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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"big-cap-wrap\">\u003cspan class=\"big-cap\">R\u003c/span>\u003c/span>egeneron Pharmaceuticals said Monday that a single administration of its monoclonal antibody cocktail reduced the risk that volunteers exposed to COVID-19 would develop the disease by 81%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study enrolled 1,500 healthy volunteers, each of whom shared a home with someone who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, and randomized them to receive a single dose of its antibody treatment, given subcutaneously as four shots, or placebo. After 29 days, 11 patients in the treatment group developed COVID-19 compared to 59 on placebo. And for the subjects who got COVID-19 despite treatment, their symptoms resolved after one week, compared to three weeks for those on placebo. In 204 patients who had already tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus at the study’s outset, the injection reduced their chances of progressing to symptomatic COVID-19 by 31%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The results were made public in a press release and will be published in a scientific journal or presented at a medical meeting at a later date.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those results mirror similar results seen in a study conducted by Eli Lilly of its monoclonal antibody in nursing homes. One key difference: While in previous studies by both Lilly and Regeneron, antibodies had to be given intravenously, in this one Regeneron used a formulation that could be given with an under-the-skin injection. Lilly is also exploring a subcutaneous injection of its antibodies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s “a really, really big deal,” said Myron Cohen, director of the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases at the University of North Carolina and one of the study’s lead investigators. He said that having to start an IV is “unequivocally” one of the barriers to using the antibodies either for treatment or prevention. The other barrier? Awareness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In order for these antibodies to be used for treatment and prevention and for treatment as prevention, we need the patients or their families familiar with the opportunity,” Cohen said. “We need health providers to be familiar with these drugs and comfortable administering them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And why do we need antibodies when there are already vaccines? Dan Barouch, the director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and a key figure in the development of the J&J vaccine and another investigator in Regeneron’s study, said that the approaches are “complementary.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As of now, there are still substantial numbers of people who are not fully vaccinated,” Barouch said. What’s more, some people, including those with compromised immune systems, might not generate enough antibodies one their own — and could benefit from antibodies that are injected into their bodies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some circumstances, say, an outbreak at a nursing home, the monoclonal antibodies, which start working immediately, could be the better approach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adverse events occurred in 20% of those who received the antibody cocktail and 29% of those who received placebo. None of the antibody cocktail recipients were hospitalized, but four volunteers in the placebo group were. Injection site reactions occurred in 4% of those who received the antibody and 2% of those who received placebo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Regeneron said 35% of study volunteers were Latinx and 5% were Black. About a third had at least one risk factor that would put them at high risk if they developed COVID-19. A third were obese, and 38% were over 50.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This \u003ca href=\"https://www.statnews.com/2021/04/12/regeneron-antibody-cocktail-covid-simple-injection/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">story\u003c/a> was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://www.statnews.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">STAT\u003c/a>, an online publication of Boston Globe Media that covers health, medicine and scientific discovery.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cp>If you’ve been following the coronavirus headlines lately, you’ve likely been hearing a lot about new coronavirus variants. As a result, you may be freaking out, experiencing pandemic fatigue or be just plain confused.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='medium' align='right' citation='Dr. Robert Siegel, Stanford University']‘The vaccines are so wildly effective, they produce such a strong immune response that the variants that exist now, even the ones that are slightly better at spreading, they all seem to be susceptible to the vaccine.’[/pullquote]Doctors have called some coronavirus variants highly concerning — but there are things you can do to protect yourself against infection, like getting the vaccine when you’re eligible and doubling down on your masking and distancing habits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We consulted medical experts Dr. Robert Siegel, professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford, and Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, professor of medicine and infectious disease specialist at UCSF, as well as CDC guidance, on what you need to know about variants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What is a variant?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Viruses are constantly changing. When a virus hijacks a host cell and replicates, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/health/coronavirus-variant-tracker.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">mistakes occur\u003c/a> so that the genetic makeup of the copies isn’t exactly the same as the original. These errors are called mutations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The more times that the virus copies itself, the more viruses that are made, the more mistakes that are made,” Siegel said. “Variants are just [viruses with] collections of mutations. So they inevitably arise as long as there’s lots of people that are infected making virus.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists can track variants by looking for a distinct set of inherited mutations. In addition to an alphanumeric string, coronavirus variants are often referred to by the part of the world where they were first observed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Siegel says the emergence of variants is “basically normal for all viruses.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Do variants change the way the virus behaves?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many variants have no effect on the behavior of a virus. But as mutations accumulate, errors can occur in parts of the virus’s genetic material that alter its physical properties and behavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These changes may affect where and how strongly a virus binds to host cells, its ability to evade an immune response, how fast it can copy itself or how easy it is for someone to transmit the virus to another person.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thus, some variants may persist longer, become more infectious or be more resistant to antibodies or vaccines than others. If you think about it, we’re all familiar with this basic truth about viruses because it’s why the annual flu vaccine is more effective one year and less in another year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like all viruses, those that cause the flu change constantly — in fact, says Siegel, influenza makes far more mistakes when it copies than the coronavirus. The more errors a virus makes, the more mutations and the more variants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each year, scientists around the world \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/vaccine-selection.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">track them\u003c/a> to see which influenza viruses are making people sick, how quickly or widely they’re spreading, and how well the previous year’s vaccine works against them. More than 100 countries participate in this work, tracking thousands of test samples of the virus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every February, the WHO gathers representatives from its own and the world’s top labs and national academies and recommends which viruses should be included in the annual flu vaccine. Each country then makes its own final decision. But it’s difficult to predict the spread and timing of flu viruses, so each year’s flu vaccine is more or less effective depending on factors such as what influenza virus shows up and when.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Are coronavirus variants more dangerous than the original virus?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In short, it depends on the variant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Siegel says the vast majority of coronavirus variants don’t increase the virus’s ability to spread. Some, like the British \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7003e2.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">B.1.1.7 variant\u003c/a>, have been shown to be more contagious than the original coronavirus. Others, like the \u003ca href=\"https://www.krisp.org.za/publications.php?pubid=316\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">South African\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)00183-5/fulltext\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brazilian\u003c/a> variants, have mutations that research suggests make them somewhat more resistant to some treatments or vaccines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More transmissible variants, Dr. Siegel says, are potentially of greater concern because of how rapidly they can spread through the population.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For a virus, he said, “Winning the game is not necessarily making a variant that is more dangerous, it’s just making a variant that can spread more.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vaccines used in the U.S. appear to protect against all known coronavirus variants — even more antibody-resistant variants — and the key to ending the pandemic is controlling the spread.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chin-Hong says the British variant is probably the most troubling of the variants out there. “It seems to be the bulldog of the variants,” he says. “Wherever it goes, it sets up shop and it bullies all the other variants.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists are still studying why, but Chin-Hong says one hypothesis is that people infected with the B.1.1.7 variant appear to shed the virus for longer and have more copies of the virus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Do vaccines work well against variants?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In short, yes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The vaccines are so wildly effective,” Siegel said. “They produce such a strong immune response that the variants that exist now, even the ones that are slightly better at spreading, they all seem to be susceptible to the vaccine.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While a handful of variants, particularly the South African variant, appear to be somewhat more resistant, \u003ca href=\"https://investors.modernatx.com/news-releases/news-release-details/moderna-covid-19-vaccine-retains-neutralizing-activity-against\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">data suggest\u003c/a> vaccines authorized for use in the U.S. are still effective at preventing serious illness and death.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They still seem to be able to keep people out of the ICU,” Siegel said, “still seem to be able to keep people from dying.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chin-Hong adds that two vaccines not authorized for use in the U.S., AstraZeneca and Novavax, may be less effective against some variants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Overall, how concerned are health experts about new variants? What can I do to protect myself?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The CDC \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/transmission/variant.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">classifies coronavirus variants\u003c/a> into three categories: Variant of Interest (VOI), Variant of Concern (VOC), and Variant of High Consequence (VOHC). There are currently no VOHC and five VOCs in the United States.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The variant that he’s most worried about, Siegel says, “is the variant that we haven’t seen yet.” He says that’s because we’re only now at the point with vaccine and infection rates that an immune resistant variant could emerge from the rest. Scientists call these “escape variants.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He adds that with less than half the population vaccinated, there’s still a real risk for unvaccinated people to get the coronavirus unless they continue to protect themselves with masking and social distancing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Not only do they have to be just as safe as they were,” he said. “They actually have to be safer because they might encounter a strain that’s more contagious.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With more transmissible variants like B.1.1.7 out there, Chin-Hong said that compared to a year ago, a person in their 30s is more likely to catch the virus from an infected person if you share an elevator. Unless, that is, you’re vaccinated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Silver lining number one is the vaccines will work,” Chin-Hong said. “Silver lining number two is we know what to do even if we don’t have a vaccine.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With the finish line so close at hand in terms of if you’re going to get vaccinated in two weeks,” Siegel added, “You don’t want to get infected now.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "The three vaccines approved in the U.S. -- Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson -- are all effective against the coronavirus variants. As the virus mutates, it's a race against time to stop the spread of the pandemic.",
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"description": "The three vaccines approved in the U.S. -- Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson -- are all effective against the coronavirus variants. As the virus mutates, it's a race against time to stop the spread of the pandemic.",
"title": "COVID Variants, Vaccines and Staying Safe: What You Should Know | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>If you’ve been following the coronavirus headlines lately, you’ve likely been hearing a lot about new coronavirus variants. As a result, you may be freaking out, experiencing pandemic fatigue or be just plain confused.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘The vaccines are so wildly effective, they produce such a strong immune response that the variants that exist now, even the ones that are slightly better at spreading, they all seem to be susceptible to the vaccine.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Doctors have called some coronavirus variants highly concerning — but there are things you can do to protect yourself against infection, like getting the vaccine when you’re eligible and doubling down on your masking and distancing habits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We consulted medical experts Dr. Robert Siegel, professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford, and Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, professor of medicine and infectious disease specialist at UCSF, as well as CDC guidance, on what you need to know about variants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What is a variant?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Viruses are constantly changing. When a virus hijacks a host cell and replicates, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/health/coronavirus-variant-tracker.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">mistakes occur\u003c/a> so that the genetic makeup of the copies isn’t exactly the same as the original. These errors are called mutations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The more times that the virus copies itself, the more viruses that are made, the more mistakes that are made,” Siegel said. “Variants are just [viruses with] collections of mutations. So they inevitably arise as long as there’s lots of people that are infected making virus.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists can track variants by looking for a distinct set of inherited mutations. In addition to an alphanumeric string, coronavirus variants are often referred to by the part of the world where they were first observed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Siegel says the emergence of variants is “basically normal for all viruses.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Do variants change the way the virus behaves?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many variants have no effect on the behavior of a virus. But as mutations accumulate, errors can occur in parts of the virus’s genetic material that alter its physical properties and behavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These changes may affect where and how strongly a virus binds to host cells, its ability to evade an immune response, how fast it can copy itself or how easy it is for someone to transmit the virus to another person.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thus, some variants may persist longer, become more infectious or be more resistant to antibodies or vaccines than others. If you think about it, we’re all familiar with this basic truth about viruses because it’s why the annual flu vaccine is more effective one year and less in another year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like all viruses, those that cause the flu change constantly — in fact, says Siegel, influenza makes far more mistakes when it copies than the coronavirus. The more errors a virus makes, the more mutations and the more variants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each year, scientists around the world \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/vaccine-selection.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">track them\u003c/a> to see which influenza viruses are making people sick, how quickly or widely they’re spreading, and how well the previous year’s vaccine works against them. More than 100 countries participate in this work, tracking thousands of test samples of the virus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every February, the WHO gathers representatives from its own and the world’s top labs and national academies and recommends which viruses should be included in the annual flu vaccine. Each country then makes its own final decision. But it’s difficult to predict the spread and timing of flu viruses, so each year’s flu vaccine is more or less effective depending on factors such as what influenza virus shows up and when.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Are coronavirus variants more dangerous than the original virus?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In short, it depends on the variant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Siegel says the vast majority of coronavirus variants don’t increase the virus’s ability to spread. Some, like the British \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7003e2.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">B.1.1.7 variant\u003c/a>, have been shown to be more contagious than the original coronavirus. Others, like the \u003ca href=\"https://www.krisp.org.za/publications.php?pubid=316\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">South African\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)00183-5/fulltext\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brazilian\u003c/a> variants, have mutations that research suggests make them somewhat more resistant to some treatments or vaccines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More transmissible variants, Dr. Siegel says, are potentially of greater concern because of how rapidly they can spread through the population.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For a virus, he said, “Winning the game is not necessarily making a variant that is more dangerous, it’s just making a variant that can spread more.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vaccines used in the U.S. appear to protect against all known coronavirus variants — even more antibody-resistant variants — and the key to ending the pandemic is controlling the spread.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chin-Hong says the British variant is probably the most troubling of the variants out there. “It seems to be the bulldog of the variants,” he says. “Wherever it goes, it sets up shop and it bullies all the other variants.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists are still studying why, but Chin-Hong says one hypothesis is that people infected with the B.1.1.7 variant appear to shed the virus for longer and have more copies of the virus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Do vaccines work well against variants?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In short, yes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The vaccines are so wildly effective,” Siegel said. “They produce such a strong immune response that the variants that exist now, even the ones that are slightly better at spreading, they all seem to be susceptible to the vaccine.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While a handful of variants, particularly the South African variant, appear to be somewhat more resistant, \u003ca href=\"https://investors.modernatx.com/news-releases/news-release-details/moderna-covid-19-vaccine-retains-neutralizing-activity-against\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">data suggest\u003c/a> vaccines authorized for use in the U.S. are still effective at preventing serious illness and death.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They still seem to be able to keep people out of the ICU,” Siegel said, “still seem to be able to keep people from dying.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chin-Hong adds that two vaccines not authorized for use in the U.S., AstraZeneca and Novavax, may be less effective against some variants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Overall, how concerned are health experts about new variants? What can I do to protect myself?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The CDC \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/transmission/variant.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">classifies coronavirus variants\u003c/a> into three categories: Variant of Interest (VOI), Variant of Concern (VOC), and Variant of High Consequence (VOHC). There are currently no VOHC and five VOCs in the United States.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The variant that he’s most worried about, Siegel says, “is the variant that we haven’t seen yet.” He says that’s because we’re only now at the point with vaccine and infection rates that an immune resistant variant could emerge from the rest. Scientists call these “escape variants.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He adds that with less than half the population vaccinated, there’s still a real risk for unvaccinated people to get the coronavirus unless they continue to protect themselves with masking and social distancing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Not only do they have to be just as safe as they were,” he said. “They actually have to be safer because they might encounter a strain that’s more contagious.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With more transmissible variants like B.1.1.7 out there, Chin-Hong said that compared to a year ago, a person in their 30s is more likely to catch the virus from an infected person if you share an elevator. Unless, that is, you’re vaccinated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Silver lining number one is the vaccines will work,” Chin-Hong said. “Silver lining number two is we know what to do even if we don’t have a vaccine.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "'Gold Standard' Data Shows Much Longer Droughts in West",
"headTitle": "‘Gold Standard’ Data Shows Much Longer Droughts in West | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Rainstorms grew more erratic and droughts much longer across most of the U.S. West over the past half-century as climate change warmed the planet, according to a sweeping government study released Tuesday that concludes the situation is worsening.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_19310\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 610px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2014/07/7-9-14-Glenbrook-Bear-on-Beach-Euthenized.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-19310\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2014/07/7-9-14-Glenbrook-Bear-on-Beach-Euthenized.jpg\" alt=\"The drought is driving hungry bears like this one out of the woods and down to Lake Tahoe. (Courtesy of Nevada Department of Wildlife)\" width=\"610\" height=\"610\" />\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In 2014, a drought drove hungry bears out of the woods and down to Lake Tahoe. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Nevada Department of Wildlife)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The most dramatic changes were recorded in the desert Southwest, where the average dry period between rainstorms grew from about 30 days in the 1970s to 45 days between storms now, said Joel Biederman, a research hydrologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Southwest Watershed Research Center in Tucson, Arizona.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The consequences of the intense dry periods that pummeled areas of the West in recent years were severe — more intense and dangerous wildfires, parched croplands and not enough vegetation to support livestock and wildlife. And the problem appears to be accelerating, with rainstorms becoming increasingly unpredictable, and more areas showing longer intervals between storms since the turn of the century compared to prior decades, the study concludes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study comes with almost two-thirds of the contiguous U.S. beset by abnormally dry conditions. Warm temperatures forecast for the next several months could make it the worst spring drought in almost a decade, affecting roughly 74 million people across the U.S., the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water-use cutbacks, damaged wheat crops, more fires and lower reservoirs in California and the Southwest are possible, weather service and agriculture officials have warned. Climate scientists are calling what’s happening in the West a continuation of a “megadrought” that started in 1999.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While previous research documented a decline in total rainfall for much of the West, the work by Biederman and colleagues put more focus on when that rain occurs. That has significant implications for how much water is available for agriculture and plants such as grasses that have shallow roots and need a steadier supply of moisture than large trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Once the growing season starts, the total amount of rainfall is important. But if it comes in just a few large storms, with really long dry periods in between, that can have really detrimental consequences,” study co-author Biederman said in an interview.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The total amount of rain in a year doesn’t matter to plants — especially if rains come mostly in heavy bursts with large runoff — but consistent moisture is what keeps them alive, said UCLA meteorologist Daniel Swain, who writes a weather blog about the West and was not part of the study.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new findings were published in the journal \u003cem>Geophysical Research Letters\u003c/em>. Researchers led by University of Arizona climate scientist Fangyue Zhang compiled daily readings going back to 1976 from 337 weather stations across the western U.S. and analyzed rainfall and drought data to identify the changing patterns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other parts of the region that saw longer and more variable droughts included the southwest Rocky Mountains, the Colorado Plateau and the Central Plains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rainfall study is in line with data that shows climate change already is affecting the planet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Climate models project that the American Southwest is very likely to experience more frequent and more severe droughts,” said William Anderegg, a University of Utah biologist and climate scientist. “This study and other recent work demonstrates that this dry down has already begun.