QUEST Community Science Blog

When you fire up your computer in the morning and go online, chances are you’re not thinking of the environmental impact of the Internet. You might be surprised. The server facilities that keep us all connected gobble up nearly two percent of the electricity used in the U.S. Generating all that power carries a big price tag – in the form of greenhouse gas emissions. As David Gorn reports, scientists and engineers in Silicon Valley are working to reduce the impact of a global network that we have all come to depend upon.

You may listen to the “Server Farms Radio report online, as well as find additional links and resources.


Lauren Sommer is an Associate Media Producer for QUEST.

Image Source: luxomediaSan Francisco’s got lofty plans to improve safety and convenience for cyclists. And with gas prices rising, parking a headache, and a desire to reduce their carbon footprint, more and more San Franciscans are cycling in the city to work and to do errands. Cycling rose 15% between 2006 and 2007, and injuries from bicycle collisions are down over a 10-year period, according to municipal studies. But the city’s been spinning its wheels to increase bike lanes because a 2006 injunction has barred their installation. And it’s still an uphill climb, even here where environmental consciousness is high, to convince people to cut their car use.

Quest follows a recent convert as they negotiate the treacherous streets of S.F., guided by a member of the city’s bicycle coalition. We add up the gas and carbon emissions they are saving and find out what has prevented would-be riders from commuting on bike. lastly, we talk with city traffic managers and find out what the most bike-friendly cities are doing. Marjorie Sun reports.

You may listen to the “Bike to Work” Radio report online, as well as find additional links and resources. And please share your San Francisco Bike Commute photos with us in our Bike to Work Day Flickr Pool.

Andrea Kissack is Senior Editor for QUEST at KQED Public Radio.

Nobody likes moving. The packing, taping, lifting, shipping… it can be major hassle. But nobody’s experience compares to what’s going on at the California Academy of Sciences. They’re moving to their new 400,000 square-foot building in Golden Gate Park after three years in downtown San Francisco. But they’ve got a lot more to move than most people. Try 38,000 live animals and 20 million scientific specimens.

From fossils and gemstones to bird eggs and a stuffed Kodiak bear, it takes a lot of creativity to pack their collection. Everything seems to have special requirements. Their fish collection is made up of 200,000 jars - all filled with alcohol. And since it’s a flammable liquid, they’ll need a licensed hazmat driver to take it across town.

The live animals take extra care, of course. In this story, we followed the move of three black tip reef sharks. They hadn’t been fed in a few days (so they wouldn’t make any, um, deposits in their holding tank) and they weren’t easy for the staff to catch, but they made it safely to their new exhibit. Even the largest of the three, F3 as she’s known, made it ok, despite being a little groggy at first from too much oxygen.

As curator Bart Shepherd put it, their new Philippine Coral Reef Exhibit is a giant science experiment. The water for the 200,000 gallon tank comes straight from the Pacific Ocean through a four mile pipe. But most impressively, the Academy has been growing coral just for the exhibit. Just managing the water chemistry alone has been a major project, but now several dozen colonies of coral are happily planted in their new home.

Make sure to check out the audio slide show for this story to see how the new building is shaping up. And check out a few of the posts from QUEST science blogger Cat Aboudara, who is an Academy staff member, for more details on what it takes (here, here and here).

Watch the “Moving Day” audio slide show online, as well as find additional links and resources.

Lauren Sommer is an Associate Media Producer for QUEST.

Last week on QUEST, we took a look at the history of the San Francisco Bay’s most dangerous toxin: mercury. This week, now that the mercury is here in the bay, how is it affecting us? The obvious place to go was the Berkeley Marina, one of the bay’s most popular fishing spots. On the day I visited, halibut season had just begun and, even on a Monday morning, the pier was lined with anglers. Halibut contains high levels of mercury, just like other big SF Bay fish but – as you hear in the piece – you wouldn’t know it from talking to the fishermen out that day.

Of course mercury is a problem in many big fish we eat, not just the ones in the San Francisco Bay. Dr. Jane Hightower is one of the leading local doctors diagnosing various levels of mercury poisoning in her patients – many of whom, as she says, do their fishing at places like Whole Foods. We only had time to use a short piece of that interview in the actual story, but anyone who eats fish will want to hear more from Dr. Hightower. A longer version of that interview – including Dr. Hightower’s surprising views on kid staples like canned tuna fish – is right here.

You may listen to the “Mercury in the Bay - Part 2″ Radio report online, as well as find additional links and resources.

Amy Standen is a Reporter for QUEST and Radio News at KQED-FM.

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In honor of Earth Day, we wanted to take a big look at a chronic environmental issue in the Bay Area, tracing it from its origins to the contemporary strategies to solve it. Mercury was the obvious choice: It’s been flowing into the Bay since before California joined the union, and it continues to trickle in from not just the old culprits, like gold and mercury mines, but a modern crop of industries, like refineries and cement kilns. Even little things – like a broken mercury thermometer dumped into the sink – are part of the problem.

