Located in Southern California's San Jacinto Mountains, the Natural Reserve System's (NRS) James Reserve is at the forefront of an effort to use high technology to gain insight into the natural world. Embedded cameras monitor the nesting cycles of birds, sensor networks track weather data on habitat microclimates, and computers map out the potential damage from wildfires.

Biting into a vine-ripe tomato is a familiar summer delight brought to you courtesy of bees who are crucial pollinators in natural and agricultural ecosystems. However, underlying the idyllic image of these nectar gatherers is a sometimes fiercely competitive world of sudden death and gang violence among scented blossoms. James Nieh explores this other side of bee life and the ingenious adaptations, including language, that bees have evolved in response to the perils of pollination.

Noted researcher and education specialist Memorie Yasuda presents the basics of climate change, and potential solutions for the array of challenges it presents for the earth and its inhabitants.

The most endangered forests are those of Oceania that have been reduced to less than one percent of their historic range. Join UCLA Professor of Geography Thomas Gillespie as he examines the biodiversity of woody plants and the local culture of some of the Pacific's most threatened regions.

LLNL scientist Dean Williams explores the evolution of climate models with from the mid 1970's to the present. Methods for testing climate models against a variety of benchmarks such as historical climate changes or seasonal changes are explained. Several key issues arising from global climate change are highlighted followed by suggestions for actions that will help limit carbon dioxide emissions.

Deep in the Pacific, the island nations of Kiribati, Tokelau, and Tuvalu are among the first to feel the direct affects of climate change as they submerge under rising sea levels. In a unique exchange of ideas and artistic expression, islanders, climate change experts, and political leaders explore the very real threats to islands across the South Pacific, the "canaries in the coal mine" of climate change.

Mark Mann of Point Loma Nazarene University leads a panel of distinguished religious scholars in discussing how the various views of life, death, and the afterlife intersect with theological and ethical issues that lie at the heart of the Henrietta Lacks story. This lecture is part of the Henrietta Lacks series sponsored by the Center for Ethics in Science and Technology in San Diego.

Over the past twenty years, accurate measurement of the seawater carbon dioxide system has become a high priority for scientists who have worked to understand just how much of the carbon dioxide created by man's activities has ended up in the ocean, where it is distributed, and how it has changed the chemistry of the oceans; a process known as ocean acidification. Andrew G. Dickson, Professor of Marine Chemistry at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography UC San Diego, has been measuring carbon dioxide in seawater for over 30 years. In this two-part series, he introduces the basic chemical processes underlying the study of carbon dioxide in the oceans, and provides an overview of the experimental techniques that are in use to measure the levels of carbon dioxide in seawater indicating how a newcomer to this field might make decisions as to what research tools best suit them.

Over the past twenty years, accurate measurement of the seawater carbon dioxide system has become a high priority for scientists who have worked to understand just how much of the carbon dioxide created by man's activities has ended up in the ocean, where it is distributed, and how it has changed the chemistry of the oceans; a process known as ocean acidification. Andrew G. Dickson, Professor of Marine Chemistry at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, has been measuring carbon dioxide in seawater for over 30 years. In this two-part series, he introduces the basic chemical processes underlying the study of carbon dioxide in the oceans, and provides an overview of the experimental techniques that are in use to measure the levels of carbon dioxide in seawater indicating how a newcomer to this field might make decisions as to what research tools best suit them.

When the massive 9.0-magnitude earthquake struck Japan last March, Scripps Oceanography was listening. The Institution operates local, national and international seismic observing systems, each finely tuned for detecting earthquakes - from those in our backyard to ones on the other side of the globe. Join Scripps seismologist Frank Vernon as he describes two such projects: the USArray Transportable Array and the San Jacinto Fault Zone Experiment. Learn how Scripps scientists are "wiring" the earth to understand the rumblings of our dynamic planet.

Linda Adams was appointed Secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency in 2006. During her four years as Secretary, Adams served as lead negotiator on AB 32 - the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 and is now working closely with states, provinces and countries to reduce the effects of global warming.