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The weather station data that was used in the study represents “the gold standard’ for an accurate understanding of changes being driven by climate change, said Christopher Field, an Earth systems scientist and director of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Park Williams — who studies changes in water, wildfires and climate at UCLA — cautioned more work was needed to see if the rainfall trends since the 1970s reflect a longer-term natural cycle or are tied to human-caused warming. Regardless, the combination of longer dry spells and warmer temperatures almost certainly adds to increased wildfire size, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Northwestern states were largely spared from the accelerating cycles of drought. The researchers observed higher annual rainfall totals and shorter drought intervals in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and portions of Montana, Wyoming and the Dakotas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s consistent with predicted alterations in weather patterns driven by climate change in which the jet stream that brings moisture from the Pacific Ocean shifts northward, they said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Rainstorms grew more erratic and droughts much longer across most of the U.S. West over the past half-century as climate change warmed the planet, according to a sweeping government study released Tuesday that concludes the situation is worsening.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_19310\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 610px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2014/07/7-9-14-Glenbrook-Bear-on-Beach-Euthenized.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-19310\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2014/07/7-9-14-Glenbrook-Bear-on-Beach-Euthenized.jpg\" alt=\"The drought is driving hungry bears like this one out of the woods and down to Lake Tahoe. (Courtesy of Nevada Department of Wildlife)\" width=\"610\" height=\"610\" />\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In 2014, a drought drove hungry bears out of the woods and down to Lake Tahoe. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Nevada Department of Wildlife)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The most dramatic changes were recorded in the desert Southwest, where the average dry period between rainstorms grew from about 30 days in the 1970s to 45 days between storms now, said Joel Biederman, a research hydrologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Southwest Watershed Research Center in Tucson, Arizona.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The consequences of the intense dry periods that pummeled areas of the West in recent years were severe — more intense and dangerous wildfires, parched croplands and not enough vegetation to support livestock and wildlife. And the problem appears to be accelerating, with rainstorms becoming increasingly unpredictable, and more areas showing longer intervals between storms since the turn of the century compared to prior decades, the study concludes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study comes with almost two-thirds of the contiguous U.S. beset by abnormally dry conditions. Warm temperatures forecast for the next several months could make it the worst spring drought in almost a decade, affecting roughly 74 million people across the U.S., the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water-use cutbacks, damaged wheat crops, more fires and lower reservoirs in California and the Southwest are possible, weather service and agriculture officials have warned. Climate scientists are calling what’s happening in the West a continuation of a “megadrought” that started in 1999.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While previous research documented a decline in total rainfall for much of the West, the work by Biederman and colleagues put more focus on when that rain occurs. That has significant implications for how much water is available for agriculture and plants such as grasses that have shallow roots and need a steadier supply of moisture than large trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Once the growing season starts, the total amount of rainfall is important. But if it comes in just a few large storms, with really long dry periods in between, that can have really detrimental consequences,” study co-author Biederman said in an interview.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The total amount of rain in a year doesn’t matter to plants — especially if rains come mostly in heavy bursts with large runoff — but consistent moisture is what keeps them alive, said UCLA meteorologist Daniel Swain, who writes a weather blog about the West and was not part of the study.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new findings were published in the journal \u003cem>Geophysical Research Letters\u003c/em>. Researchers led by University of Arizona climate scientist Fangyue Zhang compiled daily readings going back to 1976 from 337 weather stations across the western U.S. and analyzed rainfall and drought data to identify the changing patterns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other parts of the region that saw longer and more variable droughts included the southwest Rocky Mountains, the Colorado Plateau and the Central Plains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rainfall study is in line with data that shows climate change already is affecting the planet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Climate models project that the American Southwest is very likely to experience more frequent and more severe droughts,” said William Anderegg, a University of Utah biologist and climate scientist. “This study and other recent work demonstrates that this dry down has already begun.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The weather station data that was used in the study represents “the gold standard’ for an accurate understanding of changes being driven by climate change, said Christopher Field, an Earth systems scientist and director of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Park Williams — who studies changes in water, wildfires and climate at UCLA — cautioned more work was needed to see if the rainfall trends since the 1970s reflect a longer-term natural cycle or are tied to human-caused warming. Regardless, the combination of longer dry spells and warmer temperatures almost certainly adds to increased wildfire size, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Northwestern states were largely spared from the accelerating cycles of drought. The researchers observed higher annual rainfall totals and shorter drought intervals in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and portions of Montana, Wyoming and the Dakotas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s consistent with predicted alterations in weather patterns driven by climate change in which the jet stream that brings moisture from the Pacific Ocean shifts northward, they said.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "After Pandemic Disaster, California Looks to Solve Longstanding Nursing Home Problems",
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"content": "\u003cp>It’s been a year of trauma and loss in California’s long-term care homes, where thousands of COVID-related deaths occurred. The scourge of COVID-19 helped spotlight longstanding problems in the skilled nursing industry, and advocates across the political spectrum say nursing homes are now at a crossroads, as state and federal lawmakers put forward legislation to support care workers and reform the way these facilities are run.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the last year, reporter \u003cstrong>Molly Peterson\u003c/strong> has covered the pandemic in nursing homes, and she spoke recently with KQED Morning Edition host Brian Watt about what the industry is now facing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The following has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Remind us how the pandemic played out in nursing homes?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Molly Peterson\u003c/em>: When the virus started to spread there weren’t a lot of extra PPE [personal protective equipment] supplies like masks and gowns on hand. Facilities already had a history of at least some infection control violations, existing staffing shortages got worse, and regulators had to waive rules. It was always going to be hard to keep the virus out of nursing homes, but overall, a lot of places were just not ready, despite having a responsibility to be doing all the things that we already knew about controlling an outbreak.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>So how are legislators in Washington and Sacramento trying to solve this?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the federal level, lawmakers are still just dealing with pandemic problems. Some East Coast senators have proposed bills aimed at creating staffing teams and supporting training for people who might potentially work in these homes in California. There’s a bill that would create requirements to prepare for the next disaster or a pandemic. In this state, some lawmakers and advocates say everything was made worse by the bigger problem of how we oversee nursing homes and hold them accountable for taking care of people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Is tackling these bigger problems something that’s on the table, too?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Patient advocates and some California legislators have put forward a package of seven bills aimed at reform. It’s called the \u003ca href=\"https://canhrlegislation.com/protect-plan/\">PROTECT Plan\u003c/a>. Some of it’s about accountability, like raising penalties for regulatory violations where someone dies. There’s language in one of the bills about patient rights that would protect residents from getting evicted without their consent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the bill that’s getting national headlines is \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB650\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">SB 650\u003c/a>, which was introduced by a state senator from Southern California, Henry Stern. It would require nursing home operators to report comprehensive financial information to government regulators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t have enough transparency in the industry right now so that people who are trying to make choices about where to send their loved ones know if every dollar of Medi-Cal or of those taxpayer-funded health care benefits are going to make it either to their loved ones or to the care workers serving them,” Stern said. “How much extra profit is being squeezed out on the way from that dollar’s origin? We don’t completely know.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stern says the goal is to further expose the corporate structure of these for-profit nursing homes and the bigger chains. They’ll have to submit far more detailed financial reports to show how they’re spending money, including money they get from the government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>So why does it matter if we, the public, know more about how these homes are run? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nursing homes say they’re struggling financially and that many may now have to close. They’re eligible for and have sought government aid, including in the form of low-interest loans for some facilities. But the reason it looks like they don’t have a lot of money is that there’s more than one company behind a single nursing home or even a chain of them. Owners make webs of corporations, different companies registered with the state for property, for operations, for management. It helps them limit their financial liability. The industry says they have to organize things this way to stay in business. The problem is it’s harder to track how much money they spend on residents and how much goes into their pockets as profit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Who’s taking sides on these bills?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.canhr.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform\u003c/a> and a union, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.seiu.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">SEIU\u003c/a>, co-sponsored this financial responsibility bill with state Sen. Stern. Generally, the nursing home industry and advocates for the homes themselves say that more accounting requirements are burdensome and defeat the purpose, which is to make sure that as much money is spent on patients as possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What do these reform efforts leave out? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The biggest unaddressed problem right now is staffing, and it goes back decades. There are ways, called waivers, for nursing homes to have fewer people than the rules really say are a good idea. Lawmakers aren’t really addressing the maze of waivers that exist right now, even though academic studies increasingly show that staffing improves health outcomes for residents. Administrators say there’s a lot of red tape. It’s a real political quagmire, so whether politicians start to address staffing is probably going to depend on how all these other reform bills turn out and on whether the public gets involved and pays attention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>It’s been a year of trauma and loss in California’s long-term care homes, where thousands of COVID-related deaths occurred. The scourge of COVID-19 helped spotlight longstanding problems in the skilled nursing industry, and advocates across the political spectrum say nursing homes are now at a crossroads, as state and federal lawmakers put forward legislation to support care workers and reform the way these facilities are run.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the last year, reporter \u003cstrong>Molly Peterson\u003c/strong> has covered the pandemic in nursing homes, and she spoke recently with KQED Morning Edition host Brian Watt about what the industry is now facing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The following has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Remind us how the pandemic played out in nursing homes?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Molly Peterson\u003c/em>: When the virus started to spread there weren’t a lot of extra PPE [personal protective equipment] supplies like masks and gowns on hand. Facilities already had a history of at least some infection control violations, existing staffing shortages got worse, and regulators had to waive rules. It was always going to be hard to keep the virus out of nursing homes, but overall, a lot of places were just not ready, despite having a responsibility to be doing all the things that we already knew about controlling an outbreak.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>So how are legislators in Washington and Sacramento trying to solve this?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the federal level, lawmakers are still just dealing with pandemic problems. Some East Coast senators have proposed bills aimed at creating staffing teams and supporting training for people who might potentially work in these homes in California. There’s a bill that would create requirements to prepare for the next disaster or a pandemic. In this state, some lawmakers and advocates say everything was made worse by the bigger problem of how we oversee nursing homes and hold them accountable for taking care of people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Is tackling these bigger problems something that’s on the table, too?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Patient advocates and some California legislators have put forward a package of seven bills aimed at reform. It’s called the \u003ca href=\"https://canhrlegislation.com/protect-plan/\">PROTECT Plan\u003c/a>. Some of it’s about accountability, like raising penalties for regulatory violations where someone dies. There’s language in one of the bills about patient rights that would protect residents from getting evicted without their consent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the bill that’s getting national headlines is \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB650\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">SB 650\u003c/a>, which was introduced by a state senator from Southern California, Henry Stern. It would require nursing home operators to report comprehensive financial information to government regulators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t have enough transparency in the industry right now so that people who are trying to make choices about where to send their loved ones know if every dollar of Medi-Cal or of those taxpayer-funded health care benefits are going to make it either to their loved ones or to the care workers serving them,” Stern said. “How much extra profit is being squeezed out on the way from that dollar’s origin? We don’t completely know.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stern says the goal is to further expose the corporate structure of these for-profit nursing homes and the bigger chains. They’ll have to submit far more detailed financial reports to show how they’re spending money, including money they get from the government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>So why does it matter if we, the public, know more about how these homes are run? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nursing homes say they’re struggling financially and that many may now have to close. They’re eligible for and have sought government aid, including in the form of low-interest loans for some facilities. But the reason it looks like they don’t have a lot of money is that there’s more than one company behind a single nursing home or even a chain of them. Owners make webs of corporations, different companies registered with the state for property, for operations, for management. It helps them limit their financial liability. The industry says they have to organize things this way to stay in business. The problem is it’s harder to track how much money they spend on residents and how much goes into their pockets as profit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Who’s taking sides on these bills?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.canhr.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform\u003c/a> and a union, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.seiu.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">SEIU\u003c/a>, co-sponsored this financial responsibility bill with state Sen. Stern. Generally, the nursing home industry and advocates for the homes themselves say that more accounting requirements are burdensome and defeat the purpose, which is to make sure that as much money is spent on patients as possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What do these reform efforts leave out? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The biggest unaddressed problem right now is staffing, and it goes back decades. There are ways, called waivers, for nursing homes to have fewer people than the rules really say are a good idea. Lawmakers aren’t really addressing the maze of waivers that exist right now, even though academic studies increasingly show that staffing improves health outcomes for residents. Administrators say there’s a lot of red tape. It’s a real political quagmire, so whether politicians start to address staffing is probably going to depend on how all these other reform bills turn out and on whether the public gets involved and pays attention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "JAMA and Other Medical Journals Under Fire After Disastrous Podcast on Racism in Medicine",
"headTitle": "JAMA and Other Medical Journals Under Fire After Disastrous Podcast on Racism in Medicine | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Weeks after it was scrubbed from the \u003cem>Journal of the American Medical Association’s\u003c/em> website, a disastrous podcast — whose host, a white editor and physician, questioned whether racism even exists in medicine — is surfacing complaints that JAMA and other elite medical journals have routinely excluded, minimized, and mishandled issues of race.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recent examples include research blaming higher death rates from COVID-19 in African Americans on a single gene in their nasal passages; a letter claiming structural racism doesn’t play a role in pulse oximeters working less well on patients with dark skin because machines can’t exhibit bias; and an article claiming that students of programs designed to increase diversity in medicine won’t make good doctors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Critics say such ideas, published in powerful journals that doctors look to for leadership and education, are serving to perpetuate and entrench health inequities that have long harmed and \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/66/wr/mm6617e1.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">shortened the lives\u003c/a> of many people of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s the voice of medicine. They set the priorities,” said Brittani James, an assistant professor of clinical family medicine at the University of Illinois College of Medicine and co-founder of the Institute for Antiracism in Medicine. She helped start a petition calling for widespread change at JAMA that has attracted nearly 8,000 signatures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the podcast sparked the petition drive, James said the problem goes far beyond a single podcast or a single journal. The episode at JAMA, she said, merely exposed a culture of racism that runs rife though medicine. “It’s the tip of the racist iceberg,” she said of the podcast. That listeners of the podcast were offered continuing medical education credit, she added, only rubs salt in the wound.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The February podcast involved two white doctors — Ed Livingston, JAMA’s deputy editor for clinical content, and Mitchell Katz, an editor at \u003cem>JAMA Internal Medicine\u003c/em> and CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals — who are not experts in structural racism, broadcasting a conversation about that topic on JAMA’s huge and powerful platform that came across as deeply offensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Livingston questioned whether racism could be embedded in society \u003ca href=\"https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5d7d985bfc6bb40f1dfae872/t/6061d1425689961a044a3ac0/1617023298545/Transcript+-+Structural+Racism+for+Doctors.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">because it is “illegal”\u003c/a> and said he did not consider himself a racist because he grew up in a Jewish family and was taught never to hate. He asked whether the term racism “might be hurting us” and whether there might be a better word because “the term racism invokes feelings amongst people.” Katz repeatedly affirmed his belief that structural racism exists but was later criticized by some for coddling Livingston. Katz has since condemned the podcast and said he was not involved in its production and firmly believes structural racism exists in medicine. Livingston has not commented publicly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The uproar over the podcast led the journal to ask Livingston to resign. Howard Bauchner, JAMA’s editor-in-chief, apologized but was then put on administrative leave. He and other editors at JAMA have refused to comment, pending the outcome of an investigation of the matter by outside counsel. The journal is owned by the American Medical Association, the nation’s leading physicians organization, but has editorial independence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Critics say problems at \u003cem>JAMA\u003c/em> and its network of medical journals include limiting publication of scholarship on how racism affects health and suggesting papers involving racism be submitted not as research articles, which have the most clinical impact, but as opinion pieces or “Perspectives,” a series in \u003cem>JAMA Internal Medicine\u003c/em> featuring “stories about the joys and challenges of practicing general medicine and truths discovered along the way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other problems they cite include editors asking authors to scrub the term racism from their manuscripts even as they publish other manuscripts that include outdated and racist notions, such as the idea that genetic and not social factors may explain the higher rates of COVID-19 death and hospitalization among people of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Problematic articles have appeared recently and steadily in \u003cem>JAMA\u003c/em> and other prominent medical journals, even as discussions of racism in medicine have taken center stage during the pandemic and as journals and medical associations have publicly affirmed the Black Lives Matter movement and \u003ca href=\"https://www.ama-assn.org/about/board-trustees/ama-board-trustees-pledges-action-against-racism-and-police-brutality\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">their own commitment to racial equality\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2770682\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">September \u003cem>JAMA\u003c/em> paper\u003c/a> suggested African Americans may have higher rates of COVID-19 because of differences in the expression of a certain gene in the nasal epithelium, despite the fact that the clinical relevance of that gene’s expression is unknown and Hispanic people, who also have higher death rates from COVID-19, do not have a higher rate of expression of the gene. “That’s biomedical racism to a T,” James said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Critics say \u003ca href=\"https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2767260\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">an October \u003cem>JAMA\u003c/em> paper\u003c/a> on the association between air pollution and poor birth outcomes failed to examine the role racism plays in environmental exposure to poorer air. And an article about the high rates of hospitalization among people of color with COVID-19 in California, \u003ca href=\"https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2020.00598\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">published online in \u003cem>Health Affairs\u003c/em>\u003c/a> in May, initially questioned whether there could be “some unknown or unmeasured genetic or biological factors that increase the severity of this illness for African Americans.” In response to criticism, the paper was later revised to remove this language.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An article published in August in the \u003cem>Journal of the American Heart Association\u003c/em>, arguing that students of educational programs intended to increase diversity would \u003ca href=\"https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/JAHA.120.015959\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">make poorer clinicians\u003c/a>, was retracted after many physicians questioned how the article — \u003ca href=\"https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/JAHA.119.014602\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">rife with stereotypes and errors\u003c/a> — made it past reviewers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And a letter published just last week in the\u003cem> New England Journal of Medicine\u003c/em> \u003ca href=\"https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMc2101321\">disputed\u003c/a> use of the phrase “structural racism” when discussing the fact that pulse oximeters — oxygen sensors that are critical tools for COVID-19 care and were developed and tested largely on people with white skin — \u003ca href=\"https://www.statnews.com/2021/02/10/pulse-oximeters-racial-disparities/\">work less well on people with Black skin.\u003c/a> “Medical devices such as pulse oximeters are blind to color and cannot exhibit such a bias,” the author wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Months before the recent podcast, Rhea Boyd, a pediatrician and public health advocate in Palo Alto, California, had taken to Twitter to call out JAMA’s poor record on studies involving race. With colleagues Edwin Lindo, Lachelle Weeks and Monica McLemore, she wrote a piece in \u003cem>Health Affairs\u003c/em> in July \u003ca href=\"https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20200630.939347/full/\">calling for a higher standard\u003c/a> for publishing on racial health inequities. “The bar hasn’t been high enough,” she told STAT. “We don’t treat scholarship around race the same way we do other health issues. When we do that, we sell this field short.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Boyd said researchers need to do a better job of defining race, specifying the reason they use it in studies, refraining from using genetic definitions of race that are not grounded in science, and citing experts who have rigorously studied the effects of racism. She said journals should reject articles on health inequities that don’t examine racism, use reviewers who are experienced in the scholarship of racism, and consider compensating reviewers, particularly those of color, who are increasingly being asked to share their expertise for free.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Crucially, she said, scholars and journal editors must openly use the term racism, something many have clearly been uncomfortable with. “In doing this, we obscure ways that racism drives health inequities,” said Boyd.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://www.statnews.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">STAT\u003c/a>, an online publication of Boston Globe Media that covers health, medicine, and scientific discovery.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"description": "Weeks after it was scrubbed from the Journal of the American Medical Association's website, a disastrous podcast whose host questioned whether racism exists in medicine is surfacing complaints that elite medical journals have routinely excluded, minimized and mishandled issues of race.",