The key fact here is how incredibly potent mercury can be: Just one little globule from an old thermometer can poison all the fish in a 45-acre lake, making them unsafe for humans to eat. Mercury pollution is hardly unique to the Bay Area; what makes us interesting is that local officials are making real strides in trying to clean it up. Over the next 17 years or so, we’ll spend $2.6 billion dollars on the project. Even then, we won’t have a clean bay for 120 years.

For a lot of people, mercury pollution in the Bay is largely theoretical, since few stores sell fish caught in the Bay, and relatively few residents fish for their food. But some still do – including many recent immigrants from fishing-intensive cultures like Laos. We’ll look at how mercury affects the health of local fishermen next week.

This piece marks our first-ever audio slide show, and what a difference it makes! We also hope you’ll check out the mercury map above, where you can see how many pounds of mercury come from each of the Bay Area’s five refineries, plus other mercury sources and the bay’s popular fishing spots.

Watch the audio slide show of “Mercury in the Bay” online, as well as find additional links and resources.

Amy Standen is a Reporter for QUEST and Radio News at KQED-FM.

There is a lot we don’t know about our DNA and how it works. While there seems to be news every week about genetics, scientists are still in the early stages of finding out what effect our genes have on us (check out this post from another QUEST blogger, Dr. Barry Starr). That’s what the researchers at the Canine Behavioral Genetics Project are doing. But in this case, they’re looking at dog DNA.

It turns out that human intervention in the form of hundreds of years of dog breeding has created a unique genetic experiment. Because purebred dogs are in essence closed gene pools, it’s much easier for scientists to compare of DNA of dogs within a breed. The Canine Behavioral Genetics Project is doing this to find the genes that are associated with behavioral disorders, like anxiety and fear. They also hope to use that information to find the genes in humans that are associated with similar disorders.

Millions of problematic dogs are given up each year in the U.S. And while the UCSF team definitely believes that training is a huge part of dealing with dog behavioral disorders, they’re also hoping to understand the genetic influences. Many owners are starting to use medications to help treat these problems, like doggie Prozac. But Melanie Chang, a member of the UCSF team, made a good point to me. Owners tend to think their dog’s problems are the owner’s fault. Sometimes there are other forces at work.

Listen to “Doggie DNA: Human Genetics through Dogs” online, as well as find additional links and resources. Also, check out the photo set with behind-the-scenes photos.

Lauren Sommer is an Associate Media Producer for QUEST.

First things first: If you swim in the bay, no need to worry about sharks. None of the experts we spoke to could remember a single instance of someone getting bitten. And you can rest easy about Great Whites too; they don’t seem to have a taste for Bay waters. For more on this, see the Aquarium’s Chris Spaulding’s blog post.

The San Francisco Bay is much more of a mystery to scientists than I, at least, had realized. Why? It’s simply too hard to peer into. There’s no point in scuba diving. The bay is thick with sediment, much of it a legacy of gold mining explosions in the Delta. So if you want to know what’s swimming around in those murky waters, you have to go fishing.

At first glance, this struck me as both laborious and tough on the animals – catch and release may spare lives, but not without putting a lot of stress on whatever’s on the other end of the line. But when you think about how heavily we humans use the bay – sewage leaks, oil spills, urban runoff, coastal development — it becomes clear we have to take a closer look at how its inhabitants are faring. Sharks are at the top of the food chain, which means they’re a great indicator of how everything underneath them is doing.

Of course, tagging is only worth the effort if you catch enough animals to have meaningful data – which means this project requires tenacity on the part of Aquarium researchers. For updates (as well as info on what to do if you catch a tagged shark) check out the Aquarium’s website. Also, here’s the radio piece we did on the same project.

Watch the “Cool Critters: Sharks of the Bay” TV Story online, as well as find additional links and resources. Also don’t miss our behind-the-scenes photos for this story.

Amy Standen is a Reporter for QUEST and Radio News at KQED-FM.

Thought California has consigned coal-burning to the scrap bin? Think again! California has 11 coal-fired power plants, all used to heat limestone into cement — making us one of the biggest cement-producing states in the country. In addition to cement, these kilns produce 95% of the state’s airborne mercury pollution and 2% of its greenhouse gas emissions. Mostly, they’ve slipped under the radar of regulators, but that is changing fast.

You may listen to the “Cement - A Dirty Business” Radio report online, as well as find additional links and resources. Also don’t miss our behind-the-scenes photos for this story.

Amy Standen is a Reporter for QUEST and Radio News at KQED-FM.

Image Source: AdactioThe expected shutdown of this year’s salmon season in California is bad news not only for fishermen but for consumers too. It means that anyone buying wild salmon this year is going to pay some wild prices. There is another choice, of course, cheaper, farmed salmon. But that prospect has some consumers cringing… and it has some fish farmers thinking of new ways to please wild salmon fans. David Gorn has more.


You may listen to the “Wild Prices for Wild Salmon” Radio report online, as well as find additional links and resources.

David Gorn reports for QUEST.

Richmond city officials are expected to approve a controversial upgrade to the Chevron refinery plant. Quest reports on the decision and explores the debate around Chevron’s billion dollar proposal.

You may listen to the “Chevron’s Plans” Radio report online, as well as find additional links and resources.

Amy Standen is a Reporter for QUEST and Radio News at KQED-FM.