Science Notes 2011 Podcasts

Recorded and produced by each author

Documenting Eden
Jane Lee asks California Academy of Sciences researcher Robert Drewes to recall his search for an exotic tree frog on São Tomé, off the western African coast. An island resident led Drewes to a thrilling aural discovery.
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Walking with Pumas
Nadia Drake goes into the forest with biologists who capture and track mountain lions near Santa Cruz. Typical days feature hound dogs, deer carcasses, radio monitoring of tagged pumas, and false leads generated by bobcats.
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Peru's Mountains of Gold
Catherine Meyers examines the legacy of turn-of-the-century copper and gold mines in the California foothills. Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey describe the highly acidic, toxic runoff draining from abandoned mines.
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Lizard Family Ties
Sandeep Ravindran explains why measuring the temperature preferences of lizards might reveal how global warming affects species. UCSC researcher Amy Patten recounts lab probes of warm lizards and long hot days in the field.
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Meet Mother Ayahuasca
Keith Rozendal takes listeners on an evocative journey into the Amazonian jungle, where shamans treat visitors with a potent plant hallucinogen called ayahuasca. Tribal songs, called icaros, are central to the long ceremonies.
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Fixing Glitchy Games
Donna Hesterman wonders how to get her kids outside and physically active, away from their addictive video games. Engineers at UCSC have a solution: SpyFeet, a video game on mobile phones that gets players to run around.
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Give Bees a Chance
Danielle Venton steps into the Urban Bee Garden in Berkeley, where native bees and honeybees enjoy a cornucopia of flowering plants. Director Gordon Frankie offers advice for turning any backyard garden into a bee eden.
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Meeting of the Waters
Melissae Fellet travels to Elkhorn Slough, a central California wetland where algae threaten to choke the waters. Sensitive detectors now help oceanographers track the daily cyclings of nitrates and other pollutants from farms.
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New Tools for the Blind
Susan Young says a handheld video game might help the partners of expectant mothers get ready for the big day. "The Prepared Partner," created by a UCSC graduate student, coaches a companion on a woman's needs during labor.
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The Salmon Snatchers
Sascha Zubryd looks into the heads of sea lions—literally. Marine biologist Peter Cook tests the mental acuities of healthy and brain-damaged sea lions at a coastal UCSC lab to gauge how toxic algal blooms affect their memories.
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