Science/Technology blog

Editor’s Note: Producer Amy Miller, who was reporting the story on camera in our 7/24 episode on premature births titled “Born Too Soon: Preterm Births on the Rise“, was placed on bed rest for preterm labor 2 weeks after filming. She has some good news to report below.

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Compared to traditional incandescent light bulbs, new compact fluorescent bulbs use at least two-thirds less energy and last up to 10 times longer. Many say that widespread use would produce major energy savings and reduce global warming emissions. But some people say their lighting is too harsh. QUEST sheds some light on the bulb debate.

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The Napa and Sonoma microclimates produce world famous wines, but what happens if the climate changes? Scientists are predicting that global warming could increase the number of super-hot days in the California wine region, interfering with the way grapes ripen. Local scientists and wineries are beginning to look at how to prepare.

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Do other planets like Earth exist? To find out, a team of astronomers from the University of California is building a new telescope in the hills east of San Jose. QUEST finds out what the chances are that there are others like ours somewhere in the cosmos.

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In a recent study reported by the New York Times by psychologists at the University of Texas, more than 2,000 people were asked why they had sex. In this study, they ended up with 237 reasons which were further categorized as being the most important motive for having sex. The top three were pretty predictable and included “I wanted to express my love for the person”, “I was sexually aroused” and “It’s fun.” These were pretty typical of what you would expect to find. But then there were the ones who topped out as the lamest and probably not ones you would expect that really got my attention. So without further ado, Blog4Brains proudly presents…The Top Ten Most Lame Reasons to Have Sex…

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2:00 AM on the Kuuvik River in the Nunavik region of northern Quebec. Photo courtesy of my friend, Drew MacDonald.

Being the token astrophysicist in my social circles, I get a lot of questions from friends and family about what’s going on in the Universe these days. I try to use these questions as an outline to the posts I write for the QUEST web site.

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by David Bradley

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With the stakes growing for both men and women in our culture in regards to the devastating impact of obesity on health, there are more and more studies concerning our obesity epidemic. In American adults obesity has doubled since 1980, and obesity in children has tripled. Correlated with these high incidences of obesity are heart disease, stroke, arthritis and some cancers. So, I guess it’s time for America to declare another war. This time America should do something really positive like recognize this dire threat in our homeland and declare a ‘War on Fat’. If we do, then how would the sexes fight this war? Would men and women fight alongside each other or end up on opposite ends of the battlefield? Just how would men and women fight the ultimate “Battle of the Bulge”?

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by David Bradley

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Forgive me reader for I have sinned. It’s been two weeks since my last blog. Since then I have received a bill from the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD). We have used an excessive amount of water in the first two weeks living in our new home. By excessive, I mean about 1,600 gallons per day on average, which is about six times the average for a household in the East Bay. There, it’s out there. I feel like an overweight doctor admitting to a two-pack a day cigarette habit.

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