KQED Science Video Podcast

Journey back in time to the birth of the Bay Area's environmental movement. Meet the everyday people who rescued the Bay Area from environmental disaster and continue to inspire a new generation.

What are the current causes of adult blindness? Our QUEST story follows Regina, who is becoming blind, as she develops skills such as walking with a white cane and talks about her fears of becoming blind and how she has been preparing psychologically. We also talk with specialists about what causes adult blindness and how to prepare someone to live in the dark.

Though you may not believe it, the Bay Area was home to the last whale hunting fleet in the United States - only a generation ago. Quest investigates how Richmond, California was part of a historic moment, and what remains today.

What's 100,000 times thinner than a strand of hair? A nanometer. Discover the nanotech boom in Berkeley, where researchers are working to unlock the potential of nanoscience to battle global warming and disease.

An explosion in green building is underway, with cleverly engineered libraries, office buildings, even public housing projects popping up across the Bay Area, and championed as much by landlords trying to cut energy and water costs as by environmental groups.

Tule Elk once dominated the Bay Area landscape, but after the Gold Rush they were hunted to near extinction. Now thanks to naturalists and inspired ranchers, they are making a comeback.

s Cutting-edge microscopes at UC-San Francisco are helping scientists create three-dimensional images of cells, and may help lead to new medical breakthroughs, including a treatment for Type 1 diabetes.

Tired of toxic embalming fluid, rainforest wood caskets and other ecologically unfriendly practices, a new generation of undertakers is attempting to green up the funeral industry with burials that go easy on the land.

State transportation planners have nearly finished designing a high-tech bullet train system that would take passengers from San Francisco to Los Angeles in two hours at 220 mph -- faster than a Ferrari. But will California voters pay for it?

Ladybug Ladybug Fly Away Home! Each year Ladybugs fly in by the millions to winter in the East Bay's Redwood Regional Park. We meet naturalist Linda Yemoto who explains this phenomenon. But how these beetles know where to go is still one of nature's mysteries.

Once nearly extinct, California condors are making a steady recovery. But a new threat - lead poisoning from old bullets - is slowing progress, leaving scientists to struggle with the passionate collision between wildlife preservation and the politics of hunting.

If you could learn your odds of getting cancer, heart disease or diabetes, would you? A new generation of home genetic testing kits allows anybody with a cotton swab and a mailbox to find out. But does convenience come with a privacy risk?

Take stroll through San Francisco's Conservatory of Flowers with Executive Director Dr. John Peterson and learn about the building's Victorian history and rare collection of exotic Dracula orchids.

Admiral Chester Nimitz was nearly killed when his seaplane hit a floating telephone pole 65 years ago. Ever since, a group of Sausalito sailors has toiled as San Francisco Bay's unheralded trash collectors - removing tons of debris every month, from floating concrete to dead bodies.

Not satisfied with 50 mpg? A group of Bay Area engineers is trying to launch a green car revolution at 100 mpg by souping up Toyota's Prius. The holy grail of their "plug-in hybrids:" less smog, less global warming and a cure for America's oil addiction.