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What Happens When The Birds And The Bees Don’t Show Up On Time
High summer, with its brown hills and warm bay waters, beckons insects to blooming chaparral plants and songbirds to nest. It all runs according to a complex but precise natural clock. Or at least it’s...
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Killer Fungus Could ‘Devour’ California’s Salamanders
If salamanders could worry, they would already have a long list of woes, including losing their homes to deforestation, or becoming an avian snack. But a newly discovered pathogen could easily trump...
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Hunter or Hunted: Why Animals Have Differently Shaped Pupils
Have you ever looked at a cat and wondered why on earth they have such creepy slits for pupils? Scientists previously thought slit pupils were an advantage for being active both day and night because...
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How Do Sharks and Rays Use Electricity to Find Hidden Prey?
Animals that hide on the seafloor are often masters of disguise. But even the most evasive of prey cannot hide from hungry stingrays. These predators can detect tiny electric currents radiating from...
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How the Songbird Learns to Sing
Like the best opera divas, songbirds must train their voices from an early age. But instead of studying for years at a conservatory, the birds’ brains are hardwired to experiment with complicated...
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Toxic Algae Is Killing Sea Lions, Shows No Sign of Diminishing
Listen to the story: http://www.kqed.org/.stream/anon/radio//2015/08/150817ScienceAlgalBloom.mp3 A toxic algae bloom that began off the West Coast this spring now stretches from California to Alaska....
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Wildlife Walkway Will Protect Pumas From Their Number One Predator: Humans
The winding roads and blind corners of Highway 17 are known to Santa Cruz County residents as both dangerous and beautiful. The lush redwoods lining the heavy traffic route are teeming with local...
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Drought Makes Being a Shorebird More Difficult
This is one of the riskiest times of life for migratory shorebirds like willets, dunlin, marbled godwits and others. As these birds migrate along the Pacific Flyway, they normally stop to rest and...
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Harlequin Octopus Makes Scientists Question ‘Anti-Social’ Stereotypes
Octopuses are notoriously anti-social—if you put more than one in a tank, they’ll attack each other. And they certainly don’t form family ties—females are prone to eating males after mating, and they...
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Nature’s Mood Rings: How Chameleons Really Change Color
Chameleons are some of the most brilliantly colored animals on the planet. But how did they evolve the ability to change color? Scientists used to believe that chameleons changed color by spreading out...
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What IS Sustainable Seafood, Anyway? The Answer Might Surprise You
Listen to the story: http://www.kqed.org/.stream/anon/radio/science/2015/08/SeafoodWatch.mp3 In the busy kitchen of Passionfish restaurant, in Pacific Grove, chef Ted Walter is putting the final...
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How Many Fish in the Sea? Genetic Testing Could Answer That
Advances in genetic testing have revolutionized everything from health care decisions to crime forensics. Now, the technology may help protect marine life off the California coast. In the waters of...
View ArticleWatch Abalone Reproduce in Gorgeous Bursts of Eggs and Sperm
When the female abalone is ready to reproduce, she shoots long bursts of eggs from her respiratory hole. The male releases curlicues of sperm, which then swim around to find the eggs. Problem is, the...
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You’re Not Hallucinating. That’s Just Squid Skin.
For an animal with such a humble name, market squid have a spectacularly hypnotic appearance. Streaks and waves of color flicker and radiate across their skin. Other creatures may posses the ability to...
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Big Challenge as California Ramps Up Wind Power: Golden Eagles
Listen to the story: http://www.kqed.org/.stream/anon/radio//2015/09/WindFarmsEagles.mp3 California’s history with wind power goes back decades — as do its troubles with turbines killing birds,...
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From Fish Skin to Our Teeth: Tracing the Origin of Enamel
We all stare at our teeth in the mirror, but when biologists brush their teeth they wonder how these unusual parts of our skeletons evolved. Now, a study combining the anatomy of fossils and the...
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Why Jellyfish Float Like a Butterfly—And Sting Like a Bee
At first glance, jellyfish appear to be simple creatures. They don’t have eyes, or hearts, or even a brain. Most species simply drift in the open ocean, going wherever the current takes them. But...
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Watch Flesh-Eating Beetles Strip Bodies to the Bone
For many people, fall is best time of year. The air gets crisp, and the barrier between the living and the dead begins to thin. For Dia de los Muertos we use feast and ritual to celebrate the lives...
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We Need to Talk About Your Face. It’s Got Mites.
Listen to the Story: http://www.kqed.org/.stream/anon/radio//2015/10/FaceMites.mp3 We need to talk about something. You might want to sit down. Microscopic animals have colonized your face. No, really....
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See What Makes Owls So Quiet and So Deadly
With autumn upon us, you might have noticed a familiar sound in the night. It’s mating season for owls in Northern California and the sound of their hooting fills the darkness. “Owls try to breed...
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