Quirks and Quarks Complete Show from CBC Radio

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 ScotiaElephant trunk whiskers increase their sensitivity to better 'feel' their surroundingsYogurt with a creepy-crawly secret ingredientRhinos roamed Arctic Canada 23 million years agoBringing science education to the incarcerated

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 futureBiological sex is complicated, but that's what helps animals like humans thrivePlus, science journalist and BookLab podcast co-host Dan Falk reviews The Martians by David Baron, Dinner With King Tut by Sam Kean and The Mind Electric by Pria Anand.

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. rexAmong Yellowstone's top predators, wolves beat out cougars as the top dogBears with us. Tracking grizzlies in B.C.Cleveland's ancient car-sized sea monster had bony fangs made out of its skullWild wolves run for their lives when they hear Big Bad Humans nearbyWhy penguin-eating pumas live closer together in Patagonia

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, barfing birdsDodging lions and mongooses to monitor what wild dogs are eating in MozambiqueSaving ancient silk road graffiti from dam-inundationProspecting for Second World War bombs in an Ottawa bogTechnology allows examination of Inca mummies without disturbing themEavesdropping on chatty snapping turtles in Algonquin Park

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 of mountains?What does a black hole orbit?What if we had no moon?Why are cat and dog tongues so different?Why are robin eggs so blue?Why do some animals become mega sized?How do animals deal with strong bright UV light?

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 survival.PLUS:Ancient Peruvians traded parrots across deserts and mountainsFrom the archive: David, Jay and Bob, and Quirks & Quarks' origin storySea cucumber 'zombie tissue' straddles the line between life and deathDream engineering may help you solve problems in your sleep

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, steppe bison, ancient horses, American cheetahs, as well as hundreds of plant species.PLUS:‘Super-good, ice-making microbes' may trigger snow and rain, or help freeze foodWe're a hotbed of mutations, and scientists are leveraging that for our healthGoing out on a limb. Animals regrow body parts, maybe we can tooFrom the archives: Isaac Asimov on human creativity and robots

150 years ago, Charles Darwin noticed that birds and humans were both drawn to bright plumage and elaborate display. He called this interspecies esthetic appreciation a “shared taste for the beautiful.” Now, in a recent study, an interdisciplinary team of scientists built an online game exploring the mating calls of 16 different species and discovered, to their surprise, that humans and animals agree on which sounds are more attractive.PLUS:How the brain can learn to truly multitaskFrom the archives: The Russian space mirror that flashed across Canadian skiesThe Matrix is real: birds, dragonflies and dogs see the world in slow motionCould the next giant particle collider unlock the mysteries of the universe?

The newly described Tylosaurus rex was a violent bus-sized Komodo dragon-like creature with serrated teeth. Dubbed the ‘T. rex of the sea,' it would have occupied the top of the food chain in the marine ecosystem over 80 million years ago.PLUS:Pigeons use their livers to find their way homeFrom the archives: How Jocelyn Bell Burnell discovered pulsars Scientists discover an underground network of lakes hidden under Arctic ice New book explores the million year history of how we sleep — and why we're doing it wrong today

Scientists recorded audio and video of 8 different kinds of rockfish living in the wild near British Columbia, and were surprised they could tell the species apart through their various grunts, pops and knocks, even though the fish are closely related.PLUS:DNA identifies four Franklin Expedition sailors — and solves a 160-year-old mysteryImmune cells that fight infection get a boost from food Radio waves let us see the unseeable: black holes, pulsars and volcanoes on VenusFrom the archives: What will the Earth look like in 2050?Quirks Question: If chicken and fish blood is red, why are they white meats?

In a study inspired by a field of dandelions, researchers wanted to know why, when you blow on a dandelion seed head, only the seeds closest to you take flight. They found that a dimple in the seed heads where the seed attaches is larger on one side than the other, and that the seeds consistently broke off from the smaller side of that dimple. Once they take flight, each dandelion seed uses its unique shape to catch a ride on the wind.PLUS: Infrasound, not ghosts, may be why old buildings give us the heebie-jeebiesThese arms are made for lovin'. How male octopuses find their matesFrom the archives: Donald Johanson on the discovery of 'Lucy,' our missing linkVirtual hearts help doctors fix patients' life-threatening irregular heart beatsQuirks Question: What's the benefit for trees being evergreen?

On the morning of August 10, 2025, a landslide in a fjord along the southern Alaskan coast triggered a mega tsunami. It generated the second highest wave ever recorded that reached up to 481 metres above sea level. A new study suggests that catastrophic events like this are more likely to occur as our climate warms and glaciers melt.PLUS:The hantavirus at the centre of the outbreak struck Argentina in 2018. What did we learn?Raccoons enjoy solving puzzles, just for the fun of itWhat animal parents and distant humans can teach us about caregivingFrom the archives: face to face with the man who killed PlutoQuirks Question: why do my car windows make a ‘wha wha wha' sound?

