Bring it on! A healthy dose of epicatechin, serotonin, caffeine, theobromine, phenylethylamine, and polyphenolsThe scientific name for chocolate, Theobroma, translates to “food of the gods.” This delectable confection has been worshipped for centuries and the fervor for this sweet treat hasn’t abated yet. Scientists have been studying the putative health benefits of dark chocolate for over a decade, and their studies are showing that it shouldn’t necessarily be regarded as a guilty indulgence.

As seen in our QUEST story, "The Sweet Science of Chocolate," UCSF’s Mary Engler conducted a clinical trial that showed that a plant-based flavonoid, epicatechin, helped to promote healthy blood flow in healthy patients.

Other researchers in the late ‘90’s, such as Adam Drenowski at the University of Washington, found that chocolate helps trigger the release of endorphins, while Daniele Piomelli of UC Irvine, conducted research on cannabinoids found in chocolate.

And recent research suggested that chocolate could even be good for your memory. There are other compounds present in chocolate which may have beneficial effects on your mind and body, such as serotonin, caffeine, theobromine, phenylethylamine, and polyphenols. Who knows what future chocolate research may yield, but in the meantime– no joke here– you might even be pumping chocolate-based fuels into your gas tank!

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Artwork from Jules Verne’s 1865 novel, From the Earth to the MoonLaunching a spacecraft bound for the Moon with the deliberate intention of striking the Moon in a spectacular impact!

Sounds like something out of a Jules Verne novel… but that's exactly what NASA's up to this year with the upcoming LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite) mission, scheduled for launch on June 2nd and impact sometime in October– exact date TBA.

And it's not unprecedented, either: the Lunar Prospector spacecraft back in 1998/1999, whose instruments detected possible signs of water ice in craters around the Moon's poles, was crashed into the Moon's South Pole at the end of its mission. The aim was to blast up a cloud of material from the lunar surface and spectroscopically analyze the plume in search of water vapor. None was detected then, but that's where LCROSS comes in.

LCROSS will seek to verify the presence or absence of water ice and related hydrated materials buried at the bottom of a permanently shadowed crater floor on the Moon's South Pole. Water ice cannot persist on any part of the Moon's surface that is subjected to sunlight, but because of the Moon's low axial tilt with respect to the ecliptic (the Sun's apparent annual path in the sky)– only about 1.5 degrees– there are craters at the Moon's poles whose floors never see the light of day, all month long and year round. Water ice could persist near the surface in these places.

LCROSS consists of two pieces: a "Shepherding Spacecraft" that will guide the whole affair to the proper location on the Moon's South Pole, and the Centaur rocket stage that propelled the spacecraft to the Moon. The pair will separate, and the Centaur rocket will become the primary impactor, striking ground and producing a crater and plume of ejected material. Viewing the event from above, the Shepherding Spacecraft will use cameras and other instruments to analyze the plume from a distance, and will then follow the same course as the Centaur, descending four minutes after impact through the ejected plume and analyzing material samples as it falls.

Then, the Shepherding Spacecraft, too, will impact the Moon– and the plume it kicks up may well be visible through modest sized telescopes on Earth. We're planning to watch the explosion live through our telescopes at Chabot, weather permitting. Keep an eye on our website for details.

Now, back to Jules Verne for a moment. The launching of a projectile with the intent of striking the Moon was indeed the subject of one of his novels, From the Earth to the Moon, published in 1865. Fired from an enormous cannon, the goal of that post Civil War mission was to catch the attention of anyone living on the Moon, to open up a line of communication with their civilization.

My wife asked me if crashing a probe into the Moon would have any harmful effects, particularly if in fact there is any form of life (subsurface microbes or such) living there. Well, certainly, if you happen to be a lifeform living at ground zero of the impact… but the fact is the Moon is frequently struck by meteorites much larger than the LCROSS impactor anyway. To paraphrase Douglas Adams, "that kind of thing goes on all the time."

One last fun tidbit about the Jules Verne novel: the launch site for his cannon-fired projectile was a place in Florida, 50 miles south of Tampa Bay, and only about 135 miles from the Kennedy Space Center, from which LCROSS will be launched…

Today, the National Research Council issued its long-awaited report on the Drakes Bay Oyster Company – is their operation harming the environment or not?

For those following the controversy (background: Oysters on the Outs, Sep 28, 2007) – and few Marin County land use issues have ignited local passions the way this one has – the report may seem to settle some scores.

Speaking to KQED Public Radio, the study’s lead scientist, Charles Peterson, said "We evaluated all the science in Drakes Estero… and from that concluded that there is no major impact of the Drakes Estero mariculture on the ecosystem of Drakes Estero."

This is contrary to initial findings from the National Park Service, which had sought to shut down the longstanding oyster operation. According to the Park Service, oysters, a non-native species, coat the bay floor in feces and harm other, native wildlife such as eelgrass and harbor seals. After protests from the oyster company and many of its neighbors, the Park Service and Senator Diane Feinstein tapped the National Research Council to take an independent look.

Now, it's up to the Park Service to decide how to react to the NRC's study.

You may listen to the original "Oysters on the Outs" radio report online, as well as find additional links and resources. Also see additional photos for that radio report.

A scale model of the LCROSS payload.

Update: This Friday morning, October 9th at 4:30AM PDT, the upper stage of the Centaur rocket carrying LCROSS will smash into a crater near the moon's south pole. The LCROSS spacecraft will follow close behind, making measurements and taking images of the emerging lunar debris before it too meets its dramatic end. Soon thereafter, we may learn if water can in fact be mined from the dark, cold lunar depths. For you moon junkies, NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field is also hosting an "LCROSS Impact Night"this Thursday, beginning at 7PM.

With a price tag of 80 million dollars and a little more than two years in the making, the LCROSS spacecraft will begin its voyage atop an Atlas V rocket. Shortly thereafter it will shepherd the upper stage of the rocket in an orbit around the moon to position it in place for a colossal impact that will kick up a cloud of lunar dust forty miles high. The goal is to see if water exists on the moon and if it does, buried deep beneath the lunar soil, accumulating over millions of years of impacts with comets, it would accelerate our efforts to establish a permanent lunar base. Think of it as a rest stop to refuel (oxygen is an essential ingredient of rocket fuel) before arriving at the next closest planetary body, Mars, a journey which takes roughly 600 days, or 200 times longer than a trip currently to the Moon from Earth.

The avid QUEST viewer may recall that we covered the LCROSS mission in the first episode of QUEST back in 2007. A lot has happened since then, including most notably a change in the launch date which at the time of this post was scheduled for May 20th, 2009. Peter Schultz's vertical gun range has been outfitted with some dizzyingly high-tech cameras, which are capable of recording at tens of thousands of frames per second (one can record at one million frames per second) to capture the most minute progressions of the lunar impact simulations performed with the thirty-foot tall vertical gun. The suite of nine instruments aboard LCROSS, known as its "payload", has been mercilessly subjected to thermal, vibration and acoustic testing to make sure they can withstand the effects of launch and the harsh celestial environment. And then there's the spacecraft itself which we weren't able to show you in 2007 because the spacecraft still had to be transformed from a set of designs into a compact, robust structure the size of a small car by a team of sharp, young Northrop Grumman engineers. Moreover, amateur astronomers, armed with telescopes ten inches or more, are now being encouraged by NASA to share their images of LCROSS' historic lunar impact.

One of the most impressive attributes of the LCROSS mission is its rapid turnaround and cost containment which in turn highlight the innovative production model that was essential in making LCROSS a reality. Imagine the spirit of Silicon Valley, with its entrepreneurial zeal and efficiency, fusing with some of the sharpest minds in astrophysics and aeronautical engineering, and you have a glimpse of the unique nature of this small but nimble mission which just may forever change our understanding of the moon and its secrets.

Watch the LCROSS Rocket to the Moon" television story online.

Our new "Donate Now" screen at the end of our stories
makes it a snap to support QUEST.You've heard it before – KQED runs on donations from our viewers and listeners. More than half of our budget comes from people like you, and this is what makes it extremely special in our community.

