What Can Science Offer Hollywood?

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Here's what's happening in our neck of the woods.

1. Meet the man who helps inspire filmmakers with science

The season of summer blockbusters is in full swing. From the rollicking space adventure of "Solo," to the universe-spanning "Avengers: Infinity War," characters are dodging blasters, collecting stones of power and falling in love as their world hangs in peril.

It's a lot of popcorn, and whole lot of fun. It's also a chance to lose yourself in new imaginary worlds.

And in Hollywood, it's not all about getting the science right; it's really about how science can inspire the twists and turns in a great story. KQED Science editor Danielle Venton spoke with the man who helps ignite that inspiration -- Rick Loverd, program director of the Science & Entertainment Exchange, a project of the National Academy of Sciences.

Loverd helped "Black Panther" movie makers conceive the city of Wakanda, for example, finding architects, city planners and anthropologists to contribute to a document the crew used as a reference for the history, culture and layout of Wakanda.

"While we're happy to help at anytime," Loverd said, "we're most excited by those projects where a screenwriter calls us up and says, 'Hey, I just had an idea. It involves time travel and I'd love to talk to a scientist.'"

2. This Central Valley restaurant helps satisfy a longing for home in Oaxaca

In the Central Valley town of Madera, a family business called the Gateway Market sells hats, water coolers, buckets and bags to hold picked fruit. All supplies that local farmworkers need. Some farm labor contractors hand out paychecks here, which workers cash right at the counter.

And tucked into a corner of the market is a restaurant, Colectivo Sabor a Mi Tierra, co-owned by Sylvia Rojas and Rosa Hernandez. The two women have forged an alternative path to farm work while offering the many indigenous Mexicans in this part of the Central Valley a taste of Oaxaca.

For the series California Foodways, Lisa Morehouse tells us how this restaurant helps satisfy a longing for home.

3. San Francisco Mayor-elect London Breed hits the ground smiling

San Francisco Mayor-elect London Breed started her first full day with a celebratory press conference at her former elementary school and fit in an exclusive interview with KQED, where she talked about how she'll tackle the city's most pressing challenges.

“The city has more layers of process and bureaucracy than we can stand. What I need to do is learn patience, and that I can’t get everything done in a day,” Breed said. “It’s just a natural part of my personality. If I see a pothole for example, I want the pothole fixed like now. We have so many challenges like that in the city. It’s not as if someone’s sitting around doing nothing. There’s just a lot of work to be done.”

4. With PG&E implicated in the North Bay wildfire catastrophe, what does that mean for its future?

After the June 8 announcement by state fire officials that equipment owned by PG&E, California’s largest utility, was involved in nearly all of the deadly fires that swept through the North Bay last fall, a battle over who will pay for the damage -- and what that means for the company's future -- is reaching a fever pitch.

Investigators still haven’t said what caused the biggest and deadliest of the October blazes, the Tubbs Fire. But the initial findings raise questions about who will foot the bill for the more than $11 billion in damage caused by the fires. And they are fueling a debate over whether state laws need to change to protect the utility from financial ruin and customers from future disasters.

Follow KQED's investigation into the Northern Bay fires.

5. Photos: Warriors fans fill downtown Oakland after another championship

Confetti was in the air once again in downtown Oakland on Tuesday as hundreds of thousands of Golden State Warriors fans lined the parade route to celebrate back-to-back NBA championships.

Tons of fans attended the festivities to celebrate the 2018 Warriors championship, the team's third in four years.

The parade began at Broadway and 11th Street in Oakland and traveled north before continuing along Lake Merritt. Unlike previous years, there was no rally following the parade. Instead, this year's parade was slower moving and many of the players — including Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Nick Young and Jordan Bell — got off their double-decker buses to interact with the screaming fans.