

"Whoever fraudulently alters, defaces, mutilates, impairs, diminishes, falsifies, scales, or lightens any of the coins coined at the mints of the United States, or any foreign coins which are by law made current or are in actual use or circulation as money within the United States; or whoever fraudulently possesses, passes, utters, publishes, or sells, or attempts to pass, utter, publish, or sell, or brings into the United States, any such coin, knowing the same to be altered, defaced, mutilated, impaired, diminished, falsified, scaled, or lightened— Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both."

Gulp! Fraudulently? I don’t think we did it "Fraudulently." (Ahem) And I just want to say for the record that we did not force anyone to deface currency of the United States. In fact, if pushed came to shove I will say that we discouraged the practice and in fact actually pleaded with everyone at the Exploratorium, hoodlums that they are, to come up with another means of making a Five-Cent battery. But they brazenly went forward, stopping only briefly to maniacally cackle and call me names like "Goody Two-shoes" and thumb their noses at me. Needless to say they shamelessly went ahead with their outlaw ways. Oh, they are bad to the bone! We were as innocent as you all out there. I tried to stop them! That's what I will say! That or I’ll say that the "pennies" we were using were actually fake "prop" pennies that we got at the local novelty shop. Either way, you can't prove anything!

Now, if you don't want to risk being outside the laws of the United States, the Exploratorium has put together quite a fun project list of fun things to do and make. To the best of my knowledge, the majority of them won't get you in trouble with the authorities. They can teach you things like how to make musical instruments out of normal household junk, how to make a bottle blast off or how to build a motorized toy that dances, using a recycled CD and a DC motor. Really cool stuff!

Be good out there and stay out of trouble.

Watch the Quest Lab: The Five-cent Battery television story online.

Hangar One at Moffet field is "cavernous."

I think most people who have been stuck in traffic, grinding away on their daily commute up Highway 101 in Mountain View, have casually glanced towards Moffett Field and wondered, "What the heck are those things?" Like me, maybe they remember hearing vague explanations about blimps. Hanger One at Moffett Field is surely a curious feature on the lower Peninsula, a landmark in the distance and a place most Bay Area residents know of but have never had the chance to see up close. The first time I walked into Hanger One I was stunned. You don’t get an idea of the scale of these buildings until you step inside. You start rattling off words like "massive" and “cavernous" and "enormous." I have a buddy who played baseball inside Hanger One when he was stationed at Moffett for the Navy. He told me nobody ever hit a ball close to reaching the ceiling.

Moffett Field and Hanger One are historic treasures. Now a group is attempting to save the old buildings. If you are curious about the history of this place and want to learn about preservation efforts, I urge you to check out the Moffett Field Historical Society. The gallery alone is worth the effort!

Watch the Zeppelins Resurrected television story online.

As special as my relationship with Brodie is to me, I know it's not unique. Many of us know the startling joy of being woken up by a wet nose or a slobbery lick on the cheek early Sunday morning. Everyone who knows and loves dogs will happily tell you about their favorite pooch. The Quest team has Bailey and Carrot and Skinny and Shadow and Bro. We talk about them as we would talk about our children. And even though I haven't met all of the Quest pups, I know them through their favorite people. And that brings me to Quest TV Producer Amy Miller's wonderful German Shepherd dog, Pierre. Pierre was battling cancer as we went into production on this story. Then sadly, by the time we completed this Quest episode, Pierre had been laid to rest. It was a heartbreaking blow to our friend and colleague. And I think all of us felt and understood her loss. Therefore, it is for Pierre that I dedicated this story and now think fondly of all our canine friends past, present and future.

Our time with them is sweet but painfully short. Enjoy every walk, every game of fetch at the park, every romp on the beach and every quiet moment with them curled up under your feet. Put up with their occasional mischievous misdeeds- the drinking out of toilets, getting into the garbage or chewing up your slippers. Remember, they're all good dogs. Smile and scratch them behind the ears. All they give is love and that is all they desire back… that and maybe a little treat.

Watch the Fido Fights Cancer television story online. Also, don't miss our set of behind-the-scenes photos for this story.

There is something about these rocks that draws you in. Maybe it's the way they jut out of the ground? Or perhaps it's the "Stonehenge" way they form an enclosed circle? Or maybe it's just a nice place to get out of the wind? Whatever it is, they seem to pull you towards them. And once you are there, they almost call out to be touched. The rocks, long known as the "Sunset Boulders", have attracted rock climbers for years. I've climbed these rocks before. But like so many other people, I had no idea I was touching history.

During the Pleistocene, 10 to 20,000 years ago, this place was very different than it is today, inhabited by massive mega-fauna; bigger elephants, lions, bears and wolves, than we see today. While those big animals went extinct thousands of years ago, they left their mark on this place.

Looking around these rocks it is easy for me to imagine the herds of Columbian Mammoths lumbering from the nearby wallow to rub against the boulders. I can picture huge herds of camel and horse grazing nearby. Yes, those animals evolved here in North America and then crossed into Asia where they thrived and survived. Weaving my way between the boulders, I can imagine how the predators could have used these rocks as an ambush site. I envision a huge saber-tooth cat slinking between the craggy rocks, looking to pounce on an unwary bison. I can see the prides of American Lion, similar but much larger than African Lions, basking on the tabletop boulders after a big kill. I can also picture the ultimate predator making their campsite here when that first hunting party foraged deeper inland. Yes, humans were here too. And I'm sure the same pull these rocks have today existed back then.

This seems like a sacred place to me. Sacred to history. So when you visit these rocks think about those who came before you. Think about the mammoth and the bison and the camel and the horse. Think about the lions, tigers, bears and wolves. And think about those first people. Tread lightly and respect this wonderful place. With care, these rocks will be here long after we all become part of history.

Special thanks to the San Diego Natural History Museum for contributing artwork and HD video to our story. Also, to see more artistic representations of Pleistocene mega fauna, by the artists who contributed to our segment, see:

Laura Cunningham's artwork

Artwork of Joseph Venus

William Stout's wonderful murals

Watch the Ice Age Bay Area television story online.

Probably the hardest thing to get your hands on for this project will be the four gold-plated neodymium-iron-boron magnets. Not something you usually find at the local 5-And-Dime. (Or maybe I was just looking in the wrong aisle.) But I'm sure Make Magazine can point you where to get them. Once you do, here's a safety tip: The magnets are very powerful, so make sure they are securely taped down or they might slam together and shatter. Then you'll have to go out and find more gold-plated neodymium-iron-boron magnets.

Do try this at home. But be careful out there. Adult supervision is always a good idea. And make sure to aim your Tabletop Linear Accelerator away from your little brother.

Download Instructions for the Tabletop Linear Accelerator (419.3 KB .pdf)

Watch the Make At Home Tabletop Linear Accelerator television story report online.