he sex life of the common snail is anything but ordinary. Besides being hermaphrodites — fitted with both male and female reproductive parts — they stab each other with “love darts” as a kind of foreplay.
Learn more in our episode "Everything You Never Wanted to Know About Snail Sex"
Link (also in bio): /watch?v=UOcLaI44TXA
Their skeletons are prized by beachcombers, but sand dollars look way different in their lives beneath the waves. Covered in thousands of purple spines, they have a bizarre diet that helps them exploit the turbulent waters of the sandy sea floor.
Learn more in Deep Look's episode "A Sand Dollar's Breakfast is Totally Metal."
Link (also in bio): /watch?v=dxZdBPDNiF4
Weeks after announcing layoffs affecting dozens of workers, the California Academy of Sciences said executive director Scott Sampson will step down later this month.
“It has been a privilege to serve the Academy and work alongside such talented staff, scientists, and educators,” Sampson, who led the San Francisco museum and scientific research hub for nearly seven years, said in a statement Thursday. “I’ve decided that it is the right time to step aside.”
Sampson’s last day is May 29. He will remain in an advisory role through June 30 while the Board of Trustees begins an international search for a new executive director.
The leadership change comes during a period of financial strain and internal tension at the Academy, one of San Francisco’s largest cultural institutions.
In April, Academy leadership announced layoffs affecting 53 employees — nearly 10% of its workforce — alongside program cuts aimed at addressing a projected budget deficit exceeding $8 million this fiscal year.
The layoffs drew criticism from the institution’s union, which said management failed to fully explore alternatives such as executive pay cuts, job sharing or tapping into institutional funds before reducing staff.
Union president Teddy Vollman said Thursday that workers hope the leadership transition marks a change in direction.
“We believe this was the correct first step in order to restore an Academy leadership structure which puts the people who enact the Academy’s mission first,” Vollman said in a statement shared with KQED. “We look forward to working with a new team which will collaborate with us to find alternatives to layoffs and preserve this beloved San Francisco institution.”
The Academy did not indicate that Sampson’s resignation was connected to the layoffs or the institution’s financial condition.
Sampson joined the Academy shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic forced museums and cultural institutions across California to close temporarily. In a statement Thursday, Board of Trustees Chair John C. Dwyer said Sampson helped guide the institution through a “turbulent and pivotal period.”
More in the link in bio.
✍️ : Sarah Mohamad/KQED
Bay Area libraries are lending induction cooktops to help residents transition away from gas stoves, cut greenhouse gas emissions and improve indoor air quality.
Read more at kqed.org/science or link in bio.
✍🏻: Sarah Mohamad/KQED
🎥🎬: Sarah Mohamad/KQED
Porcupines may be adorable, but their quills are razor-sharp, designed to impale and next to impossible to remove. But it's not all bad news.
Learn more in Deep Look's episode "Porcupines Give You 30,000 Reasons to Back Off" 👉 https://bit.ly/4emmAjh (link in bio)
The quills of North American porcupines have microscopic backward-facing barbs on the tips. Those barbs make the quills slide in easy but very difficult to remove.
Learn more in Deep Look's episode "Porcupines Give You 30,000 Reasons to Back Off" 👉 https://bit.ly/4emmAj (link in bio)
Velella velella, or “by-the-wind sailors,” are washing up in large numbers along the Bay Area coastline, captivating beachgoers with their blue, iridescent appearance.
These creatures lack discernible eyes, mouths, or body parts like ours and feature a transparent sail that helps them catch the wind.
Their presence has increased significantly this week, with reports stating that some beaches appear blue from a distance due to their abundant numbers. This phenomenon also occurred last year but seems more pronounced this time, according to Jackie Sones from UC Davis Bodega Marine Reserve.
Read the full story to learn more about these captivating creatures, as well as how to see them, at KQED.org/science! 🌊
✍️: Danielle Venton
📸: Beth LaBerge
Union leaders at the California Academy of Sciences criticized layoffs affecting 53 workers, claiming management did not explore alternatives before cutting nearly 10% of staff.
Academy leadership stated the layoffs aim to address a projected $8 million deficit this fiscal year, following a $7.3 million shortfall last year, driven by rising operational costs and declining tourism.
The cuts included 37 Union-represented and nonunion staff, with 32 others facing reassignment or reduced hours. Union representatives noted the abruptness of the process and the lack of discussion on alternatives like executive pay cuts. Some employees learned about layoffs through news reports without formal notifications.
Union leaders argue these cuts may jeopardize programs and employee morale, while Academy officials maintain that core services will remain intact.
The Academy stated that staffing reductions are necessary for financial stability and long-term sustainability. Union leaders are committed to negotiating solutions to reduce the layoffs’ impact.
Read more at KQED.org/science.
