"You're listening to... Radiolab"

If you aren't already listening to Radiolab, you probably should be.

We like to play installments of this fantastic and enlightening radio show in podcast-form through Gus's speakers as the sun sets over one of our favorite beaches and just before the air temperature drops so that cooking dinner doesn't seem like a chore.

Self-described: "Radiolab believes your ears are a portal to another world. Where sound illuminates ideas, and the boundaries blur between science, philosophy, and human experience. Big questions are investigated, tinkered with, and encouraged to grow. Bring your curiosity, and we'll feed it with possibility."

For your digestion, here's a short video that they just put out to supplement their most recent episode, called "Words":



Seriously, we're in love with Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, the hosts.

To listen to (or download) their podcasts, new and old, go to their website here. Don't forget to click on the "Shorts" tab for all the little supplementary goodies that belong to each episode. They add something new about once every two weeks, so you'll have to keep checking back. Or you can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes and have it update automatically on your computer/gadgety thing.

Some of our favorites:
-New Normal
-Emergence
-Time
-Memory and Forgetting

Happy listening!

(And if you need more listening material, check out our other favorite podcasts of radio shows: This American Life and Car Talk...)

Viva la Vaquita!

Though you may never have heard of them, the little white Vaquitas are one of the rarest and certainly the smallest of all whale species. And guess what? They're endemic to Baja's Gulf of California (that means this is their only habitat in the world)!

They live in the northern part of the Gulf, where the waters are warm and the small fish are plenty. They have always been a rare species, with a low population and rather elusive behavior, so much so that to this day, some Baja fishermen claim they're only legend! This, however, is quite untrue. They have been around for quite a while, and in fact are now in trouble due to overfishing in the Gulf, water pollution, and reduction of water flow in the Colorado River. They also occasionally get caught in fishermens' gill nets.

The last survey in 2008 put their numbers at just 250 individuals, which is hardly enough to maintain a stable population. It looks like the Vaquitas are once again on the decline...

There are a few organizations which are working to protect the Vaquitas, one of which is Sonora's Intercultural Center for the Study of Deserts and Oceans (CEDO), a non-profit research institute. We know these people personally and they're doing good work not just for the Vaquita, but also for the fisheries and ecosystems of the northern Gulf, from conducting coastal estuary conservation to working with cooperatives of fishermen to rotate their fishing grounds and manage the fisheries in a more holistic way. (You can visit CEDO in Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, for a tour of their visitor center and to get more info about the local Gulf ecosystems!)

The Mexican government has also created a protected area where the highest concentration of Vaquitas is supposed to be, so that fishing is prohibited within this area.  You can also visit Viva Vaquita, a non-profit website dedicated to raising awareness about the Vaquita's situation!

Here's a sighting of the Vaquita from 2008:


An Encounter with Vaquita. from Chris Johnson on Vimeo.

The Moon Zoo

Put on your space suits! The Moon needs you!

Check out this NPR article, which explains about how our new Moon-Cam, a.k.a. the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), is sending back far more images than can be processed by the researchers on hand. So Chris Lintott of Oxford has set up a new site called Moon Zoo, designed for people like us to help sift through the images! We can help identify craters, rocks, leftover space junk, and other cool features.

The best part is that this isn't just grunt-work that some computer could do, but tasks specifically requiring a human brain, hopefully yours, which can pick out strange things on the Moon's surface, and get its curiosity piqued by unusual features that don't belong. They're counting on us to help!

Get started now! I know I'm going to. Here's an intro video they suggest watching to get "trained" on how to help:


Moon Zoo: Crater Survey from The Zooniverse on Vimeo.