Sensing space junk, and other stellar stories
From filming a black hole to flaming hot water ice on Neptune, we revisit some of our favourite space-related stories from the past season.
Quirks and Quarks
CBC Radio's Quirks and Quarks covers the quirks of the expanding universe to the quarks within a single atom... and everything in between.
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Dust? Tongues? Uranus? It’s our Holiday Question Show!
On this week’s best of Quirks & Quarks , we revisit our annual holiday listener question show, with fascinating queries like: Why did a Canadian astronaut's eyesight change when she went to space? How is the dust inside our homes changing? Why do some professional athletes stick out their tongues when they play? Why are most fruits round, but bananas and pineapple are not? What would have happened…
Monkeys swallow soil to eat more junk food, and other summery science
From the science of how we sweat to solving golf's greatest mystery, we revisit some of our favourite summery segments from the past season.
Using ants to make yogurt, and other producer picks
From elephant whiskers to Arctic rhinos and even science programming in prisons, we revisit some of our producers’ favourite stories from this season. Including: One of the world's earliest plant-eaters discovered in Nova Scotia Elephant trunk whiskers increase their sensitivity to better 'feel' their surroundings Yogurt with a creepy-crawly secret ingredient Rhinos roamed Arctic Canada 23 million…
Whales, sex and rocks — it's our book show!
We revisit our conversations with authors of some of the year’s most fascinating science books in our annual holiday book show. Featuring: Questioning the purpose of whale song — for love or echolocation? Journeying through deep geological time to better tackle problems of the future Biological sex is complicated, but that's what helps animals like humans thrive Plus, science journalist and…
Pumas vs. penguins, and other clever carnivores
From tiny T. rexes to a car-sized sea monster, we revisit some of our favourite stories about predators in their prime, like: Smaller tyrannosaur solves decades-long debate about the T. rex Among Yellowstone’s top predators, wolves beat out cougars as the top dog Bears with us. Tracking grizzlies in B.C. Cleveland’s ancient car-sized sea monster had bony fangs made out of its skull Wild wolves run…
Summer Science Spectacular
From camping out on 'bird poop island,' chasing down wild dogs in Madagascar, or even looking for bombs in a bog in Ottawa –– no one quite does summer like scientists. This week, we revisit some of the hijinks that Canadian researchers got up to last year as they left their labs to get their hands dirty in the field. FEATURING: Camping out on a remote island with thousands of screaming, pooping,…
Sweat, comets and dino milk. It’s our summer question show!
Quirks & Quarks has been taking your burning science questions for half a century. And while we thought we might have answered every question there is to answer over the years, our listeners proved there are always more fascinating head-scratchers for us to tackle. Like: Are comets eternal? In a sauna, what am I sweating out? Did dinosaurs produce milk? If heat rises, why is there snow on the top…
Great white sharks in hot water, and more…
Some of the oceans biggest, most powerful predators, like certain sharks and tuna, are “mesothermic” or warm-bodied. Running hot allows them to rapidly convert their food to energy and heat, helping them swim faster and hunt in cold waters. But that advantage may become a disadvantage in a warming climate, meaning these fish need to find new ways of cooling off, or face a new threat to their…
Fossilized squirrel poop full of ancient animals, and more…
Gold miners working in the Yukon regularly find ancient ground squirrel burrows throughout the permafrost, many containing fossilized feces. Researchers analyzing these well-preserved poop piles found they contain some of the oldest DNA ever recovered, dating from 30,000 to 700,000 years ago. Tucked inside were traces of a wide range of ancient animals, including woolly mammoths, grasshoppers,…