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!

I love my dog. For the past ten years, through thick and thin, Brodie has been my happy sidekick, trusted confidant, eager hiking partner and beloved friend. Most of all the kid makes me laugh. He is, I am prone to say, "a glorious twit!" And even though he is getting up in years he can still out-swim, out-surf and out-dig any dog on the beach. I am fat with the tales and wagging tails of our adventures and misadventures. He was the chaperone when my wife and I had our first date. And if I had my way he would have been the ring-bearer at our wedding. My daughter's first word was "Bro-die!" And it swells my heart each morning when he pads into her room, and she sleepily exclaims "Woof-woof." He is simply a valued and integral part of my family.

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.

My favorite Make projects all seem to have something to do with things that other people might say "Don't try this at home." In this case we went out to the Make Magazine "Test Lab" to learn how to make a small steel ball fly across the room using magnets… good clean fun in my book. This Make project called "Gauss Rifle" by Simon Quellen Field is actually a really good way to demonstrate the transfer of kinetic energy from one object to another. When each nickel-plated steel ball hits one of the lined up magnets, its kinetic energy is passed on to the next ball in the line, making it move to the next magnet. The energy builds up with each collision until the last ball bearing is shot across the room. I keep thinking about when my brother and I played croquet in our backyard growing up and I'd send his croquet ball flying across the yard.

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.

When we think of beautiful underwater environments, most of us immediately let our minds wander to the tropics. Vibrant coral reefs with exotic multicolored fish and crystal clear bathtub-warm water. But it should be known that the undersea world off the California coast is no less beautiful and no less vivid. If fact, it is one of the most diverse underwater environments on the planet.

But even though it's in our own backyard, this place remains mostly unknown… probably due to its chilly temperatures. Let's face it, most of us are not donning our masks and snorkels and swimming in the hypothermic Pacific Ocean off our coast.

Lucky for us, some intrepid scientists and students are diving into this amazing place. Their job is to monitor how the ecosystems are responding to the new restrictions and protections taking place in the Marine Protected Areas. They gave us an amazing opportunity to see the natural world beneath the surface. And the world they shared with QUEST is truly inspiring. Playful harbor seals tease the divers while they weave through the gently swaying kelp forests. Fish dart through the rays of sunshine that cascades down to where starfish slowly go about their day. Through the eyes of these scientists, we witness the undersea life in bloom. They clearly have one of the best offices to go to work to each day.

Watch the Underwater Wilderness: Creating Marine Protected Areas television story report online.

The term "artificial intelligence", was coined in the summer of 1956, on the bucolic grounds of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. There, John McCarthy (who would later go on to teach at Stanford), Marvin Minsky, Claude Shannon, Nathan Rochester and six other conference participants came together to lay out the framework for this exciting new field which would "…find how to make machines use language, form abstractions and concepts, solve kinds of problems now reserved for humans, and improve themselves." (McCarthy et al., 1955)

Though it was McCarthy who persuaded his nine other colleagues at the conference to adopt the term "artificial intelligence" to describe the nascent field, the seeds of artificial intelligence were planted earlier. Alan Turing, who was instrumental in breaking the German's Enigma code during WWII, published a paper in 1950 that laid out what came to be known as the "Turing Test:" if a machine could carry out a conversation with a human in such a sophisticated manner as to trick the human into thinking that he or she was conversing with another human, then the machine would have displayed true "intelligence."

But nearly 60 years later, the world still awaits a machine capable of exhibiting "general A.I.", instead of the "narrow A.I." demonstrated by IBM's chess-playing Deep Blue or Stanford University's Stanley, an autonomous robotic vehicle, or other impressive albeit limited applications of A.I. For example, Deep Blue may be able to beat Gary Kasparov at chess but can it beat a 10 year-old at a game of checkers? The lack of a general A.I. is made even more stark when juxtaposed with Moore's Law, a maxim that goes back to 1965 when Intel founder Gordon Moore postulated that the number of transistors on a computer chip would double roughly every 18 months.