Cocaine's main byproduct made wild juvenile Atlantic salmon swim twice as far, which could put them in more danger. Cocaine and many other chemicals and drugs — along with their byproducts are found in many waterways, but especially around wastewater treatment plants. Scientists exposed the fish to cocaine and its byproduct to see how it impacted their behaviour in the wild.

IDEAS, hosted by Nahlah Ayed is a weekday podcast that explores how ideas shape our world.“One of your tribe is enough.” That's what Margaret Rossiter was told when she said she wanted to study female scientists in the ‘70s. Nevertheless, Rossiter persisted. She found and documented hundreds of women whose contributions to science had been overlooked, under-credited and misappropriated. Then she made history herself by coining the term “The Matilda Effect” to describe why those women failed to get the credit they deserved. Who is Matilda? Matilda Joslyn Gage was a suffragist erased from history. She was known as being too radical for Susan B. Anthony. This episode of IDEAS shares her story.You can find more episodes of IDEAS wherever you get your podcasts, and here: https://link.mgln.ai/IDEASxQQ

Seabird poop plays a surprising role in bringing life to barren islands, spreading nutrients throughout the ocean, and even creating wealth for an ancient human empire.PLUS:The precursors of written language go back a lot earlier than we thoughtDolphins exposed to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill also more likely to be hit by boatsFrom the archives: Canadian astronomer spots a supernova visible to the naked eyeQuirks Question: How do beavers choose their trees?Mapping the universe in three dimensions

We tend to think of animals like snakes, rats and even cockroaches as pests, but in her new book, biologist Marlene Zuk says there's a lot we can learn from these less than desirable creatures, if we just give them a chance.PLUS:A case of mistaken identity: The truth about the world's 'oldest' octopus fossil From the archives: Carl Sagan on the worlds beyond our solar systemThe evolutionary cost of our relationship with fireWe're not speaking as much as we used to — and scientists are concerned

There's been a growing movement to develop new technologies to replace at least some of the animals used in scientific research. Researchers across Canada are working to create these tools, to usher in a new animal-free era for medical science.PLUS:Harbor seals can 'talk' thanks to their parrot-like brains'Flaming hot' water ice may explain Neptune and Uranus' strange magnetismA thigh bone that could represent the oldest evidence of our human lineageThe ravens of Yellowstone remember where wolves typically kill their prey

On their mission around the moon, Jeremy Hansen and his crewmates will become the only four people on Earth to ever lay eyes on the entire far side of the moon. Since joining the space program, the Artemis astronauts have been undergoing intensive geological training to help train their eyes to look for lunar features that satellites can't pick up. PLUS:How Neanderthals skillfully hunted and butchered a giant elephantFilming fish over their lifetime reveals behaviours that lead to longevityHow our food environment shapes our tastes — and health

New research confirms that dogs were the first animal to form a domestic relationship with humans, dating back to the end of the last Ice Age almost 16,000 years ago.PLUS:Constructing shelters out of Martian soil may be possible with bacterial helpMale-on-male cricket 'twerking' and 'booty bumping' is not a case of mistaken identityNarrowing down potential alien signals from 12 billion to 100, thanks to SETI Researchers find a brain switch in mice to turn a deadbeat dad into a doting one

An unusual hellscape of a planet found 34 light years from Earth has a deep ocean of molten magma surrounded by noxious, hot, rotten egg-type fumes. It just may be the most uninhabitable alien landscape we've ever come across.PLUS:Neanderthal DNA can help explain how human faces formNearly indestructible teeny tiny tardigrades struggle to survive in Martian dirtTiny tags on monarch butterflies allow scientists to track their exact migration routeA weird fish has a big hole in its head. Scientists finally have an idea why.

We used to think that of our primate relatives, chimps were the more aggressive ape and bonobos were more peaceful. A recent study found that bonobos are just as antagonistic as chimps, but it's the females targeting males.PLUS:Mission to deflect an asteroid was a smashing successLow gravity environments can lead to stronger blood clots in astronautsFrom fire to galaxy formation, a celebration of friction as a fundamental forceWinter spiders survive subzero temperatures with a potent antifreeze

You may have seen Black Hole, the image, but have you heard of the upcoming Black Hole, The Movie? This week, astronomers launched a new campaign to capture video footage of the supermassive black hole pulsing at the heart of the M87 galaxy.PLUS:Sunlight and fungi inspiration can help recycle plastic waste into vinegarAncient kangaroos were hopping giantsHow monogamy helps termite colonies number in the millionsOur infant universe's primordial soup was soupy, according to new study

Starfish don't have brains, and yet they're able to mobilize hundreds of tiny hydraulic tube feet to get around. Now scientists are getting an understanding of just how they do that.PLUS:Atmospheric pollution from an individual rocket re-entry event measured for the first timeHow the Earth's greenhouse age transitioned into a world with frozen polesWhat is dark matter? The contenders — from WIMPs to dark matter starsQuirks Question: why doesn't flowing water freeze at the same temperature as still water?