"title": "JAMA and Other Medical Journals Under Fire After Disastrous Podcast on Racism in Medicine | KQED",
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"headline": "JAMA and Other Medical Journals Under Fire After Disastrous Podcast on Racism in Medicine",
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"sourceUrl": "https://www.statnews.com/2021/04/06/podcast-puts-jama-under-fire-for-mishandling-of-race/",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Weeks after it was scrubbed from the \u003cem>Journal of the American Medical Association’s\u003c/em> website, a disastrous podcast — whose host, a white editor and physician, questioned whether racism even exists in medicine — is surfacing complaints that JAMA and other elite medical journals have routinely excluded, minimized, and mishandled issues of race.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recent examples include research blaming higher death rates from COVID-19 in African Americans on a single gene in their nasal passages; a letter claiming structural racism doesn’t play a role in pulse oximeters working less well on patients with dark skin because machines can’t exhibit bias; and an article claiming that students of programs designed to increase diversity in medicine won’t make good doctors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Critics say such ideas, published in powerful journals that doctors look to for leadership and education, are serving to perpetuate and entrench health inequities that have long harmed and \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/66/wr/mm6617e1.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">shortened the lives\u003c/a> of many people of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s the voice of medicine. They set the priorities,” said Brittani James, an assistant professor of clinical family medicine at the University of Illinois College of Medicine and co-founder of the Institute for Antiracism in Medicine. She helped start a petition calling for widespread change at JAMA that has attracted nearly 8,000 signatures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the podcast sparked the petition drive, James said the problem goes far beyond a single podcast or a single journal. The episode at JAMA, she said, merely exposed a culture of racism that runs rife though medicine. “It’s the tip of the racist iceberg,” she said of the podcast. That listeners of the podcast were offered continuing medical education credit, she added, only rubs salt in the wound.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The February podcast involved two white doctors — Ed Livingston, JAMA’s deputy editor for clinical content, and Mitchell Katz, an editor at \u003cem>JAMA Internal Medicine\u003c/em> and CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals — who are not experts in structural racism, broadcasting a conversation about that topic on JAMA’s huge and powerful platform that came across as deeply offensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Livingston questioned whether racism could be embedded in society \u003ca href=\"https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5d7d985bfc6bb40f1dfae872/t/6061d1425689961a044a3ac0/1617023298545/Transcript+-+Structural+Racism+for+Doctors.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">because it is “illegal”\u003c/a> and said he did not consider himself a racist because he grew up in a Jewish family and was taught never to hate. He asked whether the term racism “might be hurting us” and whether there might be a better word because “the term racism invokes feelings amongst people.” Katz repeatedly affirmed his belief that structural racism exists but was later criticized by some for coddling Livingston. Katz has since condemned the podcast and said he was not involved in its production and firmly believes structural racism exists in medicine. Livingston has not commented publicly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The uproar over the podcast led the journal to ask Livingston to resign. Howard Bauchner, JAMA’s editor-in-chief, apologized but was then put on administrative leave. He and other editors at JAMA have refused to comment, pending the outcome of an investigation of the matter by outside counsel. The journal is owned by the American Medical Association, the nation’s leading physicians organization, but has editorial independence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Critics say problems at \u003cem>JAMA\u003c/em> and its network of medical journals include limiting publication of scholarship on how racism affects health and suggesting papers involving racism be submitted not as research articles, which have the most clinical impact, but as opinion pieces or “Perspectives,” a series in \u003cem>JAMA Internal Medicine\u003c/em> featuring “stories about the joys and challenges of practicing general medicine and truths discovered along the way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other problems they cite include editors asking authors to scrub the term racism from their manuscripts even as they publish other manuscripts that include outdated and racist notions, such as the idea that genetic and not social factors may explain the higher rates of COVID-19 death and hospitalization among people of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Problematic articles have appeared recently and steadily in \u003cem>JAMA\u003c/em> and other prominent medical journals, even as discussions of racism in medicine have taken center stage during the pandemic and as journals and medical associations have publicly affirmed the Black Lives Matter movement and \u003ca href=\"https://www.ama-assn.org/about/board-trustees/ama-board-trustees-pledges-action-against-racism-and-police-brutality\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">their own commitment to racial equality\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2770682\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">September \u003cem>JAMA\u003c/em> paper\u003c/a> suggested African Americans may have higher rates of COVID-19 because of differences in the expression of a certain gene in the nasal epithelium, despite the fact that the clinical relevance of that gene’s expression is unknown and Hispanic people, who also have higher death rates from COVID-19, do not have a higher rate of expression of the gene. “That’s biomedical racism to a T,” James said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Critics say \u003ca href=\"https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2767260\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">an October \u003cem>JAMA\u003c/em> paper\u003c/a> on the association between air pollution and poor birth outcomes failed to examine the role racism plays in environmental exposure to poorer air. And an article about the high rates of hospitalization among people of color with COVID-19 in California, \u003ca href=\"https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2020.00598\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">published online in \u003cem>Health Affairs\u003c/em>\u003c/a> in May, initially questioned whether there could be “some unknown or unmeasured genetic or biological factors that increase the severity of this illness for African Americans.” In response to criticism, the paper was later revised to remove this language.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An article published in August in the \u003cem>Journal of the American Heart Association\u003c/em>, arguing that students of educational programs intended to increase diversity would \u003ca href=\"https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/JAHA.120.015959\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">make poorer clinicians\u003c/a>, was retracted after many physicians questioned how the article — \u003ca href=\"https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/JAHA.119.014602\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">rife with stereotypes and errors\u003c/a> — made it past reviewers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And a letter published just last week in the\u003cem> New England Journal of Medicine\u003c/em> \u003ca href=\"https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMc2101321\">disputed\u003c/a> use of the phrase “structural racism” when discussing the fact that pulse oximeters — oxygen sensors that are critical tools for COVID-19 care and were developed and tested largely on people with white skin — \u003ca href=\"https://www.statnews.com/2021/02/10/pulse-oximeters-racial-disparities/\">work less well on people with Black skin.\u003c/a> “Medical devices such as pulse oximeters are blind to color and cannot exhibit such a bias,” the author wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Months before the recent podcast, Rhea Boyd, a pediatrician and public health advocate in Palo Alto, California, had taken to Twitter to call out JAMA’s poor record on studies involving race. With colleagues Edwin Lindo, Lachelle Weeks and Monica McLemore, she wrote a piece in \u003cem>Health Affairs\u003c/em> in July \u003ca href=\"https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20200630.939347/full/\">calling for a higher standard\u003c/a> for publishing on racial health inequities. “The bar hasn’t been high enough,” she told STAT. “We don’t treat scholarship around race the same way we do other health issues. When we do that, we sell this field short.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Boyd said researchers need to do a better job of defining race, specifying the reason they use it in studies, refraining from using genetic definitions of race that are not grounded in science, and citing experts who have rigorously studied the effects of racism. She said journals should reject articles on health inequities that don’t examine racism, use reviewers who are experienced in the scholarship of racism, and consider compensating reviewers, particularly those of color, who are increasingly being asked to share their expertise for free.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Crucially, she said, scholars and journal editors must openly use the term racism, something many have clearly been uncomfortable with. “In doing this, we obscure ways that racism drives health inequities,” said Boyd.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://www.statnews.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">STAT\u003c/a>, an online publication of Boston Globe Media that covers health, medicine, and scientific discovery.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Leaf Miner Fly Babies Scribble All Over Your Salad",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dl_subscribe]If you have a green thumb, spring in the Bay Area marks the harvesting of lemons and oranges, onions and garlic, and greens like arugula, kale and mustard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But what are those squiggly marks crisscrossing your arugula and lemon tree leaves?\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973522\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1919px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Mine_in_leaf_1920.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1973522\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Mine_in_leaf_1920.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1919\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Mine_in_leaf_1920.jpg 1919w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Mine_in_leaf_1920-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Mine_in_leaf_1920-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Mine_in_leaf_1920-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Mine_in_leaf_1920-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Mine_in_leaf_1920-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1919px) 100vw, 1919px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The mining from a \u003cem>Scaptomyza\u003c/em> fly larva leaves a pattern of discoloration in a wild mustard leaf growing at UC Berkeley. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Those curlicues are the work of leaf miners, tiny insect larvae that tunnel through leaves. The mines they carve out might be a whitish tan or light gray. They can be neatly serpentine or converge and have a blotch-like appearance, depending on what insect made them. Many different flies, butterflies and moths lay eggs on the leaves of citrus, vegetables and ornamental plants that grow into leaf miners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re ubiquitous in the Bay Area,” said James Farr, a \u003ca href=\"http://acmg.ucanr.edu/Contact_Us/\">master gardener\u003c/a> with Alameda County who answers residents’ home gardening questions. “Every year we have leaf miners on my citrus.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The mines that appear in May and June on the lemon, lime and orange trees he grows in his home near Pleasanton are created by the larvae of moths that lay their eggs on the citrus leaves. The trails can appear as early as April if the weather is warm enough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973581\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/Jack_Kelly_Clark_UC_I-LP-PCIT-LV.005_1920.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/Jack_Kelly_Clark_UC_I-LP-PCIT-LV.005_1920.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1973581\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/Jack_Kelly_Clark_UC_I-LP-PCIT-LV.005_1920.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/Jack_Kelly_Clark_UC_I-LP-PCIT-LV.005_1920-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/Jack_Kelly_Clark_UC_I-LP-PCIT-LV.005_1920-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/Jack_Kelly_Clark_UC_I-LP-PCIT-LV.005_1920-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/Jack_Kelly_Clark_UC_I-LP-PCIT-LV.005_1920-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/Jack_Kelly_Clark_UC_I-LP-PCIT-LV.005_1920-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A citrus leaf miner left a trail of poop behind as it ate inside a lemon leaf. \u003ccite>(Jack Kelly Clark/UC Statewide IPM Program)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>If you were to pull back the outermost layer of a leaf, you’d see a translucent larva about a fourth of an inch long tunneling through the leaf’s spongy layer. Their mines, shiny films with a neat, dark stripe of poop inside, might be the best evidence that moths are living in a garden. Leaf miner adults can be infamously elusive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve been growing for 20 years,” he said, “and I can’t say that I’ve ever seen the adult moth, just the tracks.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Leaf miners rarely do enough damage to even come close to killing a plant, but they make individual leaves inedible. If given enough time, however, a leaf miner can be particularly damaging to vegetables that are harvested specifically for their leaves. But don’t worry if you mistakenly eat a larva — it won’t make you sick.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973528\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_larva_tunnels_into_leaf_1.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1973528\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_larva_tunnels_into_leaf_1.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Munch, munch, munch … a fly larva begins tunneling into a leaf with its mouthparts. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For leafy greens, which can be grown during most of the year in the Bay Area, miners can show up anytime a plant has enough mature leaves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among crops that will be ready to harvest in the summer, like tomatoes, beans, chard and squashes, leaf miner larvae may start appearing in late May. The same goes for ornamental plants like verbena, begonias and impatiens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most backyard gardeners only need to remove the damaged leaves by hand. Farr warns against using insecticides on these pests. Since leaf miners are tucked inside the leaf, chemicals aren’t very effective and can hurt beneficial pest predators like wasps, spiders and ladybugs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gardeners with a greenhouse or large numbers of plants can use parasitic wasps to control the leaf miners. The female wasp will inject her eggs into the larvae. Once hatched, the young wasps feed on the leaf miners from the inside out, utterly wiping out a miner infestation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re voracious killers of larvae,” Farr said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One leaf miner that Bay Area gardeners might find in their arugula is the larva of a fly called \u003cem>Scaptomyza\u003c/em>. It’s related to — and looks a lot like — the fruit fly you might find buzzing around your ripe bananas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But where the common fruit fly in our kitchen sucks the vinegary liquid produced by decaying fruit and plants, \u003cem>Scaptomyza\u003c/em> flies feed on fresh, bitter-tasting leafy plants like arugula and kale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973525\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1921px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_fly_on_Arabidopsis_leaf_1920.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1973525\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_fly_on_Arabidopsis_leaf_1920.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1921\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_fly_on_Arabidopsis_leaf_1920.jpg 1921w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_fly_on_Arabidopsis_leaf_1920-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_fly_on_Arabidopsis_leaf_1920-1020x573.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_fly_on_Arabidopsis_leaf_1920-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_fly_on_Arabidopsis_leaf_1920-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_fly_on_Arabidopsis_leaf_1920-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1921px) 100vw, 1921px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A \u003cem>Scaptomyza\u003c/em> fly sits on an \u003cem>Arabidopsis\u003c/em> leaf at UC Berkeley. Researchers there keep their flies on \u003cem>Arabidopsis\u003c/em> because it is a simple plant that has been studied in detail and is well suited for experiments. And the fly larvae love feeding on its small, soft leaves. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The chemicals that give these leafy greens their bitter taste are precisely their defense mechanism against insects. The characteristic peppery taste that some of us love in arugula is a result of compounds called isothiocyanates, which are toxic to most insects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973527\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_larva_tunnels_inside_leaf.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1973527\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_larva_tunnels_inside_leaf.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Surrounded on all sides by its food, a \u003cem>Scaptomyza\u003c/em> larva crawls inside its mine. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Scaptomyza\u003c/em> flies have evolved to tolerate low levels of these toxic chemicals. As a result, they have the plants practically to themselves. But this comes at a cost. Over the past 14 million years, the flies have had to develop better and better defenses to thwart the plants’ stronger and stronger toxins. Flies and plants are in an “evolutionary arms race” with each other, said \u003ca href=\"http://www.noahwhiteman.org/\">Noah Whiteman\u003c/a>, a professor of evolutionary biology at UC Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Losing one’s footing in the battle means you go extinct,” he said, “so everyone’s running to stay in the same place.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whiteman and his colleagues are studying how \u003cem>Scaptomyza\u003c/em> larvae are able to survive inside leaves that are toxic to other insects. As a biology student at UC Berkeley in 2019, I helped maintain the \u003cem>Scaptomyza\u003c/em> fly colonies in Whiteman’s lab.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One way in which the flies deal with the plant’s toxic chemicals is by laying their eggs on the parts of the plant that are the least toxic. To do this, female flies perform a taste test.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973524\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_fly_finishes_making_hole_w_ovipositor.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1973524\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_fly_finishes_making_hole_w_ovipositor.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Before she lays an egg in a leaf, a female \u003cem>Scaptomyza\u003c/em> fly digs a hole into it to taste the sap. \u003ccite>(Julianne Peláez/UC Berkeley)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A female fly digs into a leaf using her saw-toothed reproductive organ, called an ovipositor, and makes a hole known as a stipple. Sap pools into the stipple and the fly sucks it up with her mouthparts. She is drinking to feed herself, but also to test how much toxin is in the leaf. If the concentration of toxin isn’t too high, she will lay a single egg in the leaf. If not, she’ll continue sampling on this leaf or move on to a new leaf until she finds one that is suitable for her offspring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973523\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_fly_drinks_sap_from_stipple.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1973523\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_fly_drinks_sap_from_stipple.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A female fly samples the sap that’s pooled in the hole she just dug, which is called a stipple. Researchers believe this taste test helps her find the least toxic spot for her offspring. \u003ccite>(Julianne Peláez/UC Berkeley)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When Whiteman looked at which leaves the flies were laying eggs on, he found that the flies chose older leaves, which contain lower levels of toxins compared to new leaves. The plant puts more energy into protecting its new leaves from pests by pumping more toxins into them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Because the toxins are expensive to make,” Whiteman said, “the plant invests more in the new leaves.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since older leaves deteriorate with age, younger ones are especially valuable. They may become the primary leaves through which the plant transforms the rays of the sun into food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973526\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_larva_on_top_of_leaf_1920.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1973526\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_larva_on_top_of_leaf_1920.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_larva_on_top_of_leaf_1920.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_larva_on_top_of_leaf_1920-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_larva_on_top_of_leaf_1920-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_larva_on_top_of_leaf_1920-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_larva_on_top_of_leaf_1920-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_larva_on_top_of_leaf_1920-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This larva will have to turn over a new leaf! Often when leaves are small and close to each other, a larva can move to a new one once it has eaten through the first one. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A few days after an egg is laid, a larva hatches and begins to tunnel through the leaf. It munches on the abundant plant tissue surrounding it. It grows as it mines along the length of the leaf, eventually reaching the size of a sesame seed, leaving a hollowed-out trail in its path.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So it’s best to harvest your leafy greens early, lest the flies beat you to it — unless you’re looking for a little extra protein in your salad.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "This fly’s larvae tunnel inside bitter-tasting greens like arugula and kale, leaving squiggly marks behind. The plants fight back with toxic chemicals. So before laying her eggs, the fly mom digs into a leaf and slurps its sap – a taste test to find the least toxic spot for her offspring.",
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"title": "Leaf Miner Fly Babies Scribble All Over Your Salad | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>If you have a green thumb, spring in the Bay Area marks the harvesting of lemons and oranges, onions and garlic, and greens like arugula, kale and mustard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But what are those squiggly marks crisscrossing your arugula and lemon tree leaves?\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973522\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1919px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Mine_in_leaf_1920.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1973522\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Mine_in_leaf_1920.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1919\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Mine_in_leaf_1920.jpg 1919w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Mine_in_leaf_1920-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Mine_in_leaf_1920-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Mine_in_leaf_1920-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Mine_in_leaf_1920-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Mine_in_leaf_1920-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1919px) 100vw, 1919px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The mining from a \u003cem>Scaptomyza\u003c/em> fly larva leaves a pattern of discoloration in a wild mustard leaf growing at UC Berkeley. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Those curlicues are the work of leaf miners, tiny insect larvae that tunnel through leaves. The mines they carve out might be a whitish tan or light gray. They can be neatly serpentine or converge and have a blotch-like appearance, depending on what insect made them. Many different flies, butterflies and moths lay eggs on the leaves of citrus, vegetables and ornamental plants that grow into leaf miners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re ubiquitous in the Bay Area,” said James Farr, a \u003ca href=\"http://acmg.ucanr.edu/Contact_Us/\">master gardener\u003c/a> with Alameda County who answers residents’ home gardening questions. “Every year we have leaf miners on my citrus.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The mines that appear in May and June on the lemon, lime and orange trees he grows in his home near Pleasanton are created by the larvae of moths that lay their eggs on the citrus leaves. The trails can appear as early as April if the weather is warm enough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973581\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/Jack_Kelly_Clark_UC_I-LP-PCIT-LV.005_1920.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/Jack_Kelly_Clark_UC_I-LP-PCIT-LV.005_1920.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1973581\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/Jack_Kelly_Clark_UC_I-LP-PCIT-LV.005_1920.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/Jack_Kelly_Clark_UC_I-LP-PCIT-LV.005_1920-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/Jack_Kelly_Clark_UC_I-LP-PCIT-LV.005_1920-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/Jack_Kelly_Clark_UC_I-LP-PCIT-LV.005_1920-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/Jack_Kelly_Clark_UC_I-LP-PCIT-LV.005_1920-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/Jack_Kelly_Clark_UC_I-LP-PCIT-LV.005_1920-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A citrus leaf miner left a trail of poop behind as it ate inside a lemon leaf. \u003ccite>(Jack Kelly Clark/UC Statewide IPM Program)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>If you were to pull back the outermost layer of a leaf, you’d see a translucent larva about a fourth of an inch long tunneling through the leaf’s spongy layer. Their mines, shiny films with a neat, dark stripe of poop inside, might be the best evidence that moths are living in a garden. Leaf miner adults can be infamously elusive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve been growing for 20 years,” he said, “and I can’t say that I’ve ever seen the adult moth, just the tracks.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Leaf miners rarely do enough damage to even come close to killing a plant, but they make individual leaves inedible. If given enough time, however, a leaf miner can be particularly damaging to vegetables that are harvested specifically for their leaves. But don’t worry if you mistakenly eat a larva — it won’t make you sick.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973528\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_larva_tunnels_into_leaf_1.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1973528\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_larva_tunnels_into_leaf_1.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Munch, munch, munch … a fly larva begins tunneling into a leaf with its mouthparts. