Search Results for Santa Clara County

Last year a majority of California voters approved a multi-billion-dollar high-speed rail project. Now comes the hard part: squeezing a 220-mph train system into California's densely populated cities. Some communities that voted in favor of the train now say they don't want it rolling through their neighborhoods. QUEST looks at the stretch between San Francisco and San Jose and how the train might change the local landscape.

Play this Radio Report Air Date: Nov 16, 2009

San José photographer Doug Nomura has learned just how to track his subjects to create arresting photos of birds in flight. He focuses his work on the Bay Trail, a 300-mile trail around the Bay. QUEST joins Nomura on the bayfront in Sunnyvale as he works to photograph the many bird species that call the South Bay's mudflats home, or stop here as part of their migration.

Play this TV Story Air Date: Oct 13, 2009

Stanford University's Drew Endy is a synthetic biologist, or as he puts it, someone who makes biology easier to engineer. He's one of the leading lights of this relatively new scientific field which builds on disciplines like computer science, electrical engineering and genetics. Find out why Endy is passionate about the cutting edge of biology.

Play this TV Story Air Date: Oct 6, 2009

There's a hidden danger in San Francisco Bay: mercury. A potent neurotoxin that can cause serious illness, mercury has been flowing into the Bay since the mining days of the Gold Rush Era. It has settled in the Bay's mud and made its way up the food chain, endangering wildlife and making many fish unsafe to eat. Now a multi-billion-dollar plan aims to clean it up. But will it work?

Play this TV Story Air Date: Oct 6, 2009

Imagine living cells acting as memory devices; biofuels brewing from yeast, or a light receptor taken from algae that makes photographs on a plate of bacteria. With the new science of synthetic biology, the goal is to make biology easier to engineer so that new functions can be derived from living systems.

Play this TV Story Air Date: Jul 21, 2009

Call it Museum 2.0. One of our most traditional institutions is undergoing a 21st century re-design. In an effort to keep up with changing times, more and more museums are turning to Twitter, Wikis and online communities to ask for the public's help in designing their exhibits.

Play this Radio Report Air Date: Jul 13, 2009

NASA scientists in Mountain View are building a spaceship that they will deliberately crash into the moon in 2009, sending up a 37-mile high cloud of debris. Their goal? To possibly find water in the form of ice buried deep within one of the moon's poles.

Play this Radio Report Air Date: Jun 1, 2009

NASA will soon attempt to launch an unusual satellite. Most satellites are the size of a car, but this one is small enough to fit inside a glove compartment. Mini-satellites are reaching space in increasing numbers, thanks also to a do-it-yourself satellite program at Stanford University.

Play this Radio Report Air Date: May 18, 2009

Call them demolition derby astrophysicists: NASA scientists in Mountain View deliberately crashed an unmanned rocket into the moon earlier this year. Their goal? To find water, in the form of ice, which could one day support a moon base. Last Friday, they announced they had found it. QUEST looks at the planning and run-up to the big event.

Play this TV Story Air Date: Apr 7, 2009