There's even a term – "Singularity" – that is being used to describe the moment when technological progress will leapfrog and herald the creation of computers that not only achieve human-like intelligence, but also give rise to a progeny of computers who will be smarter then their digital forbears. Though he didn't coin the term (sci-fi writer Vernor Vinge did), the most famous exponent of this belief is inventor Ray Kurzweil. He places the Singularity as occurring sometime before 2050 and believes that with the advent of this unheralded technological progress, mankind may solve some of our society's most pressing ills, such as global warming, and even conquer death, by uploading one's consciousness into a virtual medium.

Though this seems a far stretch from engineering a domestic robot like Stanford's Artificial Intelligence Robot, top A.I. researchers like Stanford's Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller do believe that computing systems will some day be as smart or smarter than humans. When I spoke with Dharmendra Modha about his work into cognitive computing at IBM, he talked effusively about creating an "i-Brain," a digital accessory that people could carry around, making decisions and processing information like its human cousin. But if you're like me, and lament those moments when you've misplaced your keys or other instances of poor neural performance, you can't help but think that such a device can't arrive soon enough. On second thought, I'll wait until v2.0 hits the shelves.

Watch the Artificial Intelligence: Thinking Big television story report online.

And don't miss our Web Extra: A Dose of A.I. In this QUEST web exclusive, Stanford University computer science professor and artificial intelligence (A.I.) researcher Daphne Koller provides an elegant explanation of how A.I. can be employed in the examining room to diagnose a patient's illness more accurately than a human clinician. Find out more and learn how medical diagnosis is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to tasks that rely on making sense of a sea of data to arrive at an informed conclusion.

Testing for Down syndrome may get much safer in the near futureA new study out from Stanford (yay Stanford!) promises to revolutionize prenatal testing. Instead of looking at a fetus’ cells, the test looks at mom’s blood. More specifically, it looks at the small amounts of fetal DNA found in her blood.

This test will get around the small but very real risk of miscarriage that comes with more invasive forms of testing like amniocentesis. Instead of inserting a needle through mom’s belly and into the amniotic sac, a doctor will insert a needle into her arm. This is obviously much safer for the fetus.

The test won’t be able to find everything though. It can’t find subtle genetic mutations like those that cause cystic fibrosis or sickle cell anemia.

What the test can do is identify fetuses with extra chromosomes. This is one of the main reasons women get prenatal testing–to screen for diseases like Down, Edward's or Patau syndrome. Each one of these is due to an extra chromosome that the test can detect.

The test is actually marvelously simple. A sample of blood is taken from mom and the cells are removed. The researchers then take a close look at the DNA that is left behind. Most of this DNA comes from mom but some comes from the fetus too.

The researchers then figure out what millions of bits of the DNA look like. Next they match the bits of DNA to the chromosomes they came from. If more of the DNA bits match a certain chromosome than expected, then there is most likely an extra copy of that particular chromosome.

Think about it this way. Imagine a bag full of 23 different colored marbles where each color represents one human chromosome. You pull out marbles millions of times and then tally up the colors you get. (This can either be a ginormous bag or you can put the marbles back in once you pick one.)

If you pick more blue marbles, then there were probably more blue ones in the bag to start with. Of course this only works if you pick marbles many, many times.

Instead of using marbles, the researchers looked at the millions of bits of DNA they collected. They found that if there was an extra chromosome, then DNA bits from that chromosome were overrepresented. For example, they found that the 9 Down syndrome pregnancies they looked at had anywhere from 4-18% more chromosome 21 DNA than normal pregnancies*.

The 4% number was good enough to find pregnancies with extra chromosomes in this small study. They’ll need to repeat it in a larger study to turn this great idea into a diagnostic test for the public.

The test costs about 700 dollars to run right now but as sequencing gets cheaper (and it will), that cost should go way down. Also, right now they had to wait for the 14th week (which is a bit earlier than the 15-18 weeks for an amnio). Hopefully they’ll be able to improve the method to get testing done even earlier.

*The reason they didn’t get 50% more (as you might expect from having an extra chromosome) is that the fetal DNA made up only a small fraction of the DNA in the sample. In other words, most of the DNA was mom's.