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For leafy greens, which can be grown during most of the year in the Bay Area, miners can show up anytime a plant has enough mature leaves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among crops that will be ready to harvest in the summer, like tomatoes, beans, chard and squashes, leaf miner larvae may start appearing in late May. The same goes for ornamental plants like verbena, begonias and impatiens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most backyard gardeners only need to remove the damaged leaves by hand. Farr warns against using insecticides on these pests. Since leaf miners are tucked inside the leaf, chemicals aren’t very effective and can hurt beneficial pest predators like wasps, spiders and ladybugs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gardeners with a greenhouse or large numbers of plants can use parasitic wasps to control the leaf miners. The female wasp will inject her eggs into the larvae. Once hatched, the young wasps feed on the leaf miners from the inside out, utterly wiping out a miner infestation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re voracious killers of larvae,” Farr said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One leaf miner that Bay Area gardeners might find in their arugula is the larva of a fly called \u003cem>Scaptomyza\u003c/em>. It’s related to — and looks a lot like — the fruit fly you might find buzzing around your ripe bananas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But where the common fruit fly in our kitchen sucks the vinegary liquid produced by decaying fruit and plants, \u003cem>Scaptomyza\u003c/em> flies feed on fresh, bitter-tasting leafy plants like arugula and kale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973525\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1921px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_fly_on_Arabidopsis_leaf_1920.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1973525\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_fly_on_Arabidopsis_leaf_1920.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1921\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_fly_on_Arabidopsis_leaf_1920.jpg 1921w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_fly_on_Arabidopsis_leaf_1920-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_fly_on_Arabidopsis_leaf_1920-1020x573.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_fly_on_Arabidopsis_leaf_1920-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_fly_on_Arabidopsis_leaf_1920-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_fly_on_Arabidopsis_leaf_1920-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1921px) 100vw, 1921px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A \u003cem>Scaptomyza\u003c/em> fly sits on an \u003cem>Arabidopsis\u003c/em> leaf at UC Berkeley. Researchers there keep their flies on \u003cem>Arabidopsis\u003c/em> because it is a simple plant that has been studied in detail and is well suited for experiments. And the fly larvae love feeding on its small, soft leaves. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The chemicals that give these leafy greens their bitter taste are precisely their defense mechanism against insects. The characteristic peppery taste that some of us love in arugula is a result of compounds called isothiocyanates, which are toxic to most insects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973527\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_larva_tunnels_inside_leaf.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1973527\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_larva_tunnels_inside_leaf.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Surrounded on all sides by its food, a \u003cem>Scaptomyza\u003c/em> larva crawls inside its mine. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Scaptomyza\u003c/em> flies have evolved to tolerate low levels of these toxic chemicals. As a result, they have the plants practically to themselves. But this comes at a cost. Over the past 14 million years, the flies have had to develop better and better defenses to thwart the plants’ stronger and stronger toxins. Flies and plants are in an “evolutionary arms race” with each other, said \u003ca href=\"http://www.noahwhiteman.org/\">Noah Whiteman\u003c/a>, a professor of evolutionary biology at UC Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Losing one’s footing in the battle means you go extinct,” he said, “so everyone’s running to stay in the same place.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whiteman and his colleagues are studying how \u003cem>Scaptomyza\u003c/em> larvae are able to survive inside leaves that are toxic to other insects. As a biology student at UC Berkeley in 2019, I helped maintain the \u003cem>Scaptomyza\u003c/em> fly colonies in Whiteman’s lab.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One way in which the flies deal with the plant’s toxic chemicals is by laying their eggs on the parts of the plant that are the least toxic. To do this, female flies perform a taste test.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973524\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_fly_finishes_making_hole_w_ovipositor.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1973524\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_fly_finishes_making_hole_w_ovipositor.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Before she lays an egg in a leaf, a female \u003cem>Scaptomyza\u003c/em> fly digs a hole into it to taste the sap. \u003ccite>(Julianne Peláez/UC Berkeley)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A female fly digs into a leaf using her saw-toothed reproductive organ, called an ovipositor, and makes a hole known as a stipple. Sap pools into the stipple and the fly sucks it up with her mouthparts. She is drinking to feed herself, but also to test how much toxin is in the leaf. If the concentration of toxin isn’t too high, she will lay a single egg in the leaf. If not, she’ll continue sampling on this leaf or move on to a new leaf until she finds one that is suitable for her offspring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973523\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_fly_drinks_sap_from_stipple.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1973523\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_fly_drinks_sap_from_stipple.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A female fly samples the sap that’s pooled in the hole she just dug, which is called a stipple. Researchers believe this taste test helps her find the least toxic spot for her offspring. \u003ccite>(Julianne Peláez/UC Berkeley)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When Whiteman looked at which leaves the flies were laying eggs on, he found that the flies chose older leaves, which contain lower levels of toxins compared to new leaves. The plant puts more energy into protecting its new leaves from pests by pumping more toxins into them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Because the toxins are expensive to make,” Whiteman said, “the plant invests more in the new leaves.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since older leaves deteriorate with age, younger ones are especially valuable. They may become the primary leaves through which the plant transforms the rays of the sun into food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973526\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_larva_on_top_of_leaf_1920.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1973526\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_larva_on_top_of_leaf_1920.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_larva_on_top_of_leaf_1920.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_larva_on_top_of_leaf_1920-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_larva_on_top_of_leaf_1920-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_larva_on_top_of_leaf_1920-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_larva_on_top_of_leaf_1920-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/DL807_Scaptomyza_larva_on_top_of_leaf_1920-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This larva will have to turn over a new leaf! Often when leaves are small and close to each other, a larva can move to a new one once it has eaten through the first one. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A few days after an egg is laid, a larva hatches and begins to tunnel through the leaf. It munches on the abundant plant tissue surrounding it. It grows as it mines along the length of the leaf, eventually reaching the size of a sesame seed, leaving a hollowed-out trail in its path.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So it’s best to harvest your leafy greens early, lest the flies beat you to it — unless you’re looking for a little extra protein in your salad.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Meet the Interstellar Five, Robotic Explorers Venturing Far, Far From Earth",
"headTitle": "Meet the Interstellar Five, Robotic Explorers Venturing Far, Far From Earth | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">More than four decades after launch, NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft is over 14 billion miles from Earth, cruising an eternal course through the stars of the Milky Way galaxy. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And Voyager 1 i\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">s not the only spacefaring vehicle to venture so far from home. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The probe belongs to a cadre of five interstellar-bound spacecraft, three of which are still communicating with Earth through NASA’s \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/heo/scan/services/networks/deep_space_network/about\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Deep Space Network\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> radio dishes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What have these interstellar five been doing over their decades of exploration, and where are they now?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>New Horizons: Pluto or Bust\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The youngest of NASA’s interstellar vehicles, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/new-horizons/in-depth/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New Horizons\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, launched 15 years ago with a singular goal: to become the first spacecraft to reach Pluto, the last unexplored planet in the solar system. Only after launch, in 2006, did the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.iau.org/public/themes/pluto/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">International Astronomical Union\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> vote to demote Pluto to a “\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/infographics/what-is-a-dwarf-planet\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">dwarf planet\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">”.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973552\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 790px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1973552\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/790px-New_Horizons_1-nasa.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"790\" height=\"599\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/790px-New_Horizons_1-nasa.jpg 790w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/790px-New_Horizons_1-nasa-160x121.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/790px-New_Horizons_1-nasa-768x582.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 790px) 100vw, 790px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The plutonium-powered New Horizons spacecraft during final assembly before its 2006 launch. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With a boost in speed generated by a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/basics/primer/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">gravitational slingshot maneuver\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> at Jupiter, New Horizons became the fastest interplanetary spacecraft up till that time, reaching a peak velocity of over 36,000 mph—a speed that would take you from the Earth to the moon in under seven hours.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since Pluto’s discovery in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh, little was known of this small, distant world; the best pictures of the dwarf planet, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, had revealed little more than a blur of light and dark patches. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So on July 14, 2015, the world waited with great anticipation of seeing the first up-close images–and were rewarded handsomely for a decade of giddy patience. \u003c/span>After nine years in hibernation, New Horizons \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/feature/five-years-after-new-horizons-historic-flyby-here-are-10-cool-things-we-learned-about-plut-0/\">whizzed past Pluto\u003c/a> at over 30,000 mph, passing within 4,800 miles of the dwarf planet’s surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pluto, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/281378/new-horizons-spacecraft-turns-pluto-from-blurry-disk-into-highly-complex-world\">brought into sharp focus\u003c/a> for the first time, was revealed as a far more interesting world than anyone expected. With mountains of solid ice reaching two miles high, vast planes of frozen nitrogen-methane “slush” that appear to be flowing like glaciers, and a thin hazy atmosphere reaching heights of 80 miles above the surface, we are still gasping at Pluto’s beauty and uniqueness six years after the encounter.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973555\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1973555\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/2020_march31_pluto-NASA-JHUAPL-SwRI-.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/2020_march31_pluto-NASA-JHUAPL-SwRI-.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/2020_march31_pluto-NASA-JHUAPL-SwRI--160x120.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/2020_march31_pluto-NASA-JHUAPL-SwRI--768x576.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pluto. Image captured by New Horizons during its flyby on July 14, 2015. \u003ccite>(NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Following that flyby, New Horizons cruised onward into the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/kuiper-belt/overview/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kuiper Belt\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a wide swath of space beyond Neptune that contains multitudes of icy objects, mostly smaller than Pluto, circling the sun.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2019 New Horizons encountered one of these objects, later named \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/kuiper-belt/arrokoth-2014-mu69/overview/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Arrokoth\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which is to date the most distant object visited by any spacecraft. Discovered with the Hubble Space Telescope in June 2014, Arrokoth was added to New Horizons’ post-Pluto itinerary as a target of opportunity. Scientists interested in how our solar system formed about 4.5 billion years ago wanted an up-close look at this example of a primitive “building block” object, the likes of which are believed to have come together to form the planets. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973559\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1973559\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/mu69-named-arrokoth-800x1143.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"1143\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/mu69-named-arrokoth-800x1143.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/mu69-named-arrokoth-1020x1457.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/mu69-named-arrokoth-160x229.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/mu69-named-arrokoth-768x1097.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/mu69-named-arrokoth-1075x1536.png 1075w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/mu69-named-arrokoth.png 1302w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Arrokoth, the Kuiper Belt Object that New Horizons flew by in 2019. This is an ancient object, formed in the earliest times of our solar system 4.5 billion years ago. Arrokoth is the most distant object ever visited by a spacecraft. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New Horizons was bound for interstellar space since it launched, moving fast enough to escape the sun’s gravitational pull and coast forever outward into space, never to return home\u003cstrong>. \u003c/strong> Today, it is more than 4.6 billion miles away, forging ahead \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">through the vast region of the Kuiper Belt\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> toward its inevitable departure from the solar system.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Voyagers 1 and 2: A Grand Tour\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The twin \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Voyager\u003c/span> \u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">spacecraft launched from Earth in 1977 on a five-year mission to explore the two largest planets of the solar system, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/science/jupiter/#:~:text=NASA%20launched%20the%20two%20Voyager,approach%20was%20July%209%2C%201979.&text=They%20took%20more%20than%2033%2C000,and%20its%20five%20major%20satellites.\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jupiter\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/science/saturn/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Saturn\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. But as time went on, and the Voyagers continued in good health, NASA engineers became optimistic the spacecraft might operate for years beyond their expiration dates.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Then a rare alignment of planets offered an opportunity to send at least one of the Voyagers on to the planet Uranus and perhaps Neptune as well.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973557\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1973557\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/Voyager_Path-800x671.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"671\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/Voyager_Path-800x671.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/Voyager_Path-160x134.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/Voyager_Path-768x644.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/Voyager_Path.jpg 805w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Map of the “Grand Tour” of the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After capturing astounding close-up images of Jupiter and Saturn plus a host of their remarkable moons, mission planners engineered an end game that still tops all record charts.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Saturn’s gravity flung Voyager 2 toward \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/science/uranus/#:~:text=NASA's%20Voyager%202%20spacecraft%20flew,24%2C%201986.\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Uranus\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and the spacecraft arrived at the “ice giant” five years later, in 1986. Uranus, in turn, hurled Voyager 2 toward its final planet encounter, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/science/neptune/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Neptune\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, in 1989. To date, Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to have visited either of these worlds.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Voyager 1’s path through the Saturn system sent it by \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.drewexmachina.com/2015/11/12/voyager-1-the-first-close-encounter-with-titan/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Titan\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the ringed world’s largest moon. Titan’s size and thick atmosphere offered great scientific reward, trumping an alternative option to send the spacecraft to Pluto.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With most of their instruments still functioning after their final encounters, the Voyagers began new careers searching for the boundary of interstellar space, where the rarefied gases and magnetic fields flowing outward from the sun change like a shift in the wind to become the prevailing environment between stars.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973556\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1973556\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/pia22835a_20181206_voyager_in_interstellar_space_annotated_1920x1080_72dpi-final-nasa-jpl-caltech-800x450.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/pia22835a_20181206_voyager_in_interstellar_space_annotated_1920x1080_72dpi-final-nasa-jpl-caltech-800x450.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/pia22835a_20181206_voyager_in_interstellar_space_annotated_1920x1080_72dpi-final-nasa-jpl-caltech-160x90.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/pia22835a_20181206_voyager_in_interstellar_space_annotated_1920x1080_72dpi-final-nasa-jpl-caltech-768x432.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/pia22835a_20181206_voyager_in_interstellar_space_annotated_1920x1080_72dpi-final-nasa-jpl-caltech.png 985w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The boundary between our solar system and interstellar space is formed where the “bubble” of our sun’s gases and magnetic fields encounters the gases spread through interstellar space. Called the heliosphere, the shape of this bubble is not symmetrical around the sun, extending farther in some directions than in others. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-Caltech)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Voyager 1 officially passed into interstellar space on Aug. 12, 2012. Voyager 2 made the crossing in 2018.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Today, Voyager 1 has traveled the greatest distance from home of any spacecraft, 152 astronomical units from Earth, or just over 14 billion miles—a distance that takes radio signals over 21 hours to cross.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Both Voyagers are \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">still reporting back to Earth\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, more than four decades after their five-year missions began. Electrical power from their radioisotope thermoelectric generators has declined over the decades, and some of their instruments have been shut down to conserve what remains, but NASA estimates that Voyager 1 could remain functional until 2025.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pioneers 10 and 11: Gone But Not Forgotten\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Before the Voyagers’ epic tours came the first explorers of the outer solar system: \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/missions/archive/pioneer10-11.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pioneers 10 and\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 11\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Launched in 1972, scarcely a decade after the dawn of the space age, the Pioneers gave us our first up-close looks of Jupiter and Saturn and some of their moons. Before this, the gas giants’ enigmatic moons were known only as fuzzy points of light in Earth-based telescopes, and measurements of Jupiter’s magnetic field and intense radiation belts were crucial for designing the later Voyager and Galileo spacecraft. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973551\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 784px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1973551\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/784px-Pioneer_10_at_Jupiter-NASA-Rick-Guidice.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"784\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/784px-Pioneer_10_at_Jupiter-NASA-Rick-Guidice.jpg 784w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/784px-Pioneer_10_at_Jupiter-NASA-Rick-Guidice-160x122.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/784px-Pioneer_10_at_Jupiter-NASA-Rick-Guidice-768x588.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 784px) 100vw, 784px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist concept of Pioneer 10 passing through the Jupiter system, the first spacecraft encounter with any planet beyond the orbit of Mars. \u003ccite>(NASA/Rick Guidice)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to cross the asteroid belt, to enter the outer solar system, and to \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/content/forty-years-ago-pioneer-10-closest-approach-to-jupiter\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">fly past Jupiter\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, in 1973. Afterward, Pioneer 10 continued on a solar escape trajectory that will carry it eventually to interstellar space, probably within the next three decades. The last radio signal we received from Pioneer 10 came in 2003.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973553\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 228px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1973553\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/Pioneer_10_-_Ganymede_-_P102a.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"228\" height=\"227\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/Pioneer_10_-_Ganymede_-_P102a.jpg 228w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/Pioneer_10_-_Ganymede_-_P102a-160x159.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 228px) 100vw, 228px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image of Jupiter’s moon Ganymede, captured by Pioneer 10. Before this image, pictures of outer solar system moons taken from Earth will little more than fuzzy dots. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pioneer 11 flew past Jupiter, and then on to become the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/feature/40-years-ago-pioneer-11-first-to-explore-saturn\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">first spacecraft to visit Saturn\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, in 1979. The last radio signal received from Pioneer 11 came in 1995.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What’s Next for the Frontier Five?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While the youngster New Horizons may continue to actively explore objects and the environment of the Kuiper Belt for years to come, the ultimate fate of all five of our interstellar pioneers is to drift perpetually between the stars of the Milky Way, becoming galactic derelicts of human technology and space exploration.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "More than four decades after launch, the Voyager 1 spacecraft is over 14 billion miles from Earth, one of five spacecraft bound for interstellar space. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">More than four decades after launch, NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft is over 14 billion miles from Earth, cruising an eternal course through the stars of the Milky Way galaxy. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And Voyager 1 i\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">s not the only spacefaring vehicle to venture so far from home. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The probe belongs to a cadre of five interstellar-bound spacecraft, three of which are still communicating with Earth through NASA’s \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/heo/scan/services/networks/deep_space_network/about\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Deep Space Network\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> radio dishes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What have these interstellar five been doing over their decades of exploration, and where are they now?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>New Horizons: Pluto or Bust\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The youngest of NASA’s interstellar vehicles, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/new-horizons/in-depth/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New Horizons\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, launched 15 years ago with a singular goal: to become the first spacecraft to reach Pluto, the last unexplored planet in the solar system. Only after launch, in 2006, did the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.iau.org/public/themes/pluto/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">International Astronomical Union\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> vote to demote Pluto to a “\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/infographics/what-is-a-dwarf-planet\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">dwarf planet\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">”.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973552\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 790px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1973552\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/790px-New_Horizons_1-nasa.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"790\" height=\"599\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/790px-New_Horizons_1-nasa.jpg 790w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/790px-New_Horizons_1-nasa-160x121.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/790px-New_Horizons_1-nasa-768x582.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 790px) 100vw, 790px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The plutonium-powered New Horizons spacecraft during final assembly before its 2006 launch. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With a boost in speed generated by a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/basics/primer/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">gravitational slingshot maneuver\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> at Jupiter, New Horizons became the fastest interplanetary spacecraft up till that time, reaching a peak velocity of over 36,000 mph—a speed that would take you from the Earth to the moon in under seven hours.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since Pluto’s discovery in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh, little was known of this small, distant world; the best pictures of the dwarf planet, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, had revealed little more than a blur of light and dark patches. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So on July 14, 2015, the world waited with great anticipation of seeing the first up-close images–and were rewarded handsomely for a decade of giddy patience. \u003c/span>After nine years in hibernation, New Horizons \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/feature/five-years-after-new-horizons-historic-flyby-here-are-10-cool-things-we-learned-about-plut-0/\">whizzed past Pluto\u003c/a> at over 30,000 mph, passing within 4,800 miles of the dwarf planet’s surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pluto, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/281378/new-horizons-spacecraft-turns-pluto-from-blurry-disk-into-highly-complex-world\">brought into sharp focus\u003c/a> for the first time, was revealed as a far more interesting world than anyone expected. With mountains of solid ice reaching two miles high, vast planes of frozen nitrogen-methane “slush” that appear to be flowing like glaciers, and a thin hazy atmosphere reaching heights of 80 miles above the surface, we are still gasping at Pluto’s beauty and uniqueness six years after the encounter.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973555\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1973555\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/2020_march31_pluto-NASA-JHUAPL-SwRI-.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/2020_march31_pluto-NASA-JHUAPL-SwRI-.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/2020_march31_pluto-NASA-JHUAPL-SwRI--160x120.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/2020_march31_pluto-NASA-JHUAPL-SwRI--768x576.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pluto. Image captured by New Horizons during its flyby on July 14, 2015. \u003ccite>(NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Following that flyby, New Horizons cruised onward into the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/kuiper-belt/overview/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kuiper Belt\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a wide swath of space beyond Neptune that contains multitudes of icy objects, mostly smaller than Pluto, circling the sun.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2019 New Horizons encountered one of these objects, later named \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/kuiper-belt/arrokoth-2014-mu69/overview/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Arrokoth\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which is to date the most distant object visited by any spacecraft. Discovered with the Hubble Space Telescope in June 2014, Arrokoth was added to New Horizons’ post-Pluto itinerary as a target of opportunity. Scientists interested in how our solar system formed about 4.5 billion years ago wanted an up-close look at this example of a primitive “building block” object, the likes of which are believed to have come together to form the planets. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973559\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1973559\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/mu69-named-arrokoth-800x1143.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"1143\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/mu69-named-arrokoth-800x1143.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/mu69-named-arrokoth-1020x1457.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/mu69-named-arrokoth-160x229.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/mu69-named-arrokoth-768x1097.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/mu69-named-arrokoth-1075x1536.png 1075w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/mu69-named-arrokoth.png 1302w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Arrokoth, the Kuiper Belt Object that New Horizons flew by in 2019. This is an ancient object, formed in the earliest times of our solar system 4.5 billion years ago. Arrokoth is the most distant object ever visited by a spacecraft. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New Horizons was bound for interstellar space since it launched, moving fast enough to escape the sun’s gravitational pull and coast forever outward into space, never to return home\u003cstrong>. \u003c/strong> Today, it is more than 4.6 billion miles away, forging ahead \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">through the vast region of the Kuiper Belt\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> toward its inevitable departure from the solar system.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Voyagers 1 and 2: A Grand Tour\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The twin \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Voyager\u003c/span> \u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">spacecraft launched from Earth in 1977 on a five-year mission to explore the two largest planets of the solar system, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/science/jupiter/#:~:text=NASA%20launched%20the%20two%20Voyager,approach%20was%20July%209%2C%201979.&text=They%20took%20more%20than%2033%2C000,and%20its%20five%20major%20satellites.\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jupiter\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/science/saturn/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Saturn\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. But as time went on, and the Voyagers continued in good health, NASA engineers became optimistic the spacecraft might operate for years beyond their expiration dates.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Then a rare alignment of planets offered an opportunity to send at least one of the Voyagers on to the planet Uranus and perhaps Neptune as well.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973557\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1973557\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/Voyager_Path-800x671.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"671\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/Voyager_Path-800x671.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/Voyager_Path-160x134.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/Voyager_Path-768x644.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/Voyager_Path.jpg 805w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Map of the “Grand Tour” of the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After capturing astounding close-up images of Jupiter and Saturn plus a host of their remarkable moons, mission planners engineered an end game that still tops all record charts.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Saturn’s gravity flung Voyager 2 toward \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/science/uranus/#:~:text=NASA's%20Voyager%202%20spacecraft%20flew,24%2C%201986.\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Uranus\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and the spacecraft arrived at the “ice giant” five years later, in 1986. Uranus, in turn, hurled Voyager 2 toward its final planet encounter, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/science/neptune/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Neptune\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, in 1989. To date, Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to have visited either of these worlds.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Voyager 1’s path through the Saturn system sent it by \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.drewexmachina.com/2015/11/12/voyager-1-the-first-close-encounter-with-titan/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Titan\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the ringed world’s largest moon. Titan’s size and thick atmosphere offered great scientific reward, trumping an alternative option to send the spacecraft to Pluto.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With most of their instruments still functioning after their final encounters, the Voyagers began new careers searching for the boundary of interstellar space, where the rarefied gases and magnetic fields flowing outward from the sun change like a shift in the wind to become the prevailing environment between stars.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973556\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1973556\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/pia22835a_20181206_voyager_in_interstellar_space_annotated_1920x1080_72dpi-final-nasa-jpl-caltech-800x450.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/pia22835a_20181206_voyager_in_interstellar_space_annotated_1920x1080_72dpi-final-nasa-jpl-caltech-800x450.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/pia22835a_20181206_voyager_in_interstellar_space_annotated_1920x1080_72dpi-final-nasa-jpl-caltech-160x90.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/pia22835a_20181206_voyager_in_interstellar_space_annotated_1920x1080_72dpi-final-nasa-jpl-caltech-768x432.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/pia22835a_20181206_voyager_in_interstellar_space_annotated_1920x1080_72dpi-final-nasa-jpl-caltech.png 985w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The boundary between our solar system and interstellar space is formed where the “bubble” of our sun’s gases and magnetic fields encounters the gases spread through interstellar space. Called the heliosphere, the shape of this bubble is not symmetrical around the sun, extending farther in some directions than in others. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-Caltech)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Voyager 1 officially passed into interstellar space on Aug. 12, 2012. Voyager 2 made the crossing in 2018.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Today, Voyager 1 has traveled the greatest distance from home of any spacecraft, 152 astronomical units from Earth, or just over 14 billion miles—a distance that takes radio signals over 21 hours to cross.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Both Voyagers are \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">still reporting back to Earth\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, more than four decades after their five-year missions began. Electrical power from their radioisotope thermoelectric generators has declined over the decades, and some of their instruments have been shut down to conserve what remains, but NASA estimates that Voyager 1 could remain functional until 2025.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pioneers 10 and 11: Gone But Not Forgotten\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Before the Voyagers’ epic tours came the first explorers of the outer solar system: \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/missions/archive/pioneer10-11.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pioneers 10 and\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 11\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Launched in 1972, scarcely a decade after the dawn of the space age, the Pioneers gave us our first up-close looks of Jupiter and Saturn and some of their moons. Before this, the gas giants’ enigmatic moons were known only as fuzzy points of light in Earth-based telescopes, and measurements of Jupiter’s magnetic field and intense radiation belts were crucial for designing the later Voyager and Galileo spacecraft. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973551\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 784px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1973551\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/784px-Pioneer_10_at_Jupiter-NASA-Rick-Guidice.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"784\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/784px-Pioneer_10_at_Jupiter-NASA-Rick-Guidice.jpg 784w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/784px-Pioneer_10_at_Jupiter-NASA-Rick-Guidice-160x122.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/784px-Pioneer_10_at_Jupiter-NASA-Rick-Guidice-768x588.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 784px) 100vw, 784px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist concept of Pioneer 10 passing through the Jupiter system, the first spacecraft encounter with any planet beyond the orbit of Mars. \u003ccite>(NASA/Rick Guidice)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to cross the asteroid belt, to enter the outer solar system, and to \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/content/forty-years-ago-pioneer-10-closest-approach-to-jupiter\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">fly past Jupiter\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, in 1973. Afterward, Pioneer 10 continued on a solar escape trajectory that will carry it eventually to interstellar space, probably within the next three decades. The last radio signal we received from Pioneer 10 came in 2003.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973553\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 228px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1973553\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/Pioneer_10_-_Ganymede_-_P102a.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"228\" height=\"227\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/Pioneer_10_-_Ganymede_-_P102a.jpg 228w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/04/Pioneer_10_-_Ganymede_-_P102a-160x159.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 228px) 100vw, 228px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image of Jupiter’s moon Ganymede, captured by Pioneer 10. Before this image, pictures of outer solar system moons taken from Earth will little more than fuzzy dots. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pioneer 11 flew past Jupiter, and then on to become the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/feature/40-years-ago-pioneer-11-first-to-explore-saturn\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">first spacecraft to visit Saturn\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, in 1979. The last radio signal received from Pioneer 11 came in 1995.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What’s Next for the Frontier Five?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While the youngster New Horizons may continue to actively explore objects and the environment of the Kuiper Belt for years to come, the ultimate fate of all five of our interstellar pioneers is to drift perpetually between the stars of the Milky Way, becoming galactic derelicts of human technology and space exploration.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "worst-editorial-advice-ever-kqed-science-reporters-reflect-on-the-pandemics-early-days",
"title": "'Worst. Editorial. Guidance. Ever.' KQED Science Reporters Reflect on the Pandemic's Early Days",
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"headTitle": "‘Worst. Editorial. Guidance. Ever.’ KQED Science Reporters Reflect on the Pandemic’s Early Days | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>It was a year ago that we suddenly all found ourselves working from home and obsessively washing our hands as the novel coronavirus started to spread in the U.S. and the Bay Area. A lot has changed since then: how we live, work, parent, plan and communicate. The coronavirus is hardly “novel” anymore. It has altered all of our lives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">[aside postID=news_11855623,news_11864473]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>KQED science reporters \u003cb>Lesley McClurg\u003c/b> and \u003cb>Peter Arcuni\u003c/b>, along with science editor \u003cb>Jon Brooks\u003c/b>, spoke with Morning Edition host Brian Watt about what it was like to cover an unprecedented global pandemic over the past year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The following has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You have been covering COVID-19 since before it was even called that. Can you take us back to those early days before we knew much about the virus?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">[aside postID=science_1972824]\u003c/span>\u003cem>Peter Arcuni\u003c/em>:\u003c/i> I remember coming into work last January expecting to do a story about fish ears. But my editor pulled me aside and said, ‘Hey, we need you to roll on a CDC teleconference about an outbreak of this new virus in China.’ And that’s when I learned about it for the first time. At that point, we didn’t even know what to call it. It didn’t have an official name, and what was a coronavirus anyway? As reporters, I think we were all just scrambling to figure out how serious it was.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Lesley McClurg:\u003c/i> I think it was the exact same morning that I heard my first news clip about some virus circulating in China. I went back and listened and 17 people had died by that point. I was assigned to go to the San Francisco International Airport and just meet people coming in from a place called Wuhan and asked them, “What is it like in China?” So I raced to the airport. I had no idea even how to say the word Wuhan. I remember being really embarrassed about that. So I’m waiting for people coming in from customs and some are wearing masks and I start talking to them. I remember one woman, she was actually carrying her mask, and she was obviously not very worried about the new “coronavirus.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most people were pretty excited to come to San Francisco. It was Lunar New Year. That was the last direct flight to come in from Wuhan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Jon Brooks:\u003c/i> What I remember clearly is talking to the head of our online engagement team in January after the first U.S. cases were reported. She was concerned about this coronavirus thing. I had seen things in the news and we hadn’t really been covering it. And I remember telling her, “Yeah, don’t worry about it.” Worst. Editorial. Guidance. Ever.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even after that, we did have a lot of editorial discussion over how much attention to give this. I remember talking to our NPR colleagues about not wanting to overplay this because we didn’t quite know what was happening. We did not want to panic anyone unnecessarily.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What is a story you remember doing that really sticks out in your memory?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>LM:\u003c/i> The virus hit home for me in April. I was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1960827/vaping-may-increase-covid-19-risk-even-for-the-young-healthy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">interviewing this young guy\u003c/a> named Colin Finnerty, a 21-year-old who works at a ski resort; he’s a lift operator there. The virus just took him out. This kid spent 10 days in the hospital. He almost didn’t make it. And that’s when I remember thinking, okay, this thing is not the flu.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>PA:\u003c/i> In the beginning the virus really was this scary unknown for people. So as reporters, we wanted to start putting a face to it. The first person I got to know who had it was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1958262/whats-it-like-to-be-in-quarantine-with-the-coronavirus-meet-carl-34-days-counting\">a cruise ship passenger\u003c/a> named Carl Goldman who wound up in Nebraska in a biocontainment lockdown facility for a month. Nowadays, he would probably just spend two weeks at home isolating. But what struck me was Carl’s super positive attitude. I remember him talking about doing his 10,000 steps in this tiny room in Nebraska.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I spoke to Carl a few weeks ago, and unfortunately he has some long hauler symptoms. He’s actually been in a wheelchair due to a nerve condition that he and his doctors think could have been exacerbated by COVID-19. But Carl being Carl, he’s kept positive. He even wants to book another cruise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>JB:\u003c/i> I edited one of Lesley’s stories about doctors and nurses who were absolutely exhausted and feeling “betrayed” by people who weren’t following the guidelines. These health care workers were breaking down, witnessing so much death and pain. And they knew it didn’t have to be this way. They knew if people had just followed the guidelines, they wouldn’t be there in the hospital.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The other thing I remember is, I was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/coronavirusliveupdates\">live blogging\u003c/a> everything. And then when the news came down that Major League Baseball was shutting down — that of all things hit me — because they played entire seasons during World War II. They did not stop. If they were shutting down Major League Baseball, exactly what were we dealing with here?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Things really were moving fast. You could go to the kitchen to get a glass of water and the whole story changed when you got back to your computer. So did covering the coronavirus change how you report your stories?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>LM:\u003c/i> As a science reporter, you really want science to be way down the line in terms of our understanding of something. It has to be vetted by journals and editors and peers. And you don’t put it on the air until we really know that it’s solid, factual science.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At this point in the coronavirus, we didn’t know anything. And so we’re putting stuff on the air that’s a preprint, stuff that has never been vetted by peer review. You know, can you get the coronavirus from touching a surface? Is it airborne? We didn’t know whether those answers were concrete, and we had to be vetting them on the air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think my takeaway is that, as science reporters, we need to do a lot more educating the public about the scientific process so they understand that’s how science works. Because I think they were really confused that we had information that changed over time, and yet that really is science.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>JB:\u003c/i> It was not just “news you can use,” it was “news you must use.” You know: Your school won’t be open tomorrow; in fact, don’t even leave your house. What started as a science story, became a public health story, became an everything story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The other thing was this was a very hard story to report and keep track of because the health officials sort of kept moving the goal post of what was important to them. Early on they were tracking these metrics that they called “indicators,” including contact tracing ability and protective equipment supply and other stuff. We tried to stay abreast of all that. It was a lot of work. But pretty soon they just ditched the whole thing. They scrapped it and started keeping track of other things that they felt were important. And, you know, I think they were kind of making it up as they went along and we had to go along for the ride.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>As the pandemic continued, was there a sense of monotony ever, even though things seem to be changing a lot, did you start feeling like you were kind of saying the same stuff?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>PA:\u003c/i> Absolutely. As much as things were changing, there were other things that were staying the same: Stay 6 feet apart; do your activities outside; wash your hands; wear your mask. I started to feel like there were only so many times I could write that story before the audience would tune out or burnout or get fatigued. For us science reporters, I think one of the big things was sitting down and talking about how we can tell these stories in new, creative ways. So we did FAQs. We made a quiz for people to test how well they were doing in their stay at home bubble. I remember doing a PSA early on with my daughter to show people how to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1960866/why-washing-your-hands-works-so-well-and-how-to-do-it-right\">wash their hands\u003c/a> and why it works.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The challenge, and really the hope, was to help the audience, without totally freaking them out or losing them.\u003cb> \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>If another pandemic came around, what is your take away from this one?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>LM:\u003c/i> Well, I certainly wouldn’t run to the airport the next time a virus is circulating. Hopefully we learned some of the basics. I also think I would focus more on the positive. I think journalists are kind of inherently skeptical, kind of picky people. I think we really focused on a lot of the concerns: Do masks work 100 percent? Is this vaccine 100 percent effective? And yet masks, we have learned, work really well, even if they’re not 100 percent effective. And this vaccine is almost 100 percent effective, and I don’t think we really stressed that enough\u003cb>. \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>PA:\u003c/i> And in terms of vaccines, you know, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1972824/covid-19-vaccine-your-questions-answered\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">how fast\u003c/a> we got them. A year ago, doctors were telling us it could be two years, maybe a year. We got three vaccines in less than a year, which is just crazy when you think about the decades it can take to develop other vaccines. We still don’t have a vaccine for HIV. So even with all the uncertainty and the snafus with testing and the response on the federal level, there were some real bright spots for science.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>JB:\u003c/i> I will certainly remember how rapidly the rug can be pulled out from underneath the entire world. Just like that, things were shut down. But I will also remember the resilience of us, the human race. We’re still here. Take \u003cem>that,\u003c/em> coronavirus. We’re going to beat you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/i>KQED science reporters \u003cb>Lesley McClurg\u003c/b> and \u003cb>Peter Arcuni\u003c/b>, along with science editor \u003cb>Jon Brooks\u003c/b>, spoke with Morning Edition host Brian Watt about what it was like to cover an unprecedented global pandemic over the past year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The following has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You have been covering COVID-19 since before it was even called that. Can you take us back to those early days before we knew much about the virus?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003cem>Peter Arcuni\u003c/em>:\u003c/i> I remember coming into work last January expecting to do a story about fish ears. But my editor pulled me aside and said, ‘Hey, we need you to roll on a CDC teleconference about an outbreak of this new virus in China.’ And that’s when I learned about it for the first time. At that point, we didn’t even know what to call it. It didn’t have an official name, and what was a coronavirus anyway? As reporters, I think we were all just scrambling to figure out how serious it was.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Lesley McClurg:\u003c/i> I think it was the exact same morning that I heard my first news clip about some virus circulating in China. I went back and listened and 17 people had died by that point. I was assigned to go to the San Francisco International Airport and just meet people coming in from a place called Wuhan and asked them, “What is it like in China?” So I raced to the airport. I had no idea even how to say the word Wuhan. I remember being really embarrassed about that. So I’m waiting for people coming in from customs and some are wearing masks and I start talking to them. I remember one woman, she was actually carrying her mask, and she was obviously not very worried about the new “coronavirus.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most people were pretty excited to come to San Francisco. It was Lunar New Year. That was the last direct flight to come in from Wuhan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Jon Brooks:\u003c/i> What I remember clearly is talking to the head of our online engagement team in January after the first U.S. cases were reported. She was concerned about this coronavirus thing. I had seen things in the news and we hadn’t really been covering it. And I remember telling her, “Yeah, don’t worry about it.” Worst. Editorial. Guidance. Ever.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even after that, we did have a lot of editorial discussion over how much attention to give this. I remember talking to our NPR colleagues about not wanting to overplay this because we didn’t quite know what was happening. We did not want to panic anyone unnecessarily.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What is a story you remember doing that really sticks out in your memory?