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Of all the questions in science, few have haunted humans as persistently as this: Are we alone? For more than 50 years, scientists have listened for a signal from intelligent life on other planets... and come up empty. Now, they're running short of money. Is it time to give up?

Spotted owls are one of the most iconic threatened species in the West. But despite two decades of work to bring them back, their numbers are still declining. That may be due in part to a new threat - not from humans, but from other owls. Lauren Sommer has the story.

Another mysterious fish die-off happened in a southern California harbor last week. Scientists are still trying to figure out what caused six tons of sardines to go belly-up in Ventura. Just six weeks ago a similar event occurred off Newport Beach. Those sardines tested positive for a neurotoxin caused by algae blooms. Meanwhile, commercial shellfish growers say they’re noticing some strange patterns as well, as Amy Standen reports.

Hundreds of invasive species have been found in San Francisco Bay, according to biologists. That makes the bay one of the most invaded estuaries in the world. Hoping to restore native fish and wildlife, California has passed the strictest rules in the country to prevent ocean freighters from introducing more foreign species to the bay. But as Lauren Sommer reports, the standards are so tough, officials may not be able to enforce them.

When a devastating earthquake shook Japan last month, some residents knew it was coming. A series of warning signals were sent out, including over Japanese television. Scientists say we could be just a few years away from launching a similar system here in California. As Amy Standen reports, the science is here but the funding is not.

White-nose syndrome has devastated bat populations back east, and is steadily making its way west. Researchers are keeping close tabs on the Bay Area's 16 bat species, including one thriving colony south of Sacramento.

Japan's nuclear power crisis is renewing debate over the topic of safety at nuclear power plants. Andrea Kissack talks with two men with very different opinions on the issue: Bill Magavern, head of the Sierra Club California and Ed Morse, Professor of Nuclear Engineering at University of California, Berkeley.

In California, a state agency called CalFire is charged with fighting fire in rural areas. But over the years, the line between rural and urban has become much less clear. Governor Jerry Brown proposed to scale back CalFire and help trim the state's budget, but that proposal may go down in flames.

It's been a harsh winter across the US. Snow has blanketed the Sierra Nevada, where the snowpack is well above normal. Lots of snow means good skiing, but it also means an increased danger of avalanches. Lauren Sommer traveled to Lake Tahoe where researchers are trying to understand the inner workings of snow a little bit better.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of a notorious psychology experiment: the Stanford Prison Experiment. It showed that average, well-adjusted people could act cruelly, even sadistically, under the right circumstances. Now, the scientist who led those experiments is wondering whether the opposite is true. Can a regular, run-of-the-mill person be made to do extraordinary, even heroic things?