Past Articles by Lauren Sommer
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Navy Sonar Criticized For Harming Marine Mammals The U.S. Navy is planning to expand training exercises off California and Hawaii, citing the need for military readiness. That's raising concerns about threatened whales and marine mammals, because sonar is known harm and, in some cases, kill them. The state of California is fighting the Navy's plan. |
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Tracking 'Killer Electrons' Help Predict Risks To Satellites Scientists say the sun is now in an active period, creating more space weather that could interfere with the satellites we depend on for TV, cellphones and weather forecasts. From member station KQED, Lauren Sommer reports that researchers are taking advantage of the weather to learn more about the Earth's magnetic field. |
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Tracking 'Killer Electrons' Help Predict Risks To Satellites Scientists say the sun is now in an active period, creating more space weather that could interfere with the satellites we depend on for TV, cellphones and weather forecasts. From member station KQED, Lauren Sommer reports that researchers are taking advantage of the weather to learn more about the Earth's magnetic field. |
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With Brawls And Calls, Love Is In The Air For Elephant Seals It's the peak of the elephant seal mating season on the California coast. That means the SUV-sized, 4,000-pound males duke it out for a chance to mate. |
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With Brawls And Calls, Love Is In The Air For Elephant Seals It's the peak of the elephant seal mating season on the California coast. That means the SUV-sized, 4,000-pound males duke it out for a chance to mate. |
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New Gold Rush Has Little Luster For Some In The Golden State More than 150 years ago, prospectors moved to California hoping to strike it rich. Now, companies are reopening hard rock mines that have been shut down for decades, but past experiences with environmental damage have made some communities leery of gold diggers. |
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Rift With China Clouds Solar Industry's Future The United States is on track to install a record number of solar power systems — thanks in large part to low-cost solar panels from China. U.S. officials have imposed trade tariffs on Chinese panels, but a trade war with China could put U.S. solar jobs at risk. |
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Rift With China Clouds Solar Industry's Future The United States is on track to install a record number of solar power systems — thanks in large part to low-cost solar panels from China. U.S. officials have imposed trade tariffs on Chinese panels, but a trade war with China could put U.S. solar jobs at risk. |
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Rift With China Clouds Solar Industry's Future The United States is on track to install a record number of solar power systems — thanks in large part to low-cost solar panels from China. U.S. officials have imposed trade tariffs on Chinese panels, but a trade war with China could put U.S. solar jobs at risk. |
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Next In Line For A Fracking Boom, California Looks At The Rules The state is known for its tough environmental rules, but it has largely ignored hydraulic fracturing until now. Though California's concerns are like those of many other places, there's also the question of how the growing fracking industry might affect earthquakes. |
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Next In Line For A Fracking Boom, California Looks At The Rules The state is known for its tough environmental rules, but it has largely ignored hydraulic fracturing until now. Though California's concerns are like those of many other places, there's also the question of how the growing fracking industry might affect earthquakes. |
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Next In Line For A Fracking Boom, California Looks At The Rules The state is known for its tough environmental rules, but it has largely ignored hydraulic fracturing until now. Though California's concerns are like those of many other places, there's also the question of how the growing fracking industry might affect earthquakes. |
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Is California Up Next For An Oil And Gas Boom? The Bureau of Land Management is auctioning off 18,000 acres of oil leases in California Wednesday. The state has one of the largest deposits of shale oil in the country. And it's attracting new attention because of the drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing - or fracking. |
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Is California Up Next For An Oil And Gas Boom? The Bureau of Land Management is auctioning off 18,000 acres of oil leases in California Wednesday. The state has one of the largest deposits of shale oil in the country. And it's attracting new attention because of the drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing - or fracking. |
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Is California Up Next For An Oil And Gas Boom? The Bureau of Land Management is auctioning off 18,000 acres of oil leases in California Wednesday. The state has one of the largest deposits of shale oil in the country. And it's attracting new attention because of the drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing - or fracking. |
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Is California Up Next For An Oil And Gas Boom? The Bureau of Land Management is auctioning off 18,000 acres of oil leases in California Wednesday. The state has one of the largest deposits of shale oil in the country. And it's attracting new attention because of the drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing - or fracking. |
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Can Shellfish Adapt to More Acidic Water? Scientists say oceans are becoming more acidic as they absorb the carbon dioxide added to the air through the burning of fossil fuels. That can be bad news for oysters, mussels and others animals that are key to the seafood industry and to the marine food web. Scientists are using the unique ocean conditions off the California coast to monitor developments. |
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Can Shellfish Adapt to More Acidic Water? Scientists say oceans are becoming more acidic as they absorb the carbon dioxide added to the air through the burning of fossil fuels. That can be bad news for oysters, mussels and others animals that are key to the seafood industry and to the marine food web. Scientists are using the unique ocean conditions off the California coast to monitor developments. |
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Restore The California Delta! To What, Exactly? As a multibillion-dollar environmental effort gets underway, the state has to figure out what the landscape used to look like. Ninety-seven percent of the original wetlands in the inland delta near the San Francisco Bay are gone, so California is turning to historians for help. |
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Yosemite Visitors Warned Of Hantavirus Outbreak Some tourists hoping to visit Yosemite National Park are changing their plans due to the recent outbreak of hantavirus. State health officials say two people have died and another four were infected after visiting the park this summer. There are questions about whether the park should have warned visitors sooner about the risk. |
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Telescope Targets Black Holes' Binges And Burps Black holes grow by eating space dust and gas - and the material swallowed up emits high-energy X-rays. Later this week, NASA's newest space telescope will start searching the universe for signs of these mealtimes in hopes of unlocking some of the secrets of black holes. |
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Pounding Pavement In Search Of A Smoother Drive As many of the nation's highways continue to deteriorate, the funds to fix them are dwindling. In California, researchers are developing next-generation pavements that are quieter, more durable and more fuel-efficient, all on a tight budget. |
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60 Years After Leaving, Porpoises Again Play In SF Bay Harbor porpoises are showing up in growing numbers under the Golden Gate Bridge. Six decades ago, they were driven away in part by wartime activities and poor water quality; now, researchers are trying to understand why they're returning. |
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Warmth In Winter: Smart Windows To Let Heat In Windows treated with an insulating film are twice as efficient as regular double-pane windows, since they block heat from entering a building. That's useful on warm days, but inefficient when it's cold. One lab is researching a new coating that could be turned on and off with an electrical current. |
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In San Francisco, Look Out For Gulls Gone Wild They prey on species targeted for conservation, as well as left-over hot dogs at Giants games. As biologists restore shorelines for threatened wildlife, there's more room for gulls, too. And it's tough to scare them away: "They'll dive bomb you and hit you in your head," notes one expert. |
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Curbing Supercomputers' Growing Drain On Energy Supercomputers have become a critical tool for scientists. Each year, they get bigger and faster - and use a lot more power. Soon, each one will need as much energy as a small city. That has researchers looking to reinvent the supercomputer - by using the technology inside cellphones. |
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Killing One Owl Species To Save Another In the 1990s, the government set aside millions of acres of forest to protect spotted owls, but their numbers continue to decline. Biologists believe that's due to an invasion of barred owls. Now, officials plan to eliminate barred owls from a few study areas to see if the spotted owls return. |
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Foreign Species Invade San Francisco Bay California is cracking down on invasive species. The state has passed the strictest rules in the country to prevent cargo ships from introducing foreign plants and animals to San Francisco Bay. But the new environmental standards are so tough, officials say they may not be able to enforce them. |