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>LM:\u003c/i> The virus hit home for me in April. I was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1960827/vaping-may-increase-covid-19-risk-even-for-the-young-healthy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">interviewing this young guy\u003c/a> named Colin Finnerty, a 21-year-old who works at a ski resort; he’s a lift operator there. The virus just took him out. This kid spent 10 days in the hospital. He almost didn’t make it. And that’s when I remember thinking, okay, this thing is not the flu.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>PA:\u003c/i> In the beginning the virus really was this scary unknown for people. So as reporters, we wanted to start putting a face to it. The first person I got to know who had it was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1958262/whats-it-like-to-be-in-quarantine-with-the-coronavirus-meet-carl-34-days-counting\">a cruise ship passenger\u003c/a> named Carl Goldman who wound up in Nebraska in a biocontainment lockdown facility for a month. Nowadays, he would probably just spend two weeks at home isolating. But what struck me was Carl’s super positive attitude. I remember him talking about doing his 10,000 steps in this tiny room in Nebraska.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I spoke to Carl a few weeks ago, and unfortunately he has some long hauler symptoms. He’s actually been in a wheelchair due to a nerve condition that he and his doctors think could have been exacerbated by COVID-19. But Carl being Carl, he’s kept positive. He even wants to book another cruise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>JB:\u003c/i> I edited one of Lesley’s stories about doctors and nurses who were absolutely exhausted and feeling “betrayed” by people who weren’t following the guidelines. These health care workers were breaking down, witnessing so much death and pain. And they knew it didn’t have to be this way. They knew if people had just followed the guidelines, they wouldn’t be there in the hospital.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The other thing I remember is, I was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/coronavirusliveupdates\">live blogging\u003c/a> everything. And then when the news came down that Major League Baseball was shutting down — that of all things hit me — because they played entire seasons during World War II. They did not stop. If they were shutting down Major League Baseball, exactly what were we dealing with here?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Things really were moving fast. You could go to the kitchen to get a glass of water and the whole story changed when you got back to your computer. So did covering the coronavirus change how you report your stories?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>LM:\u003c/i> As a science reporter, you really want science to be way down the line in terms of our understanding of something. It has to be vetted by journals and editors and peers. And you don’t put it on the air until we really know that it’s solid, factual science.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At this point in the coronavirus, we didn’t know anything. And so we’re putting stuff on the air that’s a preprint, stuff that has never been vetted by peer review. You know, can you get the coronavirus from touching a surface? Is it airborne? We didn’t know whether those answers were concrete, and we had to be vetting them on the air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think my takeaway is that, as science reporters, we need to do a lot more educating the public about the scientific process so they understand that’s how science works. Because I think they were really confused that we had information that changed over time, and yet that really is science.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>JB:\u003c/i> It was not just “news you can use,” it was “news you must use.” You know: Your school won’t be open tomorrow; in fact, don’t even leave your house. What started as a science story, became a public health story, became an everything story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The other thing was this was a very hard story to report and keep track of because the health officials sort of kept moving the goal post of what was important to them. Early on they were tracking these metrics that they called “indicators,” including contact tracing ability and protective equipment supply and other stuff. We tried to stay abreast of all that. It was a lot of work. But pretty soon they just ditched the whole thing. They scrapped it and started keeping track of other things that they felt were important. And, you know, I think they were kind of making it up as they went along and we had to go along for the ride.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>As the pandemic continued, was there a sense of monotony ever, even though things seem to be changing a lot, did you start feeling like you were kind of saying the same stuff?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>PA:\u003c/i> Absolutely. As much as things were changing, there were other things that were staying the same: Stay 6 feet apart; do your activities outside; wash your hands; wear your mask. I started to feel like there were only so many times I could write that story before the audience would tune out or burnout or get fatigued. For us science reporters, I think one of the big things was sitting down and talking about how we can tell these stories in new, creative ways. So we did FAQs. We made a quiz for people to test how well they were doing in their stay at home bubble. I remember doing a PSA early on with my daughter to show people how to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1960866/why-washing-your-hands-works-so-well-and-how-to-do-it-right\">wash their hands\u003c/a> and why it works.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The challenge, and really the hope, was to help the audience, without totally freaking them out or losing them.\u003cb> \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>If another pandemic came around, what is your take away from this one?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>LM:\u003c/i> Well, I certainly wouldn’t run to the airport the next time a virus is circulating. Hopefully we learned some of the basics. I also think I would focus more on the positive. I think journalists are kind of inherently skeptical, kind of picky people. I think we really focused on a lot of the concerns: Do masks work 100 percent? Is this vaccine 100 percent effective? And yet masks, we have learned, work really well, even if they’re not 100 percent effective. And this vaccine is almost 100 percent effective, and I don’t think we really stressed that enough\u003cb>. \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>PA:\u003c/i> And in terms of vaccines, you know, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1972824/covid-19-vaccine-your-questions-answered\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">how fast\u003c/a> we got them. A year ago, doctors were telling us it could be two years, maybe a year. We got three vaccines in less than a year, which is just crazy when you think about the decades it can take to develop other vaccines. We still don’t have a vaccine for HIV. So even with all the uncertainty and the snafus with testing and the response on the federal level, there were some real bright spots for science.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>JB:\u003c/i> I will certainly remember how rapidly the rug can be pulled out from underneath the entire world. Just like that, things were shut down. But I will also remember the resilience of us, the human race. We’re still here. Take \u003cem>that,\u003c/em> coronavirus. We’re going to beat you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "NASA Is Considering 5 Space Tech Concepts That Sound Like Sci-Fi",
"headTitle": "NASA Is Considering 5 Space Tech Concepts That Sound Like Sci-Fi | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Farming space with soil from asteroids “digested” by fungus?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Levitating across the lunar landscape? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">How about powering a moon base with sunlight? Or scaffolding enormous spinning space habitats? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sounds like a science fiction epic about taming the solar system with a high-tech plough through the sweat of an astronaut’s brow. These concepts, however, are a step closer to reality than mere science fiction. Their authors are researchers at various technology corporations, educational institutions, and NASA centers, and their inventive plot devices are not conceived merely to entertain, but to facilitate future expeditions to the moon, Mars and beyond.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">More than a dozen researchers have been \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/niac/Futuristic_Space_Technology_Concepts_Selected_by_NASA_for_Initial_Study\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">awarded grants by the NASA\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Innovative Advanced Concepts program to study the feasibility of their near-sci-fi technology concepts. Working in a gray zone between the real and the imagined, they are kicking ideas from the shadows of the fictional into the light of real potential. And with the $125,000 boost of each NIAC Phase 1 study grant, their speculations on future space technology have been reified just a titch.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Who are the grant recipients, and what kinds of ideas are they coming up with? A few examples.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Portable Magnetic Highway\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A robotics engineer at NASA’s \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jet Propulsion Laboratory\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is exploring a concept for a portable \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/niac/2021_Phase_I/FLOAT/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">magnetic “rail” transportation\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> system for use on the moon. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973299\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1973299\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/schaler_float_graphic_2021_ph_i-ethan-schaler-800x615.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"615\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/schaler_float_graphic_2021_ph_i-ethan-schaler-800x615.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/schaler_float_graphic_2021_ph_i-ethan-schaler-160x123.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/schaler_float_graphic_2021_ph_i-ethan-schaler-768x590.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/schaler_float_graphic_2021_ph_i-ethan-schaler.png 985w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Concept for a portable “road way” to be rolled out across the moon’s surface, on which transport robots magnetically levitate loads from one place to another, efficiently and autonomously. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-Caltech/Ethan Schaler)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When humans begin to establish long-term lunar habitats, there will be a need to regularly transport a lot of material around the surface. Mining lunar materials for air, water, and fuel components will involve moving the raw “ore” to processing facilities. Excavating rock and soil to build living and working structures will dig up a lot of debris that needs to be carted away. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">To do this, the initial concept calls for a flat “track” to be rolled out onto the moon’s surface between locations, creating a sort of instant roadbed without the need for permanent construction. Autonomous transport robots then levitate above the track on a magnetic cushion, carrying their loads across the landscape with no friction or air resistance, and without a need for constant human management.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Swimbots\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The same JPL researcher is also exploring a concept for robotic exploration vehicles that can \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/niac/2021_Phase_I/SWIM/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">swim in the oceans\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> of other worlds like Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s moon Titan, which has a methane sea. As we get closer to mounting expeditions to these remote and hazardous liquid environments, we’ll need more than wheels and helicopter blades to drive exploration forward.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973304\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1973304\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/schaler_swim_graphic_2021_ph_i-800x391.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"391\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/schaler_swim_graphic_2021_ph_i-800x391.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/schaler_swim_graphic_2021_ph_i-160x78.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/schaler_swim_graphic_2021_ph_i-768x375.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/schaler_swim_graphic_2021_ph_i.png 985w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Concept for ocean-swimming probes deployed in a liquid environment, such as the sub-ice ocean on Jupiter’s moon Europa. In this concept, small swimming robots would be released from an ice-boring vessel connected to the lander vehicle on top the icy crust far above. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-Caltech/Ethan Schaler)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Cultivating Space Soil\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A researcher with \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.transastracorp.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Trans Astronautica Corporation\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is eyeing the asteroids as possible source material for \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/niac/2021_Phase_I/Making_Soil_for_Space_Habitats/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">creating arable soil\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, and putting Earth fungus to work to make it happen. The idea is for the fungus to break down or “digest” the sterile asteroid material into soil for growing plants.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Along with aspirations for humans to live on the moon and make the arduous voyage to Mars comes the need to feed them. Such expeditions will no doubt bring along food staples and water, but carrying cargo into space — even the short hop from Earth to the International Space Station — is costly, especially with a continual need to resupply. And sending supplies to a moon base, or a long-range Mars mission, is an even greater expense and challenge.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Any food that can be produced or grown on the ship or station where it is to be consumed will grant a mission greater autonomy and food security, and eventually may allow space-faring humans to become self-sufficient. Even today, plants are experimentally grown and harvested onboard the International Space Station, laying the groundwork for future space farms much farther from home.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The idea of mining asteroids for precious metals, either by traveling to one or relocating it to an orbit around Earth or the moon, has been envisioned for some time. But the thought of tapping the worthless rocky components of asteroids to produce a commodity far more valuable than gold to astronauts who need to eat is a stroke of brilliance. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Since there are plenty of asteroids flying around the solar system, the potential to produce usable soil is practically unlimited, and the practice may one day feed large-scale space habitations.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Prefabbed Space Homes\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cmu.edu/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Carnegie Mellon University\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> assistant professor is conceiving a lightweight collapsible apparatus as a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/niac/2021_Phase_I/Kilometer-Scale_Space_Structures_from_a_Single_Launch/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">deployable “building block”\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> for constructing enormous, kilometer-scaled space structures.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973298\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1973298\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/manchester_graphic_2021_ph_i_0-Zachary-Manchester-graphic-by-Tzipora-Thompson-800x510.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"510\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/manchester_graphic_2021_ph_i_0-Zachary-Manchester-graphic-by-Tzipora-Thompson-800x510.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/manchester_graphic_2021_ph_i_0-Zachary-Manchester-graphic-by-Tzipora-Thompson-160x102.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/manchester_graphic_2021_ph_i_0-Zachary-Manchester-graphic-by-Tzipora-Thompson-768x490.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/manchester_graphic_2021_ph_i_0-Zachary-Manchester-graphic-by-Tzipora-Thompson.png 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Concept for a lightweight, compact construct that is launched into space and then expands to a large-scale structure. \u003ccite>(Zac Manchester/Jeff Lipton/Tziporah Thompson)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This idea accepts an ambitious challenge set by science fiction writers over the decades: to engineer an artificial space habitat, or “space ark,” of a scale grand enough to accommodate a population of humans and a sustainable, even self-sufficient ecosystem.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Supercharged Solar Power\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A researcher at NASA’s \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/langley\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Langley Research Center\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is shining light on a concept to generate and distribute \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/niac/2021_Phase_I/Light_Bender/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">electrical power for use on the moon\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, using telescope optics to capture, redirect and focus sunlight.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973300\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1973300\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/taylor_graphic_2021_ph_i_lg-Ronald-Neale-800x492.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"492\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/taylor_graphic_2021_ph_i_lg-Ronald-Neale-800x492.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/taylor_graphic_2021_ph_i_lg-Ronald-Neale-1020x628.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/taylor_graphic_2021_ph_i_lg-Ronald-Neale-160x98.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/taylor_graphic_2021_ph_i_lg-Ronald-Neale-768x473.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/taylor_graphic_2021_ph_i_lg-Ronald-Neale-1536x945.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/taylor_graphic_2021_ph_i_lg-Ronald-Neale.png 1599w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Concept for the collection and distribution of solar energy across the moon’s surface to buildings, spacecraft, and other vehicles, using telescope optics. \u003ccite>(NASA/Ronald Neale)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Though concentrated solar energy systems are nothing new, engineering a system for the moon presents some unearthly technical challenges — for one, designing a system small and light enough to be transported from Earth to the lunar surface while still maximizing energy production to squeeze out as much power from the sun’s rays as possible.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Back to Sci-Fi\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Science fiction may inspire the invention of new technologies and scientific endeavors, but the reverse is also true. Real achievements in space exploration and the tech that enables it inspire us to wonder more deeply about where the adventure can lead, which can inspire further innovation.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We may not see giant space habitats and crops harvested from asteroid dirt for some time, but thinking about how to do these things needs to start now. As humans gradually move farther from Earth and dwell in space for longer stretches of time, visions of this kind may inevitably become the reality of future generations.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Levitating across the lunar landscape? Powering a moon base with sunlight? Researchers have been awarded grants by the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program to study the feasibility of future technologies. ",
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"description": "Levitating across the lunar landscape? Powering a moon base with sunlight? Researchers have been awarded grants by the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program to study the feasibility of future technologies. ",
"title": "NASA Is Considering 5 Space Tech Concepts That Sound Like Sci-Fi | KQED",
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"headline": "NASA Is Considering 5 Space Tech Concepts That Sound Like Sci-Fi",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Farming space with soil from asteroids “digested” by fungus?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Levitating across the lunar landscape? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">How about powering a moon base with sunlight? Or scaffolding enormous spinning space habitats? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sounds like a science fiction epic about taming the solar system with a high-tech plough through the sweat of an astronaut’s brow. These concepts, however, are a step closer to reality than mere science fiction. Their authors are researchers at various technology corporations, educational institutions, and NASA centers, and their inventive plot devices are not conceived merely to entertain, but to facilitate future expeditions to the moon, Mars and beyond.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">More than a dozen researchers have been \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/niac/Futuristic_Space_Technology_Concepts_Selected_by_NASA_for_Initial_Study\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">awarded grants by the NASA\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Innovative Advanced Concepts program to study the feasibility of their near-sci-fi technology concepts. Working in a gray zone between the real and the imagined, they are kicking ideas from the shadows of the fictional into the light of real potential. And with the $125,000 boost of each NIAC Phase 1 study grant, their speculations on future space technology have been reified just a titch.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Who are the grant recipients, and what kinds of ideas are they coming up with? A few examples.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Portable Magnetic Highway\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A robotics engineer at NASA’s \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jet Propulsion Laboratory\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is exploring a concept for a portable \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/niac/2021_Phase_I/FLOAT/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">magnetic “rail” transportation\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> system for use on the moon. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973299\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1973299\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/schaler_float_graphic_2021_ph_i-ethan-schaler-800x615.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"615\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/schaler_float_graphic_2021_ph_i-ethan-schaler-800x615.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/schaler_float_graphic_2021_ph_i-ethan-schaler-160x123.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/schaler_float_graphic_2021_ph_i-ethan-schaler-768x590.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/schaler_float_graphic_2021_ph_i-ethan-schaler.png 985w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Concept for a portable “road way” to be rolled out across the moon’s surface, on which transport robots magnetically levitate loads from one place to another, efficiently and autonomously. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-Caltech/Ethan Schaler)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When humans begin to establish long-term lunar habitats, there will be a need to regularly transport a lot of material around the surface. Mining lunar materials for air, water, and fuel components will involve moving the raw “ore” to processing facilities. Excavating rock and soil to build living and working structures will dig up a lot of debris that needs to be carted away. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">To do this, the initial concept calls for a flat “track” to be rolled out onto the moon’s surface between locations, creating a sort of instant roadbed without the need for permanent construction. Autonomous transport robots then levitate above the track on a magnetic cushion, carrying their loads across the landscape with no friction or air resistance, and without a need for constant human management.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Swimbots\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The same JPL researcher is also exploring a concept for robotic exploration vehicles that can \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/niac/2021_Phase_I/SWIM/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">swim in the oceans\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> of other worlds like Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s moon Titan, which has a methane sea. As we get closer to mounting expeditions to these remote and hazardous liquid environments, we’ll need more than wheels and helicopter blades to drive exploration forward.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973304\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1973304\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/schaler_swim_graphic_2021_ph_i-800x391.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"391\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/schaler_swim_graphic_2021_ph_i-800x391.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/schaler_swim_graphic_2021_ph_i-160x78.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/schaler_swim_graphic_2021_ph_i-768x375.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/schaler_swim_graphic_2021_ph_i.png 985w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Concept for ocean-swimming probes deployed in a liquid environment, such as the sub-ice ocean on Jupiter’s moon Europa. In this concept, small swimming robots would be released from an ice-boring vessel connected to the lander vehicle on top the icy crust far above. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-Caltech/Ethan Schaler)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Cultivating Space Soil\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A researcher with \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.transastracorp.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Trans Astronautica Corporation\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is eyeing the asteroids as possible source material for \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/niac/2021_Phase_I/Making_Soil_for_Space_Habitats/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">creating arable soil\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, and putting Earth fungus to work to make it happen. The idea is for the fungus to break down or “digest” the sterile asteroid material into soil for growing plants.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Along with aspirations for humans to live on the moon and make the arduous voyage to Mars comes the need to feed them. Such expeditions will no doubt bring along food staples and water, but carrying cargo into space — even the short hop from Earth to the International Space Station — is costly, especially with a continual need to resupply. And sending supplies to a moon base, or a long-range Mars mission, is an even greater expense and challenge.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Any food that can be produced or grown on the ship or station where it is to be consumed will grant a mission greater autonomy and food security, and eventually may allow space-faring humans to become self-sufficient. Even today, plants are experimentally grown and harvested onboard the International Space Station, laying the groundwork for future space farms much farther from home.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The idea of mining asteroids for precious metals, either by traveling to one or relocating it to an orbit around Earth or the moon, has been envisioned for some time. But the thought of tapping the worthless rocky components of asteroids to produce a commodity far more valuable than gold to astronauts who need to eat is a stroke of brilliance. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Since there are plenty of asteroids flying around the solar system, the potential to produce usable soil is practically unlimited, and the practice may one day feed large-scale space habitations.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Prefabbed Space Homes\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cmu.edu/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Carnegie Mellon University\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> assistant professor is conceiving a lightweight collapsible apparatus as a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/niac/2021_Phase_I/Kilometer-Scale_Space_Structures_from_a_Single_Launch/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">deployable “building block”\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> for constructing enormous, kilometer-scaled space structures.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973298\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1973298\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/manchester_graphic_2021_ph_i_0-Zachary-Manchester-graphic-by-Tzipora-Thompson-800x510.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"510\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/manchester_graphic_2021_ph_i_0-Zachary-Manchester-graphic-by-Tzipora-Thompson-800x510.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/manchester_graphic_2021_ph_i_0-Zachary-Manchester-graphic-by-Tzipora-Thompson-160x102.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/manchester_graphic_2021_ph_i_0-Zachary-Manchester-graphic-by-Tzipora-Thompson-768x490.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/manchester_graphic_2021_ph_i_0-Zachary-Manchester-graphic-by-Tzipora-Thompson.png 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Concept for a lightweight, compact construct that is launched into space and then expands to a large-scale structure. \u003ccite>(Zac Manchester/Jeff Lipton/Tziporah Thompson)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This idea accepts an ambitious challenge set by science fiction writers over the decades: to engineer an artificial space habitat, or “space ark,” of a scale grand enough to accommodate a population of humans and a sustainable, even self-sufficient ecosystem.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Supercharged Solar Power\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A researcher at NASA’s \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/langley\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Langley Research Center\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is shining light on a concept to generate and distribute \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/niac/2021_Phase_I/Light_Bender/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">electrical power for use on the moon\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, using telescope optics to capture, redirect and focus sunlight.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1973300\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1973300\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/taylor_graphic_2021_ph_i_lg-Ronald-Neale-800x492.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"492\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/taylor_graphic_2021_ph_i_lg-Ronald-Neale-800x492.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/taylor_graphic_2021_ph_i_lg-Ronald-Neale-1020x628.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/taylor_graphic_2021_ph_i_lg-Ronald-Neale-160x98.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/taylor_graphic_2021_ph_i_lg-Ronald-Neale-768x473.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/taylor_graphic_2021_ph_i_lg-Ronald-Neale-1536x945.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/03/taylor_graphic_2021_ph_i_lg-Ronald-Neale.png 1599w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Concept for the collection and distribution of solar energy across the moon’s surface to buildings, spacecraft, and other vehicles, using telescope optics. \u003ccite>(NASA/Ronald Neale)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Though concentrated solar energy systems are nothing new, engineering a system for the moon presents some unearthly technical challenges — for one, designing a system small and light enough to be transported from Earth to the lunar surface while still maximizing energy production to squeeze out as much power from the sun’s rays as possible.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Back to Sci-Fi\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Science fiction may inspire the invention of new technologies and scientific endeavors, but the reverse is also true. Real achievements in space exploration and the tech that enables it inspire us to wonder more deeply about where the adventure can lead, which can inspire further innovation.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We may not see giant space habitats and crops harvested from asteroid dirt for some time, but thinking about how to do these things needs to start now. As humans gradually move farther from Earth and dwell in space for longer stretches of time, visions of this kind may inevitably become the reality of future generations.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>At a normal tide on a normal day on the Southern California coast, ankle-high waves glide over a narrow strip of gold sand. On one side sits the largest body of water in the world. On the other, a row of houses with a cumulative value in the hundreds of millions of dollars, propped on water-stained stilts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Property value ebbs and flows, but when it comes to coastal real estate “the trend lines are pretty clear,” says California state Sen. Ben Allen, squinting in the sun. “And they’re not pretty.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Within the span of a 30-year mortgage, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/underwater\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">more than $100 billion\u003c/a> worth of American homes is expected to be at risk of chronic flooding. As the climate warms and oceans rise, narrow strips of sand such as the one Allen is standing on, will be submerged, leaving coastal communities — affluent and not — with the torturous question of how to adjust. Build seawalls? Dump sand? For how long and at what cost?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s becoming a really serious resource question for a lot of local governments,” says Allen, who represents coastal communities in the greater Los Angeles area that are spending millions to keep their beaches intact.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s expensive to fight the sea. It’s expensive not to do so. When property values plummet, so do property taxes. But right now property values here are still high, and Allen wants to put that value to use before it’s gone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s why the 43-year-old Democrat has proposed legislation to create a revolving loan program, allowing California counties and communities to purchase vulnerable coastal properties. The goal would then be to rent those properties out, either to the original homeowner or someone else, and use that money to pay off the loan until the property is no longer safe to live in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Think of it like a city-run Airbnb, where the profits go to making sure nobody is left picking up the full tab when the Pacific comes to collect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a strategy that’s never been tried at such a large scale, and its implementation would come with plenty of questions, policy experts say. But there’s hope in various parts of the country that the legislation passes, putting to test a buy-to-rent strategy that could offer a more permanent solution to a growing problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>‘Not a Conversation … Communities Want to Have’\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At its core, Allen’s proposal is a buyout program — a government-subsidized effort to limit the state’s longer-term exposure to sea level rise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Within the next 30 years \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4261\">$8 billion to $10 billion\u003c/a> of existing property in California is expected to be underwater, according to the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office. An additional $6 billion to $10 billion will be at risk during high tide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The magnitude of the potential impacts mean that the state cannot afford to indefinitely delay taking steps to prepare,” the report warns. “Waiting too long to initiate adaptation efforts likely will make responding effectively more difficult and costly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Communities have three options for dealing with that threat: They can defend those properties using seawalls and buffering beaches; they can learn to live with higher waters; or they can retreat, moving to higher ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The last option is often the least popular, says Julia Stein, a project director at the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at UCLA School of Law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s just not a conversation that a lot of coastal communities want to have,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And when the conversation does come up, one of the first questions to arise is cost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Take Del Mar, a low-lying, upscale community north of San Diego. Residents there have been in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2018/12/04/672285546/retreat-is-not-an-option-as-a-california-beach-town-plans-for-rising-seas\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">yearslong fight\u003c/a> with the state over the term “managed retreat.” The state wants the city to consider retreating from a particularly vulnerable area. Problem is: The combined market value of the homes in that area is more than $1.5 billion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a whole lot of research out there that indicates the market value of coastal property just really doesn’t account for sea level rise in a meaningful way right now, and in the ways that it maybe should,” Stein says. “But at some point, the market is going to realize the problem. And at that point, it may be too late.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s why Stein helped Allen draft his \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/2020-senate-bill-1293-allen-ben-sea-level-rise-revolving-loan-program-dead\">novel legislation\u003c/a>. She thinks the state needs to get ahead of the problem before it becomes another money pit like wildfires. Thousands of California homes are becoming uninsurable due to wildfire risk despite expensive, ever-expanding efforts to fight them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think that’s kind of a vision of the future for some coastal properties,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rent Out Now, Save Money Later\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the last 30 years, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has supported buyouts of more than 43,000 U.S. homes, according to an\u003ca href=\"https://www.nrdc.org/experts/anna-weber/going-under-post-flood-buyouts-take-years-complete\"> analysis\u003c/a> by the Natural Resources Defense Council. Most are in the more flood-prone East. A few patterns have emerged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s usually homeowners who are in good standing on their mortgage, after a disaster, who probably can speak pretty good English and are well-off enough to navigate a really complicated, bureaucratic process for three to five years,” says Miyuki Hino, an assistant professor of city and regional planning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just because a property owner is willing to sell a home doesn’t mean the resources exist to carry it out. Demand already exceeds supply, and demand is only going to grow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are facing some really unprecedented difficulties, and we need to be willing to experiment and try new things and see what works and what doesn’t,” Hino says. The California proposal fits that bill, even if she has questions about how it would work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Governments have long played landlord for public housing projects, but coastal real estate would be another beast altogether. There’s no guarantee that homeowners would want to participate. And there are questions of equity. Who would get prioritized for buyouts? Is potentially spending public money to buy multimillion-dollar homes the best use of those funds?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Andy Keeler, an economist at East Carolina University’s Department of Coastal Studies, believes the answer is yes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keeler has spent years studying buy-to-rent strategies similar to that proposed in California, and he thinks they could be a useful tool for disrupting a pervasive problem when it comes to coastal real estate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The value of a coastal home is hugely dependent on the public sector, he says. If a city or state invests in protecting properties by building sea walls or nourishing beaches, it signals to homeowners that their property values will stay intact, so they continue to invest in their property. More investment means more reason to protect down the road.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a positive feedback loop that strings out how much longer you’re going to be there,” Keeler says. “All it buys you, which is really valuable, is time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From a purely economic perspective though, it doesn’t add up. A community pays on the front end, pays again, and again, and then is left with the cleanup and emergency response in the end.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keeler says that link can be broken by taking properties out of the hands of private homeowners, who are getting mixed messages about the value of their homes, and putting them in the hands of the public, which has an interest in not being stuck with all of those bills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Communities can then plan for the eventual phasing out of those properties as sea levels rise. They can plan for the decline in property taxes, and the cleanup costs associated with homes falling into the sea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re going to be looking at really massive relocation sometime in the next couple of hundred years and probably much sooner,” Keeler says. If we don’t manage the timing of that, he fears, it will manage us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nothing Is Forever \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His eyes shadowed from the bright California sun by the brim of his blue Dodgers cap, Allen pulls out his phone and opens the Zillow app.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The $8.3 million house just up the beach has a monthly rental estimate of $12,500. Assuming the house could be rented at that rate, it would take about 55 years to pay off — 55 years to make back the money he’s proposing the state loans to local communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s the most expensive house on this stretch of beach though, and Allen says it may not be worth investing in. But it’s also the kind of property that a homeowner would fight to protect, lobbying for public investment in sea walls and other defenses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allen’s bill passed unanimously through the state’s Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee last week, and he says he’s hopeful it will receive similar support in the broader Legislature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nobody wants to come to terms with what’s happening,” he says, watching as people stroll the beach barefoot and smiling. “We want this to be here forever. We want to be able to walk along this beach and enjoy these beautiful houses and this beautiful view forever.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, he says, “you can’t beat the sea.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=California+Has+A+New+Idea+For+Homes+At+Risk+From+Rising+Seas%3A+Buy%2C+Rent%2C+Retreat&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>At a normal tide on a normal day on the Southern California coast, ankle-high waves glide over a narrow strip of gold sand. On one side sits the largest body of water in the world. On the other, a row of houses with a cumulative value in the hundreds of millions of dollars, propped on water-stained stilts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Property value ebbs and flows, but when it comes to coastal real estate “the trend lines are pretty clear,” says California state Sen. Ben Allen, squinting in the sun. “And they’re not pretty.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Within the span of a 30-year mortgage, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/underwater\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">more than $100 billion\u003c/a> worth of American homes is expected to be at risk of chronic flooding. As the climate warms and oceans rise, narrow strips of sand such as the one Allen is standing on, will be submerged, leaving coastal communities — affluent and not — with the torturous question of how to adjust. Build seawalls? Dump sand? For how long and at what cost?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s becoming a really serious resource question for a lot of local governments,” says Allen, who represents coastal communities in the greater Los Angeles area that are spending millions to keep their beaches intact.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s expensive to fight the sea. It’s expensive not to do so. When property values plummet, so do property taxes. But right now property values here are still high, and Allen wants to put that value to use before it’s gone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s why the 43-year-old Democrat has proposed legislation to create a revolving loan program, allowing California counties and communities to purchase vulnerable coastal properties. The goal would then be to rent those properties out, either to the original homeowner or someone else, and use that money to pay off the loan until the property is no longer safe to live in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Think of it like a city-run Airbnb, where the profits go to making sure nobody is left picking up the full tab when the Pacific comes to collect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a strategy that’s never been tried at such a large scale, and its implementation would come with plenty of questions, policy experts say. But there’s hope in various parts of the country that the legislation passes, putting to test a buy-to-rent strategy that could offer a more permanent solution to a growing problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>‘Not a Conversation … Communities Want to Have’\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At its core, Allen’s proposal is a buyout program — a government-subsidized effort to limit the state’s longer-term exposure to sea level rise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Within the next 30 years \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4261\">$8 billion to $10 billion\u003c/a> of existing property in California is expected to be underwater, according to the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office. An additional $6 billion to $10 billion will be at risk during high tide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The magnitude of the potential impacts mean that the state cannot afford to indefinitely delay taking steps to prepare,” the report warns. “Waiting too long to initiate adaptation efforts likely will make responding effectively more difficult and costly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Communities have three options for dealing with that threat: They can defend those properties using seawalls and buffering beaches; they can learn to live with higher waters; or they can retreat, moving to higher ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The last option is often the least popular, says Julia Stein, a project director at the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at UCLA School of Law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s just not a conversation that a lot of coastal communities want to have,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And when the conversation does come up, one of the first questions to arise is cost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Take Del Mar, a low-lying, upscale community north of San Diego. Residents there have been in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2018/12/04/672285546/retreat-is-not-an-option-as-a-california-beach-town-plans-for-rising-seas\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">yearslong fight\u003c/a> with the state over the term “managed retreat.” The state wants the city to consider retreating from a particularly vulnerable area. Problem is: The combined market value of the homes in that area is more than $1.5 billion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a whole lot of research out there that indicates the market value of coastal property just really doesn’t account for sea level rise in a meaningful way right now, and in the ways that it maybe should,” Stein says. “But at some point, the market is going to realize the problem. And at that point, it may be too late.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s why Stein helped Allen draft his \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/2020-senate-bill-1293-allen-ben-sea-level-rise-revolving-loan-program-dead\">novel legislation\u003c/a>. She thinks the state needs to get ahead of the problem before it becomes another money pit like wildfires. Thousands of California homes are becoming uninsurable due to wildfire risk despite expensive, ever-expanding efforts to fight them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think that’s kind of a vision of the future for some coastal properties,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rent Out Now, Save Money Later\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the last 30 years, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has supported buyouts of more than 43,000 U.S. homes, according to an\u003ca href=\"https://www.nrdc.org/experts/anna-weber/going-under-post-flood-buyouts-take-years-complete\"> analysis\u003c/a> by the Natural Resources Defense Council. Most are in the more flood-prone East. A few patterns have emerged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s usually homeowners who are in good standing on their mortgage, after a disaster, who probably can speak pretty good English and are well-off enough to navigate a really complicated, bureaucratic process for three to five years,” says Miyuki Hino, an assistant professor of city and regional planning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just because a property owner is willing to sell a home doesn’t mean the resources exist to carry it out. Demand already exceeds supply, and demand is only going to grow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are facing some really unprecedented difficulties, and we need to be willing to experiment and try new things and see what works and what doesn’t,” Hino says. The California proposal fits that bill, even if she has questions about how it would work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Governments have long played landlord for public housing projects, but coastal real estate would be another beast altogether. There’s no guarantee that homeowners would want to participate. And there are questions of equity. Who would get prioritized for buyouts? Is potentially spending public money to buy multimillion-dollar homes the best use of those funds?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Andy Keeler, an economist at East Carolina University’s Department of Coastal Studies, believes the answer is yes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keeler has spent years studying buy-to-rent strategies similar to that proposed in California, and he thinks they could be a useful tool for disrupting a pervasive problem when it comes to coastal real estate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The value of a coastal home is hugely dependent on the public sector, he says. If a city or state invests in protecting properties by building sea walls or nourishing beaches, it signals to homeowners that their property values will stay intact, so they continue to invest in their property. More investment means more reason to protect down the road.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a positive feedback loop that strings out how much longer you’re going to be there,” Keeler says. “All it buys you, which is really valuable, is time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From a purely economic perspective though, it doesn’t add up. A community pays on the front end, pays again, and again, and then is left with the cleanup and emergency response in the end.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keeler says that link can be broken by taking properties out of the hands of private homeowners, who are getting mixed messages about the value of their homes, and putting them in the hands of the public, which has an interest in not being stuck with all of those bills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Communities can then plan for the eventual phasing out of those properties as sea levels rise. They can plan for the decline in property taxes, and the cleanup costs associated with homes falling into the sea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re going to be looking at really massive relocation sometime in the next couple of hundred years and probably much sooner,” Keeler says. If we don’t manage the timing of that, he fears, it will manage us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nothing Is Forever \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His eyes shadowed from the bright California sun by the brim of his blue Dodgers cap, Allen pulls out his phone and opens the Zillow app.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The $8.3 million house just up the beach has a monthly rental estimate of $12,500. Assuming the house could be rented at that rate, it would take about 55 years to pay off — 55 years to make back the money he’s proposing the state loans to local communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s the most expensive house on this stretch of beach though, and Allen says it may not be worth investing in. But it’s also the kind of property that a homeowner would fight to protect, lobbying for public investment in sea walls and other defenses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allen’s bill passed unanimously through the state’s Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee last week, and he says he’s hopeful it will receive similar support in the broader Legislature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nobody wants to come to terms with what’s happening,” he says, watching as people stroll the beach barefoot and smiling. “We want this to be here forever. We want to be able to walk along this beach and enjoy these beautiful houses and this beautiful view forever.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, he says, “you can’t beat the sea.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=California+Has+A+New+Idea+For+Homes+At+Risk+From+Rising+Seas%3A+Buy%2C+Rent%2C+Retreat&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "The Pandemic Led to Unprecedented Declines in Carbon Emissions. But That's Over Now",
