The tiny Tenderloin National Forest is much loved – and some would argue, even needed – as a respite from the dense concrete jungle of the Tenderloin neighborhood. So if access to parks, greenery, and open spaces make such a profound difference for people living in cities, then who decides where,...
By Rayana Godfrey
Teenagers often feel misunderstood. It’s a hard time of life – somewhere between childhood and adulthood, not quite one or the other – with a future that is at once uncertain, exciting, and overwhelming. It’s no wonder that they can seem ungrateful for what’s going on in the...
Over the past decade, California has resettled more Middle Eastern refugees than any other state in the country. In Northern California, Santa Clara County in the South Bay is a resettlement hub for Middle Eastern refugees – more than 1,300 moved there since 2006. About one out of three of those...
Many Middle Eastern refugees are Iraqis who have fled war-related violence. But in the past decade, the largest number of refugees have actually come from Iran.
More than 15,000 Iranians have moved to California just since 2006. Though their country isn’t currently at war, many Iranians suffer...
Compared with the rest of the nation, the Bay Area is an easy place to go green – many restaurants will give you take-out with biodegradable containers and silverware, trash cans have a section for recyclables, and San Francisco, along with other Bay Area cities, even offers compost collection
But...
D.I.Y.
Think about the parts of your home where you can conserve water: there’s the shower, the sink, the toilet, and if you’ve got them, maybe a dishwasher or washing machine. You can reduce the amount of water you use, but what about reusing it? KALW’s Thea Chroman decided to learn how to reuse water...
California is one of many states that bans talking or texting on a handheld device while driving. It's a national problem. In 2009, more than 5,000 people were killed on U.S. roads and about 450,000 were injured due because of so-called "distracted" driving.
But when it comes to cell phone use in...
As many San Franciscans know, dropped calls are such a common problem with cell phones that in 2002, Verizon Wireless launched a commercial empire based on that now-famous tagline:
COMMERCIAL: Can you hear me now? Good … Can you hear me now? Good.
ANNOUNCER: How do you build America’s largest...
KALW Interviews
“Genius” is a pretty loaded title. But the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation began bestowing that honor on American luminaries who shine in a variety of respective fields. They no longer call the recipients “geniuses,” but they do still award half-a-million dollars to 20 or so every...
Brain Vitamin
As you get older, you’ll probably find that you start forgetting things more often – like people’s names or where you left your car keys. We’re all familiar with the adage, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” But UCSF Neuroscientist Michael Merzenich says that’s bogus. There’s no reason for...
You don’t have to be outside for long to realize that here in the Bay Area, we are surrounded by wildlife. Long before houses and roads and cities popped up, wild animals reigned supreme. As we negotiate our relationship to the remaining members of that wildlife, there’s bound to be some tension....
One serious effect of the recession is many people’s inability to afford health care. And when people aren’t insured, they bring their medical problems to the only place required to take them: the public hospital emergency room.
In Oakland, that emergency room is at Highland Hospital. The new...
KALW Interviews
A collective of any kind requires great communication ... good listening skills ... and cooperation. But get any group of people together in a small space for long periods of time, and things can go awry. Like on MTV’s "Jersey Shore."
Okay, so most of us aren’t likely to break out into fistfights...
Here in the Bay Area, the trend is to go local – especially when it comes to food. But what about other things in our lives? Like what we wear, for example?
We sent KALW’s Ali Budner to San Francisco’s Dolores Park to see if she could find anyone who actually knew where their clothes came from....
KALW Interviews
The Hetch Hetchy Valley is currently under water – water that travels by gravity 160 miles to come right out of our taps in San Francisco.
Eighty-five percent of the city’s water comes from the reservoir. But it wasn’t always this simple. Before the Hetch Hetchy Valley was flooded, or the O’...
Californians do a pretty good job thinking twice before throwing things away ... we divert more than 60% of our waste away from landfills. But what about that remaining 40%? Arthur Boone says to get rid of that, we need to completely rethink our concept of garbage. Boone’s a recycling pioneer; for...
A study released earlier this year showed that the U.S. is on its way to a major shortage of science talent; about 1% of American students score above proficiency on national science assessments. Some blame school curricula; others fault kids’ video game habits. But whatever we lack in actual...
KALW Investigates
Whether it’s ice cream, chocolate, pickles, or pizza, most of us know the feeling of a food craving. But some people think it’s more than that – they think we can be addicted … to food.
“Addiction” is a strong word. It implies a certain loss of control, and a change in brain chemistry. That’s...
Brain Vitamin
Invisibility – it’s the stuff of fantasy and Hollywood movies (we’re looking at you, Harry Potter), and now it’s a reality.
Well, kind of. Read the fine print, and you’ll find that the invisibility cloak that UC Berkeley researchers have produced can only hide extremely tiny objects – objects that...
If you are reading this, you might be a bit too old to breastfeed. But if you are a baby, or if you have one, you probably know that breastmilk is very nutritional for you (or your baby). Oakland's Kiko Malin and other public health advocates are trying to get more African American children on the...
Misisipi Mike
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