When I open the tap, water comes out. But from where?

85% comes from Hetch Hetchy in Yosemite. Spring snow melt from the Tuolomne River fills Hetch Hetchy reservoir. This surface water in the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir is treated, but not filtered because it is of such high quality.

15% comes from the Alameda and Peninsula watershed. The supplies are stored in Caleveras and San Antonio reservoirs. In addition, the Crystal Spring reservoirs on the Peninsula store excess Hetch Hetchy supplies.

Let’s talk treatments. Almost all water in this country is filtered and treated with chlorine. Not so true here in SF.
Read the rest of this entry »

PGS, preimplantation genetic screening, is a widely adopted test in US fertility clinics to establish any genetic defects in embryos. Only healthy embryos that pass the screening are then implanted using IVF techniques. A recent study in Science, indicates a lower pregnancy rate for women who use PGS vs those who just pursue IVF only. The final score….24% birth rate for IVF combined with PGS, 35% for IVF only.

The study has its share of critics. Many claim the researchers were not well versed in PGS techniques, leading to implantation of many “bad” embryos. Regardless, the study does show there maybe a problem with this technique, a technique which was adopted very quickly.

During our last event, Timothy spoke to all the contributing factors being investigated as a cause of CCD (colony collapse disorder), the disorder that has resulted in a 30-70% decline in bee population over the past few years.

In the May issue of Science, compares historical data with current research to provide some answers.

Pesticides
One of the most common theories is that pesticides are killing off the hives. Pesticides first arrived on the scene post WW II, but similar colony collapses have been reported back as far as 1897.

Investigation of pesticides have been focused on a nicotine based compound called neonicotinoids, introduced in 1992. In the lab, a few of these compounds were shown to inhibit navigation or even cause death at higher doses. However, these results have not been reproduced in the field and moreover there has been no spike in usage of these pesticides over the last year. France banned one compound, imidacloprid, in 1999 after many beekepers had complained. Yet after 8 years, there seems to be no effect on the hive population in France.

Read the rest of this entry »

The video and pictures from the bee event are up.

Looking for shorter videos? Check out the DtaS videos now on YouTube.