KQED Science Video Podcast

Solar and wind power may get the headlines when it comes to renewable energy. But another type of clean power is heating up in the hills just north of Sonoma wine country. Geothermal power uses heat from deep inside the Earth to generate electricity. The Geysers, the world's largest power-producing geothermal field, has been providing electricity for roughly 850,000 Northern California households, and is set to expand even further.

Foster City photographer and naturalist John Albers-Mead describes visiting the tide pools near Half Moon Bay as "a treasure hunt that changes by the minute." QUEST joins Albers-Mead on Moss Beach at low tide as he captures these sometimes-sunken treasures with his digital camera.

Imagine a vast grassy plain covered with massive herds of elephants, bison and camels stretching as far as the eye can see. Lions, tigers, wolves and later, humans, hunt the herds on their summer migration. Where is this? This was the Bay Area during the close of the last Ice Age. Take a trip to a time when the San Francisco Bay was just a riverbed, 20,000 to 10,000 years ago.

Meet the Bay Area's eclipse chasers - adventurers who travel the world to witness and document solar eclipses. In these rare moments, the moon covers the sun for a few minutes, leaving only its fiery atmosphere visible. Watch the China 2008 eclipse and learn about an invention that helped researchers photograph the sun's atmosphere in breathtaking detail.

As a physics professor at UC Berkeley, Richard Muller considers what his students would need to know -- if one were elected president. In today's lesson, he demonstrates the principles of fission and the basics of a nuclear explosion -- using super balls!

California ranks second-lowest in the U.S. in fourth and eighth grade science achievement, according to a recent study. Since a large part of California's economy is devoted to technology, it is vital that California get its students up to speed. How bad is the problem? And what are schools and informal science education organizations doing to fill the gap?

For hundreds of years, scientists have been poaching design ideas from structures in nature. Now, biologists and engineers at UC Berkeley are working together to design a broad range of new products, such as life-saving milli-robots modeled on the way cockroaches run and adhesives based on the amazing design of a geckos foot. QUEST visits their labs to find out what's so special about these crawling and scaling animals.

The waters off the coast of California are some of the richest in the world. But declines in fish species have led state leaders to begin creating large protected areas, or "no fishing zones," similar to wilderness areas on land. Although controversial with some fishing groups, the idea is to protect entire ecosystems instead of single species. The hope is that a statewide network may help bring back fish, birds and marine mammals that are currently on the brink.

QUEST teams up with Make Magazine to construct the latest must have, do-it-yourself device hacks and science projects. This week we'll show you how to make a tabletop linear accelerator that demonstrates the finer points of kinetic energy by shooting a steel ball.

In this QUEST Web exclusive, we update a story we did last year on a plan to bring high-speed rail to California as voters head to the ballot boxes to decide the fate of Proposition 1A. Hop aboard to learn about the science behind high-speed rail travel and the obstacles that lie in its path.

Over the past 15 years, the number of people who die of AIDS each year in the United States has dropped by 70 percent. But AIDS remains a serious public health crisis among low-income African-Americans, particularly women. And in sub-Saharan Africa, the virus killed more than 1.6 million people in 2007. QUEST meets two Bay Area research groups studying innovative approaches that could lead to new treatments and possibly a cure.

Though computers have gotten faster, smaller and more versatile, it's still a big challenge to get them to demonstrate intelligent behaviors. Will machines like robots ever match -- or perhaps even exceed -- the capabilities of the human brain? QUEST meets a robot that in ten years time could take care of tasks around the house that most of us would rather not do.

Flying Foxes are a type of fruit bat - they subsist mainly from fruit juice which they obtain by squeezing pieces of the fruit pulp in their mouths. Quest visits the Oakland Zoo to meet their Malayan and Island Flying Foxes and find out more about these fascinating and charismatic critters.

October 21st will mark the 140th Anniversary of the 1868 Hayward Earthquake. Geologists say that's important because major earthquakes happen on the Hayward fault every 140 years on average. With much of the East Bay on or near the fault, geologists and community members are working to prepare for what may be the next big one.

Northern California has a storied, 500-year history of sailing. But despite this rich heritage, scientists and boat designers continue to learn more each day about what makes a sail boat move. Contrary to what you might expect, the physics of sailing still present some mysteries to modern sailors.