Bay Curious

If you're like most people, by now you've been inundated by buzz about the new movie, "Oppenheimer," which chronicles the life of the physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, father of the atomic bomb. When he was selected for the Manhattan Project, Oppenheimer was a professor at UC Berkeley. Science reporter Lesley McClurg looked into his time at Berkeley, and how he and the school itself helped to make the devices that ended WWII.Additional Reading: Read the transcript for this episode Sign up for our newsletter Enter our Sierra Nevada Brewing Company monthly trivia contest Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcastsThis story was reported by Lesley McClurg. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Amanda Font, Christopher Beale and Brendan Willard. Additional support from Cesar Saldana, Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Jasmine Garnett, Carly Severn, Attila Pelit, and Holly Kernan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our question asker noticed the Bay Area has many professional men's teams but not a single women's or non-binary professional team. What gives? Smaller cities are able to pull it off, why can't we? In this episode we dive into the history of elite women's sports in the region. We'll learn about some professional teams from yesteryear, plus new efforts underway to make a women's team succeed here.Additional Links: Read a transcript of this episode. Sign up for our newsletter Enter our Sierra Nevada Brewing Company monthly trivia contest Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by making a donation. This story was reported by Kelly O'Mara. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Amanda Font, Christopher Beale and Brendan Willard. Additional support from Cesar Saldana, Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Jasmine Garnett, Carly Severn, Jenny Pritchett and Holly Kernan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The office vacancy rate in downtown San Francisco is hovering around 30%. Meanwhile, thousands of people are living without shelter on city streets. Bay Curious listener Judith Gottlieb wonders if those empty offices can be converted into housing for people experiencing homelessness. In this episode of Bay Curious, we'll break down what it takes to turn an office into a home, and explore another option for housing people that is gaining more traction.Additional Reading: Could Empty Offices in San Francisco be Converted to Homes? Read a transcript of this episode Enter our Sierra Nevada Brewing Company monthly trivia contest Sign up for the monthly Bay Curious newsletter Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts This story was reported by Pauline Bartolone. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Amanda Font and Christopher Beale. Additional support from Cesar Saldana, Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Jasmine Garnett, Carly Severn, Jenny Pritchett and Holly Kernan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The martini is iconic. Not just because of James Bond, but the glass it’s served in, those neon signs in front of old school bars … it even has its own emoji. It was also created in the Bay Area, though where, specifically, is up for debate. As part of a collaboration with The California Report Magazine, reporter Bianca Taylor shakes up this story about the martini's origins for the series Golden State Plate.Additional Reading: Golden State Plate: The Story of the Martini, Straight Up, With a Twist Join our Curious Cocktails event and learn to mix Bay Area-invented drinks Sign up for our newsletter Enter our Sierra Nevada Brewing Company monthly trivia contest Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcastsThis story was reported by Bianca Taylor. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Amanda Font, and Christopher Beale. Additional support from Cesar Saldana, Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Jasmine Garnett, Carly Severn, Jenny Pritchett and Holly Kernan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the first instances of rap lyrics being used during a criminal trial goes back to the early 90s, and the trial of legendary rapper Mac Dre. Dre is best known as one of the pioneers of 'hyphy' music, which helped put Bay Area hip-hop on the map. There’s a lot of lore around what happened during Mac Dre’s trial, so as part of That’s My Word, KQED’s yearlong project on Bay Area hip-hop history, reporter Jessica Kariisa set out to discover what really happened.Additional Reading: Did Mac Dre Really Go to Prison Because of His Lyrics? Read a transcript of this episode Sign up for our newsletter Enter our Sierra Nevada Brewing Company monthly trivia contest Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcastsThis story was reported by Jessica Kariisa. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Amanda Font, Christopher Beale and Brendan Willard. Additional support from Cesar Saldana, Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Jasmine Garnett, Carly Severn, Jenny Pritchett and Holly Kernan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People travel from all over the world to see California's beautiful redwood forests. But some of these spectacularly tall and long lived trees aren't doing as well as they once were, particularly the ones in urban settings. Reporter Dana Cronin explores what makes these magnificent giants so unique, and why they're facing growing challenges.Additional Reading: The Bay Area's Famous Redwood Trees Are Struggling Read a transcript of this episode Enter our Sierra Nevada Brewing Company monthly trivia contest Take our audience survey. It'll really help us out! This story was reported by Dana Cronin. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Amanda Font, Christopher Beale and Brendan Willard. Additional support from Cesar Saldana, Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Jasmine Garnett, Carly Severn, Jenny Pritchett and Holly Kernan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In May, Bay Curious published the book, "Bay Curious: Exploring the Hidden True Stories of the San Francisco Bay Area." It brings a fresh eye to some of our most popular podcast episodes, and covers brand-new, never-before-heard stories researched for the book. Host Olivia Allen-Price spoke to Alexis Madrigal on KQED Forum about how Bay Curious got its start, what’s in the new book and, perhaps most fun of all, we played trivia with call-in guests on the show. We had so much fun taping this segment that we really wanted to share it with you. So this week on Bay Curious, we're running a condensed version of that KQED Forum program.Additional Links: Read the transcript for this episode. Podcast: Olivia on East Bay Yesterday Fill out our audience survey Sign up for our newsletter Enter our Sierra Nevada Brewing Company monthly trivia contest Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcastsBay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Amanda Font and Christopher Beale. Special thanks to the entire KQED Forum team for this episode. Additional support from Cesar Saldana, Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Jasmine Garnett, Carly Severn, Jenny Pritchett and Holly Kernan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Iron Horse Regional Trail runs more than 30 miles through the San Ramon Valley. But many folks who walk or ride their bikes along this paved path may not know it used to be a railroad line. This week, reporter Amy Mayer rides the rails through locomotive history in the San Ramon Valley to learn how the trains may have shaped the surrounding cities.Additional Reading: This 30-Mile East Bay Trail has Roots on the Railroad Read a transcript of this episode Take our audience survey Enter our Sierra Nevada Brewing Company monthly trivia contest Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcastsThis story was reported by Amy Mayer. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Amanda Font, Christopher Beale and Brendan Willard. Additional support from Cesar Saldana, Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Jasmine Garnett, Carly Severn, Jenny Pritchett and Holly Kernan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we've got a two-question lightning round for you. First, reporter Pauline Bartolone investigates whether the growing popularity of zero emission vehicles is making a noticeable difference in Bay Area air quality. Then, video producer Anna Vignet looks into the history of a bridge with a strikingly similar appearance to the Golden Gate Bridge... in Portugal.Additional Reading: Are Zero-Emission Vehicles Making a Dent in California's Air Pollution? What's With the Golden Gate Bridge Lookalike in Lisbon? Read a transcript of this episode Take our audience survey Check out our new Bay Curious book Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcastsThese stories was reported by Pauline Bartolone and Anna Vignet. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Amanda Font, Christopher Beale, Brendan Willard and Jim Bennett. Additional support from Cesar Saldana, Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Jasmine Garnett, Carly Severn, Jenny Pritchett and Holly Kernan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bay to Breakers in San Francisco is much more than just an annual race. The event has become notorious for its party-like atmosphere, with thousands of people running the 7.5 mile route in wild costumes, or wearing absolutely nothing at all. With its 110+ year history in the city, how did Bay to Breakers go from an ordinary race to a kind of festival-on-foot? Reporter Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman chases down the answer and explores the event's highs and lows on this week's episode.Additional Reading: Bay to Breakers Is Part Race, Part Parade and Classic San Francisco Read a transcript of this episode Sign up for our newsletter Take our audience survey Enter our Sierra Nevada Brewing Company monthly trivia contest Check out our new Bay Curious book Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcastsThis story was reported by Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Amanda Font, Christopher Beale and Brendan Willard. Additional support from Pauline Bartolone, Cesar Saldana, Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Jasmine Garnett, Carly Severn, Jenny Pritchett and Holly Kernan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices