Oregano Leaves, © Harold Davis

Harold Davis (no relation to previous winner Randy Davis :-> ) will be collaborating with KQED staff on our next 2-minute YPOQ segment for broadcast and web distribution. It will air and premiere online on Tuesday July 21st, 2009.

His winning set, Miracle Worlds of Nature , did a wonderful job of expressing a sense of scope and color, with a passion for nature, via a process that captures something unexpected and essential.

More in his own own words:

"The miracles of nature happen in our world at large and in small worlds no bigger than a water drop. The subjects for these photos are in my garden. I look for magnificent worlds of nature that may be, in fact, tiny. With many of these images I have also used studio photography, scanning, and alternative digital image processing to enhance my creative sense of entering an alternative and miraculous world of nature."

We will be doing yet more YPOQ calls in 2009, as well as blogging about great submissions on the Quest web site.

Would you your photography like to be considered for a future YPOQ episode on QUEST? Sign up for our email newsletter to get an announcement for the next submission call, or head on over to our Flickr photo group for KQED QUEST and read the Rules for Submission.

For inspiration, please see our previous YPOQ winner videos:

• Russ Morris
• Erin Malone
• Cris Benton
• John Albers-Mead
• Laura Watt
• Randy Davis

Hi everybody. I want to let the QUEST community know that over at KQED’s Health Dialogues, we just launched a new project, called Healthy Ideas: Californians Weigh In on Health Care Reform.

In his 100th day press briefing a few days ago, President Obama reiterated his desire to enact health care reform by the end of 2009. The President has also put out a call to all Americans to submit our ideas on just how to do that. So, Health Dialogues decided that we’d let Washington know what Californians think.

Is the cost of new medical technologies worth the potential health benefits? What can we do to eliminate health disparities across socioeconomic backgrounds? Should everyone be required to purchase health insurance?

Healthy Ideas is a conversation among academics, health care professionals, policy think tanks and the general public about what kind of health care reform California wants and needs. During the next two months, you can join the dialogue by reading our authors’ weekly posts, rating them and contributing your own thoughts and questions. At the end of the project, on July 1, we’ll summarize your ideas and deliver them to California’s representatives in Washington, as well as the Obama Administration, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus and Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Edward Kennedy.

To contribute your thoughts and let Washington know what kind of health care reform you want, join the dialogue at Healthy Ideas: Californians Weigh In on Health Care Reform.

Thanks!
Nick Vidinsky
Producer, Health Dialogues

Our new "Donate Now" screen at the end of our stories
makes it a snap to support QUEST.

We hope that all this free content, available to anyone who wants to embed it, use in classrooms or share with friends, will inspire you to help keep it sustainable.

Becoming a KQED member is one option, but what if you're not from around here? Maybe you're just not a joiner. Or you really want to support a specific program– like QUEST– that matters to you.

We hear that. So we're trying something new. Enter the QUEST microdonation pilot program.

At the end of all new videos on the QUEST website, you can donate $5 (or another prime number of your choice), in a simple one-time transaction via credit card or PayPal. No pledge, no need to call in, no requirement to become a member.

If we received one $5 donation a year from everyone who watches our stories online, we'd collect enough to produce a whole new season of QUEST! Of course, if you just want to give straight away, we won't stop you. You may proceed directly to our microdonation page.

This is a pilot project for us to test results and we're anxious to hear what you think. Please leave any comments that you might have here or email donation@kqed.org — and please spread the word to your (generous) friends!

The survey should take approximately 10 minutes to fill out. As a token of our appreciation, you will be entered in a prize drawing for one of several $50 Amazon.com gift certificates. You'll need to fill out the survey completely to be entered in the drawing.

All responses will be confidential. Your personal information will not be shared with anyone outside the research team.

Because educators represent a key audience for our materials, we have separate sets of questions for educators and non-educators. Educators may include teachers, afterschool/youth program staff, library or technical specialists, homeschooling parents. Please click on the appropriate option below to continue with the survey. Thank you.

I am an educator.

I am not an educator.

The start of each new year is a good time to reflect and look forward. Each year, I begin that process at the ocean's edge with breakfast at the beach on January 1 now a long-standing tradition. For me, this particular year, 2009, has additional excitement. Not only is there a great sense of hope with a change in the administration, but there is a renewed sense of optimism for science. Yes, we expect science to be treated more kindly by President Obama, but long before we knew he would be a candidate, members of the scientific community began examining ways to raise awareness and appreciation for science in the eyes of the public. As a result, two key projects that I have been working on and am very excited about have emerged and both launch in 2009: UC Berkeley's Understanding Science website and the Year of Science 2009 (YoS09) initiative.

The first is a response to an apparent lack of clarity in our students of how science really works and thus confusions as to what is and is not science. Understanding Science provides a wealth of resources for K-16 science teachers to help correct these confusions and to portray science as the creative, dynamic, and often unpredictable process that it really is! The second, YoS09, has a similar goal but focuses on increasing the public's appreciation of and engagement in science with a yearlong celebration of science – who scientists are, why they enjoy their work, and how we all benefit from their enjoyment!

I just returned from the national launch of both of these initiatives that was held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Society for Comparative and Integrative Biology in Boston. Ira Flatow gave the keynote address to set the tone, and the scientific program typical of a SICB meeting was expanded to include a session on the new website and a symposium on communicating science to the public. It was extremely exciting to witness the enthusiasm for engaging the public and to learn about how much is already going on in different institutions throughout the U.S.

Just as the fever of the election captured the energies of our citizenry and in particular of those who campaigned for their preferred candidate, so have these two projects energized those of us who have stepped beyond our usual professional roles and found new ways to do what we deeply care about – promoting science! And why wouldn't we? Have you ever met a scientist who doesn't love his/her work? Have you ever thought of what a day would be like without science? Has a day gone by that has not been enriched by wondering or learning? Does not our natural world arouse a natural curiosity and a sense of awe? Plus getting involved in projects like these just feels good! I seldom set New Year's resolutions, but this year I plan to celebrate science every chance I get!

For more information on Understanding Science, visit www.understandingscience.org and for details on the national efforts around Year of Science 2009, visit www.yearofscience2009.org. For Bay Area Year of Science 2009 events and activities visit www.bayareascience.org.

Flickr photo community member jalbersmead (John Albers-Mead) will be collaborating with KQED staff on our next 2-minute YPOQ segment for broadcast and web distribution. It will air on November 18, 2008.

His wonderful set of tidepool images from Fitzgerald Marine Reserve in Moss Beach wowed our KQED QUEST editorial staff. His winning submission did a wonderful job of expressing a sense of locale, with a passion for nature, via a process that captures something unexpected and essential.

In his own words:

"Going to tide pools is like a treasure hunt that changes by the minute. The colors, textures, smells, movement, and general feeling of life makes this one of the places where I feel connected with the world."

This was a very difficult decision to make for us – we hope to do more YPOQ calls in the future. If you wish, you may leave your submissions open and we will consider them again in the next round. Sincere thanks to all who participated.

For those of you who are interested in entering the future, sign up for our email newsletter to get an announcement for the next submission call, or head on over to our Flickr photo group for KQED QUEST.

How much water does it take to produce a steak? How much water does a leaky toilet waste? Test your water knowledge in this quiz.

Watch the "QUEST Quiz: Water" TV Story online, as well as find additional links and resources.

We're launching our 3rd call for submissions for our new series of TV shorts, "YPOQ: Your Photos on QUEST." These are broadcast alongside our feature stories.

Previous and upcoming winners:

• Russ Morris
• Erin Malone
• Cris Benton (coming soon)

Could you be next?

We're looking for more than stunning nature photography. We seek to collaborate with a local photographer from our QUEST flickr groups who is inspired by science, environment and nature in Northern California, and uses innovative approaches to express their unique vision of our region.

Key Dates for YPOQ #3

Submissions due: August 21st, 2008
Selection annoucenment: August 26th, 2008
TV Broadcast : November 11, 2008

Although we can only broadcast one photographer's work on the air on November 11, we also plan to feature selected submissions on the KQED QUEST Community Science Blog.

Requirements

* You must be an individual over 18 (no minors or group submissions)
* You must be a current Flickr user in good standing
* You're a resident of Northern California – loosely defined as spanning the region from Mendocino to Monterey counties (N to S) and Sacramento to Santa Clara counties (E – W). This is the coverage area of our show.
* Be able to make available 20-50 images as source material (2 minutes moves fast!)
* If selected, you'll need to sign a release for materials use specifically for the QUEST TV show, web presence, blog and the promotion thereof (see fine print below)
* Available for an in-person audio interview and photo review/selection with a QUEST TV producer & audio engineer, either at the KQED studios in San Francisco, or other agreed-upon location, during business hours between August27th and September 12th.

How to Submit

* 1 entry per person
* Original photographic work only
* 1920 x 1080 minimum resolution (higher is better)
* Create a set that best represents your submission, and tag them with: YPOQ
* Add a 100-word description to your set telling us about your creative and technical process, and why you'd like us to consider your work
* Join the KQED QUEST flickr group and add all 10 photos to the pool
* Add your YPOQ set URL and a brief introduction to the YPOQ 3 Submissions discussion topic.
* If you submitted for YPOQ before, your entry is automatically eligible for consideration in YPOQ #3. You may also submit a new or updated set to the topic above.

We'd also like you to make KQED QUEST a contact, though it's not required.

Fine Print

* You will retain the rights to your original work.
* Rights clearances: in order to make the TV piece and promote it, KQED will need you to grant rights to recordings and derivative works for use in connection with QUEST. We won't do anything else without asking you first.
* This not a paid commission, but a collaboration. As a result KQED is unable to cover costs (e.g. travel & time, prints / processing, royalties)
* The choice of photographer is solely at the discretion of KQED.
* The producer's & editor's decisions are final regarding all aspects of the finished video work.

Thank you and we look forward to seeing your submissions!

KQED QUEST Team

The squid, along with pink dolphins and matamata turtles are all stars of the new Jean Michel Cousteau: Ocean Adventures web original video series, produced for PBS by KQED and the Ocean Futures Society.

Now, if we can just get Bay Area Bites to post some more calamari recipes…

Craig Rosa is the Interactive Producer for QUEST.

Please visit our QUEST story Submission Form to participate!

If you have any questions, please email us at quest@kqed.org.

Craig Rosa is the Interactive Producer for QUEST.