✍️: Sarah Mohamad
📸: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images
California is in a state of transition.
The Golden State’s 20th-century success was built on a foundation of fossil fuels: the car allowed the population to skyrocket and suburbs and freeways to proliferate, homegrown oil production generated major capital, and Hollywood illuminated soundstages with lights powered by coal and oil.
California is now banking on a different future, one built on renewable and carbon-free electricity. Lawmakers passed a 2018 mandate requiring that utilities source 100% of their electricity from renewable and zero-carbon sources by the end of 2045. “It will not be easy. It will not be immediate. But it must be done,” then-Gov. Jerry Brown said.
Adding to the challenge is a steep increase in electricity costs, reflected in the monthly utility bills Californians must pay each month. Costs have nearly doubled in the last decade, largely driven by investments to shore up the grid against climate-fueled wildfires. The high price of power makes a key component of the transition, the switch from gas to electricity, daunting.
Despite this, the state is making major progress, but there’s still a long way to go. And like any adolescence, things are prone to get awkward.
The state of limbo has a name: “mid-transition,” coined by Emily Grubert, a sustainable energy researcher at the University of Notre Dame. California is among the first places “actually dealing with many of these questions of managed transition” away from fossil fuels, Grubert said.
More in the link in bio.
✍🏻: Laura Klivans/KQED
🎥🎬: Sarah Mohamad/KQED
AlmaRosa Alarcon expected a routine delivery. She was 27 years old, healthy, and determined to give birth without an epidural. But when the doctor held up her daughter, Caterina, moments after she was born, he revealed tiny twisted feet, a condition known as clubfoot. Paramedics airlifted the newborn to a larger hospital, while Alarcon stayed behind, stunned.
“I didn’t think it was real,” she said. “I was in shock. I only spent like 20 minutes with her. It was one of the roughest days of my life.”
Doctors diagnosed the baby with a birth defect known as “spina bifida” that can cause lifelong complications, including nerve damage, mobility challenges and hydrocephalus — a buildup of fluid in the brain.
“I was living in darkness,” Alarcon said. “It was so horrible.”
Caterina spent her first weeks in the hospital. Medical appointments defined the years that followed — sometimes three a week, more than an hour from home. Alarcon, a single mother, had to leave her factory job to care for her daughter full time.
Research has linked spina bifida and other neural tube defects — serious conditions affecting the brain and spine — to women with low levels of folic acid during their pregnancy, Alarcon learned later.
Earlier this year, California became the first state in the country to require folic acid in corn masa flour — the base for tortillas, tamales and other staples in many Latino households. Public health experts said the new law could help prevent serious birth defects, which occur at higher rates among Hispanic families. Other states are considering similar laws. But the move has also drawn pushback from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and others, who argue that adding vitamins to food, what’s known as fortification, is government overreach.
Read full story in link in bio.
By: Lesley McClurg/KQED
Whales traveling along the coast of California are about to get a break. Or, more literally, the ships sharing space with whales will be asked to put on the brakes.
On Wednesday, a long-awaited program to incentivize large ships to slow to 10 knots or less — a whale-safe speed — goes into effect all along the state’s coastline.
Meanwhile, South Bay Rep. Sam Liccardo is also introducing federal legislation on Wednesday with parallel goals. His Save Willy Act would establish a “whale desk” at San Francisco’s Coast Guard station, creating a centralized place for whale sightings to be reported and mariners to be alerted, helping large ships avoid collisions.
Ship strikes are a leading cause of death for whales. Last year was especially deadly for whales in and around the San Francisco Bay, with more ship-killed whales than usual being found. Also, last year, U.S. government scientists reported gray whale numbers were not bouncing back from recent die-offs, and fewer calves were born than typical.
Full story in the link in bio.
By: Danielle Venton/KQED
Over the next two days, forecasters expect a cold storm to temporarily reblanket the Sierra Nevada with several feet of snow.
The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning through 5 p.m. Wednesday for the Northern Sierra above 5,000 feet. While the storm will bring yet another round of April snow after a historically warm, dry March for California, it’s not expected to do much lasting good for the state’s meager snowpack, which sits at 18% of normal for this time of year.
“My guess is if you look at the snowpack analysis on Thursday, this will show up as just a blip on the curve,” said Chris Smallcomb, a meteorologist with the weather service’s Reno office. “It’ll keep things from getting worse, at least for a few days.”
Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, said in his Tuesday YouTube office hours that while it’s not rare for the Sierra to get snow in April, multiple storms this month could make it one of the wettest on record for some parts of the range.
“We might see some record-breaking numbers in some important locations, from Tahoe to Sacramento to San Francisco,” Swain said. “It does help considerably. Has it erased our snow deficit? Nope.”
More in the link in bio.
✍️ : Ezra David Romero/KQED