"headTitle": "The Pandemic Led to Unprecedented Declines in Carbon Emissions. But That’s Over Now | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp class=\"p1\">Last May, when California’s stay-at-home order had forced a huge number of drivers off the road, environmentalists and state officials saw the disappearance of so many automobiles as a window into a world where climate goals would be tantalizingly achievable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">From March to mid-April 2020, total vehicle miles \u003cspan class=\"s1\">declined\u003c/span> by 75%, with a corresponding reduction in planet-warming gases and smog, according to a UC Davis \u003ca href=\"https://roadecology.ucdavis.edu/files/content/projects/COVID_CHIPs_Impacts_updated_430.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">analysis\u003c/a> conducted by \u003cspan class=\"s2\">Fraser Shilling, co-director of the university’s Road Ecology Center. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">\u003cspan class=\"s2\">Reading those stats, Shilling hoped\u003c/span> one of the more positive lessons of the pandemic would be that society could still function as it vastly reduced driving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“We’re going to learn a lot during this intervening period,” he \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1963716/coronavirus-forces-huge-number-of-californians-off-road-as-tele-everything-becomes-new-climate-option\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">told KQED\u003c/span>\u003c/a> in May. “How do we telecommute? How do we arrange our work at home? Our shopping trips? All of our travel in a different way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">A year ago, Shilling’s “optimistic projection” was that the change in driving behavior would stick, although many of his colleagues disagreed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s2\">So far, looks like they were right.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By last fall, car traffic in California had rebounded to roughly 90% of where it had been pre-pandemic, and national studies show that truck traffic went up along with the delivery of food, groceries and goods, Shilling says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">“In the depths of the pandemic and the traffic reduction, people were obviously hoarding,” he said. “They stocked up and then they didn’t need to make as many trips, and we had a huge reduction in overall traffic.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But people adjusted, and while there is less traffic than before the pandemic, “we’ve got more of that goods and services delivery going on, and we may even have an increase in pollution and greenhouse gas emissions,” Shilling said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">Last year, emissions declined by nearly 13% in the U.S. and about 7% globally, the largest annual drop in global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions since World War II.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The reduction was driven largely by a sharp drop in vehicle traffic during the first half of the year in the early stage of lockdowns, according to an \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00090-3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">estimate\u003c/span>\u003c/a> by the international \u003ca href=\"https://carbonmonitor.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">Carbon Monitor\u003c/span>\u003c/a> program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">Shilling maintains that if the amount of driving eliminated during the pandemic could be duplicated, it would put California, at least, on track to reach some of its climate goals, not to mention lead to an improvement in air quality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">But that steep curb in global warming emissions started to reverse during the second half of the year, when economic activity began to recover. Global emissions were 2% higher in December 2020 than in the same month a year earlier, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.iea.org/news/after-steep-drop-in-early-2020-global-carbon-dioxide-emissions-have-rebounded-strongly\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the International Energy Agency\u003c/a>, an intergovernmental energy analysis and policy group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> “A lot of people were hurt and died” during the pandemic, said Shilling, whose son had COVID-19. “It affects everybody. What can we get out of it? Learning. A society that doesn’t learn is just going to repeat all of those mistakes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">Transportation-related emissions, at nearly 50% of California’s total overall, are the top source of greenhouse gas emissions in the state. That’s despite decades of policies meant to reduce pollution from tailpipes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last summer, in the wake of wildfires driven by extreme heat, Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered California to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1969807/california-to-halt-sales-of-new-gas-cars-by-2035\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">halt\u003c/span>\u003c/a> the sale of new gasoline-powered cars by 2035, in an effort to accelerate the state’s reduction of greenhouse gases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The mass adoption of electric vehicles will surely be needed if California is going to transition from fossil fuels. But \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-020-00921-7?utm_source=nclimate_etoc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=toc_41558_10_12&utm_content=20201201&sap-outbound-id=53AEBD821997012F268251B4E511EE152EB74E4D\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">studies\u003c/span>\u003c/a> have shown that in order to meet ambitious climate goals, people will also need to drive less during the many years it will take for gas vehicles to disappear from the state’s roads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kate Gordon, the governor’s top climate adviser, argued Californians should embrace tele-everything in the fight against climate change, using the internet to reduce driving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">Some technology companies are allowing employees to work from home \u003ca href=\"https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/5/21/21266570/facebook-remote-work-from-home-mark-zuckerberg-twitter-covid-19-coronavirus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">permanently\u003c/span>\u003c/a>. But many businesses are just now beginning to grapple with what work life could look like after restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 are lifted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">Remote work offered some white-collar workers a chance to live in less crowded cities and towns, with cheaper rents and lower taxes. But people living in the country or in the suburbs drive a lot more —to work, but also to the grocery store and to visit friends.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Bay Area Council recently released a \u003ca href=\"http://www.bayareaeconomy.org/report/remote-work-in-the-bay-area/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">study\u003c/span>\u003c/a> showing that 1.79 million jobs, or 45% of the region’s workforce, could be performed from home, a higher proportion than in Los Angeles and other areas of the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s2\">“If each of the region’s 1.79 million people employed in a remote eligible job worked outside of the office for just one day per week, over 1 million single-occupancy vehicle trips could be avoided each week — a reduction of 8% based on pre-COVID-19 travel,” the report’s authors wrote. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Should California make a push to increase remote work, issues of equity could emerge. The state suffers from a vast digital divide, with high-speed internet access available in many of the busiest city centers, but not in remote areas in the Central Valley, Inland Empire, and northern part of the state. Also, remote work capability rises as along with pay. Prior to the pandemic, 51% of the Bay Area’s white workforce, which has a higher average income, were employed in potential work-from-home occupations, compared to only 33% of the Black and 30% of the Latinx workforce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">Which experiments in telecommuting will be maintained on a widespread basis is still unknown. Partly because a year after the state first issued a shelter-in-place order, life has changed for a substantial number of people. Where exactly they will live, commute, and work when the pandemic subsides has not come into focus yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">Last fall, planners at the Metropolitan Transportation Commission debated a measure requiring workers at Bay Area companies with more than 25 employees to work three days a week from home. But Silicon Valley businesses and Bay Area mayors pushed back on the plan, arguing the requirement for employers was too strict, and could decimate public transit ridership, the Mercury News \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/11/20/bay-area-planners-less-remote-work-more-green-commutes/\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">reported\u003c/span>\u003c/a>.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group developed a compromise plan that would require larger companies to ensure that 60% of their employees commute using mass transit, bikes or carpools by the year 2035.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If adopted, the policy would ask employers to take responsibility for the congestion, air quality, and climate change impacts of their employees as they go to and from work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">“Without mandating how large employers do that, [the policy] would set the goal, which I think is a very reasonable thing to do,” said Nick Josefowitz, commissioner with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp class=\"p1\">Last May, when California’s stay-at-home order had forced a huge number of drivers off the road, environmentalists and state officials saw the disappearance of so many automobiles as a window into a world where climate goals would be tantalizingly achievable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">From March to mid-April 2020, total vehicle miles \u003cspan class=\"s1\">declined\u003c/span> by 75%, with a corresponding reduction in planet-warming gases and smog, according to a UC Davis \u003ca href=\"https://roadecology.ucdavis.edu/files/content/projects/COVID_CHIPs_Impacts_updated_430.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">analysis\u003c/a> conducted by \u003cspan class=\"s2\">Fraser Shilling, co-director of the university’s Road Ecology Center. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">\u003cspan class=\"s2\">Reading those stats, Shilling hoped\u003c/span> one of the more positive lessons of the pandemic would be that society could still function as it vastly reduced driving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">“We’re going to learn a lot during this intervening period,” he \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1963716/coronavirus-forces-huge-number-of-californians-off-road-as-tele-everything-becomes-new-climate-option\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">told KQED\u003c/span>\u003c/a> in May. “How do we telecommute? How do we arrange our work at home? Our shopping trips? All of our travel in a different way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">A year ago, Shilling’s “optimistic projection” was that the change in driving behavior would stick, although many of his colleagues disagreed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s2\">So far, looks like they were right.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By last fall, car traffic in California had rebounded to roughly 90% of where it had been pre-pandemic, and national studies show that truck traffic went up along with the delivery of food, groceries and goods, Shilling says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">“In the depths of the pandemic and the traffic reduction, people were obviously hoarding,” he said. “They stocked up and then they didn’t need to make as many trips, and we had a huge reduction in overall traffic.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But people adjusted, and while there is less traffic than before the pandemic, “we’ve got more of that goods and services delivery going on, and we may even have an increase in pollution and greenhouse gas emissions,” Shilling said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">Last year, emissions declined by nearly 13% in the U.S. and about 7% globally, the largest annual drop in global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions since World War II.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The reduction was driven largely by a sharp drop in vehicle traffic during the first half of the year in the early stage of lockdowns, according to an \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00090-3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">estimate\u003c/span>\u003c/a> by the international \u003ca href=\"https://carbonmonitor.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">Carbon Monitor\u003c/span>\u003c/a> program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">Shilling maintains that if the amount of driving eliminated during the pandemic could be duplicated, it would put California, at least, on track to reach some of its climate goals, not to mention lead to an improvement in air quality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p4\">But that steep curb in global warming emissions started to reverse during the second half of the year, when economic activity began to recover. Global emissions were 2% higher in December 2020 than in the same month a year earlier, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.iea.org/news/after-steep-drop-in-early-2020-global-carbon-dioxide-emissions-have-rebounded-strongly\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the International Energy Agency\u003c/a>, an intergovernmental energy analysis and policy group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> “A lot of people were hurt and died” during the pandemic, said Shilling, whose son had COVID-19. “It affects everybody. What can we get out of it? Learning. A society that doesn’t learn is just going to repeat all of those mistakes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">Transportation-related emissions, at nearly 50% of California’s total overall, are the top source of greenhouse gas emissions in the state. That’s despite decades of policies meant to reduce pollution from tailpipes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last summer, in the wake of wildfires driven by extreme heat, Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered California to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1969807/california-to-halt-sales-of-new-gas-cars-by-2035\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">halt\u003c/span>\u003c/a> the sale of new gasoline-powered cars by 2035, in an effort to accelerate the state’s reduction of greenhouse gases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The mass adoption of electric vehicles will surely be needed if California is going to transition from fossil fuels. But \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-020-00921-7?utm_source=nclimate_etoc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=toc_41558_10_12&utm_content=20201201&sap-outbound-id=53AEBD821997012F268251B4E511EE152EB74E4D\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">studies\u003c/span>\u003c/a> have shown that in order to meet ambitious climate goals, people will also need to drive less during the many years it will take for gas vehicles to disappear from the state’s roads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kate Gordon, the governor’s top climate adviser, argued Californians should embrace tele-everything in the fight against climate change, using the internet to reduce driving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">Some technology companies are allowing employees to work from home \u003ca href=\"https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/5/21/21266570/facebook-remote-work-from-home-mark-zuckerberg-twitter-covid-19-coronavirus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">permanently\u003c/span>\u003c/a>. But many businesses are just now beginning to grapple with what work life could look like after restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 are lifted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">Remote work offered some white-collar workers a chance to live in less crowded cities and towns, with cheaper rents and lower taxes. But people living in the country or in the suburbs drive a lot more —to work, but also to the grocery store and to visit friends.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Bay Area Council recently released a \u003ca href=\"http://www.bayareaeconomy.org/report/remote-work-in-the-bay-area/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">study\u003c/span>\u003c/a> showing that 1.79 million jobs, or 45% of the region’s workforce, could be performed from home, a higher proportion than in Los Angeles and other areas of the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s2\">“If each of the region’s 1.79 million people employed in a remote eligible job worked outside of the office for just one day per week, over 1 million single-occupancy vehicle trips could be avoided each week — a reduction of 8% based on pre-COVID-19 travel,” the report’s authors wrote. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Should California make a push to increase remote work, issues of equity could emerge. The state suffers from a vast digital divide, with high-speed internet access available in many of the busiest city centers, but not in remote areas in the Central Valley, Inland Empire, and northern part of the state. Also, remote work capability rises as along with pay. Prior to the pandemic, 51% of the Bay Area’s white workforce, which has a higher average income, were employed in potential work-from-home occupations, compared to only 33% of the Black and 30% of the Latinx workforce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">Which experiments in telecommuting will be maintained on a widespread basis is still unknown. Partly because a year after the state first issued a shelter-in-place order, life has changed for a substantial number of people. Where exactly they will live, commute, and work when the pandemic subsides has not come into focus yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">Last fall, planners at the Metropolitan Transportation Commission debated a measure requiring workers at Bay Area companies with more than 25 employees to work three days a week from home. But Silicon Valley businesses and Bay Area mayors pushed back on the plan, arguing the requirement for employers was too strict, and could decimate public transit ridership, the Mercury News \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/11/20/bay-area-planners-less-remote-work-more-green-commutes/\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">reported\u003c/span>\u003c/a>.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group developed a compromise plan that would require larger companies to ensure that 60% of their employees commute using mass transit, bikes or carpools by the year 2035.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If adopted, the policy would ask employers to take responsibility for the congestion, air quality, and climate change impacts of their employees as they go to and from work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p3\">“Without mandating how large employers do that, [the policy] would set the goal, which I think is a very reasonable thing to do,” said Nick Josefowitz, commissioner with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dl_subscribe]\u003cem>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">To find its place in the shade! Each hollowed-out seed is home to a head-banging moth larva, just trying to survive the harsh Sonoran Desert sun.\u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>TRANSCRIPT\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>What if you spent most of your life in near darkness, surrounded by the same walls, eating the same food, all alone?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s life inside a Mexican jumping bean… and that’s just how these creatures like it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’re the same jumping beans you find in markets all over Mexico and exported worldwide. But they’re not something you’d want to eat. They aren’t beans at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’re seeds of this scraggly shrub. It primarily grows in Mexico, in the mountains of the Sonoran Desert. There are three of them that make up this fruit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of these sections have a stow-away – a tiny moth larva that burrowed into the seed while it was still on the plant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The larva devours the inside of the seed, hollowing out its new pad to make room for its growing body.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the next 8-10 months our squirmy friend lines the walls with a comfy layer of silk. Just enough air and moisture sneak in through tiny holes in the seed walls. It’s a cozy life. Except for the sweltering desert sun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That heat can dry out and kill our sweet little larva. So, of course, it starts jumping. A few hops out of the sun can mean the difference between life and death.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>ADDITIONAL RESOURCES\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For further information about Mexican jumping bean ecology and the life cycle of the Mexican jumping bean moth, \u003ca href=\"https://idtools.org/id/leps/tortai/Cydia_deshaisiana.htm\">check out this factsheet\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"https://www2.palomar.edu/users/warmstrong/plaug97.htm\">this informative site with some frequently asked jumping bean questions\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>David Hu, a researcher at Georgia Tech (whose lab footage we used in our episode), \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22573786/\">studied the locomotion of Mexican jumping beans\u003c/a>, suggesting \u003ca href=\"https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/lets-make-robots-from-everything-even-mexican-jumping-beans\">we may be able to use their ways of getting around to help us design small spherical robots\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Luckily, it’s got wheels – well sort of. The seed’s shape – with two flat sides and one curved – even allows the jumping beans to travel uphill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Inside, the larva is working hard. With its back legs, it grabs onto the silk lining and thrashes its head against the seed wall. The force topples the seed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers think these headbangers aim themselves in the right direction using a finely-tuned sense of temperature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Check out this experiment. One side of the pan is warmed by a heat lamp, the other cooled by an ice pack. Over time, the larvae move away from the heat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not always a smooth trip. If the seed gets damaged, the larva springs into action, repairing holes with a dense patch of silk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the larva can’t stay in its comfort zone forever.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With sharp mandibles, it cuts a circular door in the seed wall. But it doesn’t open it. It’s doing its future self a favor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When it’s done it turns into a pupa. And then transforms into an adult moth. It simply pushes itself through the pre-cut exit door – which is handy, because now its mandibles are gone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The liberated moth has mere days, maybe a few weeks, to quickly mate and lay eggs before it dies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But after all, freedom isn’t really what this animal lives for.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For most of life, it’s totally fine being a young larva trapped inside a seed, just hoping – and hopping – for a place in the shade.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of these sections have a stow-away – a tiny moth larva that burrowed into the seed while it was still on the plant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The larva devours the inside of the seed, hollowing out its new pad to make room for its growing body.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the next 8-10 months our squirmy friend lines the walls with a comfy layer of silk. Just enough air and moisture sneak in through tiny holes in the seed walls. It’s a cozy life. Except for the sweltering desert sun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That heat can dry out and kill our sweet little larva. So, of course, it starts jumping. A few hops out of the sun can mean the difference between life and death.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>ADDITIONAL RESOURCES\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For further information about Mexican jumping bean ecology and the life cycle of the Mexican jumping bean moth, \u003ca href=\"https://idtools.org/id/leps/tortai/Cydia_deshaisiana.htm\">check out this factsheet\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"https://www2.palomar.edu/users/warmstrong/plaug97.htm\">this informative site with some frequently asked jumping bean questions\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>David Hu, a researcher at Georgia Tech (whose lab footage we used in our episode), \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22573786/\">studied the locomotion of Mexican jumping beans\u003c/a>, suggesting \u003ca href=\"https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/lets-make-robots-from-everything-even-mexican-jumping-beans\">we may be able to use their ways of getting around to help us design small spherical robots\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>",
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"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
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"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
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"rss": "https://www.cityarts.net/feed/"
}
},
"closealltabs": {
"id": "closealltabs",
"title": "Close All Tabs",
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"info": "Close All Tabs breaks down how digital culture shapes our world through thoughtful insights and irreverent humor.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/closealltabs",
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"order": 1
},
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"id": "code-switch-life-kit",
"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"meta": {
"site": "radio",
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},
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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}
},
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"freakonomics-radio": {
"id": "freakonomics-radio",
"title": "Freakonomics Radio",
"info": "Freakonomics Radio is a one-hour award-winning podcast and public-radio project hosted by Stephen Dubner, with co-author Steve Levitt as a regular guest. It is produced in partnership with WNYC.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/4s8b",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
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},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
"title": "Fresh Air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/381444908/podcast.xml"
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510051/podcast.xml"
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
"title": "Hidden Brain",
"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/series/423302056/hidden-brain",
"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
"id": "how-i-built-this",
"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/3zxy",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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},
"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
"meta": {
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"order": 15
},
"link": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/2p3Fifq96nw9BPcmFdIq0o?si=39209f7b25774f38",
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"rss": "https://feeds.megaphone.fm/KQINC2275451163"
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1492194549",
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
"subscribe": {
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
}
},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Masters-of-Scale-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "http://mastersofscale.app.link/",
"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/464615685/mind-shift-podcast",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/stories-teachers-share",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "On Our Watch from NPR and KQED",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1567098962",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510360/podcast.xml"
}
},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/otm",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "wnyc"
},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-media/id73330715?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-the-Media-p69/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/onthemedia"
}
},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
"title": "PBS NewsHour",
"info": "Analysis, background reports and updates from the PBS NewsHour putting today's news in context.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PBS-News-Hour-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/",
"meta": {
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"source": "pbs"
},
"link": "/radio/program/pbs-newshour",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pbs-newshour-full-show/id394432287?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/PBS-NewsHour---Full-Show-p425698/",
"rss": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/feeds/rss/podcasts/show"
}
},
"perspectives": {
"id": "perspectives",
"title": "Perspectives",
"tagline": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991",
"info": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Perspectives_Tile_Final.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Perspectives",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/perspectives/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 14
},
"link": "/perspectives",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id73801135",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/432309616/perspectives",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/perspectives/category/perspectives/feed/",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93dzIua3FlZC5vcmcvcGVyc3BlY3RpdmVzL2NhdGVnb3J5L3BlcnNwZWN0aXZlcy9mZWVkLw"
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},
"planet-money": {
"id": "planet-money",
"title": "Planet Money",
"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
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