From the pressurized space suits to living in underground spaces, it's clear that living on Mars would cause irreversible biological changes to any humans living there, to the point that it may be impossible for them or their descendants to return to Earth. With bigger heads and lighter bodies, might we also end up looking like Martians?PLUS:Yellowstone's predators battle it out, and wolves remain top dogfossil of the earliest veggie-eater found in Nova ScotiaCovid is disappearing in animals, which is good news for deer but not as good for humanshow genes affect our lifespan more than we thought

An elephant's trunk is incredibly strong and rugged, and yet it is one of the most sensitive touch organs in the animal kingdom. New research reveals that this sensitivity is partly powered by over 1000 whiskers.PLUS:A new 'inside out' solar system is making astronomers question planet formationPaleo-Inuit people in the high Arctic were masterful seafarers, new study showsTwo-month-old babies can categorize objects in their brainHow insects deal with smog or microplastics can impact them and the environment

Researchers made the surprising discovery that Alaska beluga whales have swinging sex lives — and that could be their key to survival in the warming Arctic.Plus:mission to the 'doomsday' Thwaites glacier in Antarctica ends in disappointment near-infrared light therapy offers hope to football players with brain injuries with nuclear power making a comeback, what's changed since the last Atomic Age?

Scientists spent nearly 25 years studying close to 800 polar bears in the Barents Sea region and discovered that those polar bears seem to be doing just fine, even though melting sea ice is also a major issue.PLUS:Sargassum seaweed is becoming such a problem, you can see it from spaceWhy some people only get mild sniffles with a cold and others get sickA woolly rhino's DNA found in an ancient wolf's stomach reveals their quick demiseHow to change a memory — one scientist's quest to understand memory permanence

Some dogs are more adept at learning language than others. Researchers studying these special dogs discovered that, much like toddlers, these smart furry canine companions can pick up words just by eavesdropping on their owners' conversations.PLUSTracking space debris using seismometersUsing nitrogen to boost treesHow Mars shapes our climateExtracting ice age mammoth RNA and using lichens to find dino bones

We may share a common ancestor with chimpanzees, but somewhere along the evolutionary line to us, our brains took a major detour. New research suggests that chimpanzees can rationally weigh evidence, a trait that used to be thought as uniquely human.PLUS:Why penguin-eating pumas live closer together in PatagoniaAnts sacrifice the strength of individual workers for quantityMapping the landmass beneath Antarctica's massive ice sheetHow deep sea ocean environments affect fish body shape

An unassuming fossilized slab in the basement of a museum in Brazil turned out to be 110-million-year-old dinosaur vomit, and inside that vomit were the bones of two strange, seagull-sized pterosaurs.PLUS:Loss of fresh groundwater is now the leading driver of sea level riseHow doubting your self-doubt makes you doubt lessA huge black hole in a peculiar galaxy may date from the universe's earliest moments Shining a light on where viruses hide out in our bodies, and how they make us sick

On this week's episode of Quirks & Quarks, it's our ever-popular and always satisfying Holiday Listener Question Show that includes: 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 if the dino-killing asteroid never struck Earth?We'll satisfy all these scientific curiosities and many more!

Twenty-five years ago, Quirks & Quarks celebrated their 25th anniversary by travelling forward in time — to 2025 — to find out how science had changed in the years since. In this fictitious future, our present, Zargon the robot, wakes up a Bob McDonald clone from the year 2000 to speak with scientists about 25 years of science. It's a mindbending audio time-capsule with predictions that were oddly prescient, sometimes unsettling or wildly wrong.

We talk to authors of some of this year's most fascinating science books in our annual Holiday Book Show.INCLUDING: Questioning the purpose of whale song — for love or echolocation?Journeying through deep geological time to better tackle problems of the futureBiological sex is complicated but that's what helps animals like humans thriveMini reviews of: The Martians by David Baron, Dinner With King Tut by Sam Kean and The Mind Electric by Pria Anand.

Next stop - the moon! Jeremy Hansen stops by our studio to chat about how he's prepping to be the first Canadian to go to the moon.Plus:Santa's reindeer may be losing their antlers –– and climate change could be the culpritReindeer are the only animal in the deer family where the females also grow antlers, and they typically have a full rack over the wintertime and drop them in June when they give birth. University of Guelph PhD student Allegra Love was monitoring reindeer on Fogo Island in Newfoundland, when she made a surprising discovery that female reindeer are losing and growing their antlers much earlier than usual. This can put more stress on the animal during a crucial part of their pregnancy, and the researchers think this could eventually lead to the reindeer losing their antlers altogether. The work was published in the journal Ecosphere.Pterosaur brains reveal clues about why these mighty fliers took to the skiesFlight has only evolved among vertebrates three times — in bats, birds, and first in pterosaurs. How pterosaurs first took to the skies was always a mystery to scientists, until the discovery of a fossilized 230-million year old pterosaur relative in Brazil. An international team, including Ohio University professor Lawrence Witmer, used an MRI for detailed analysis of the fossilized skull, to pinpoint the miniscule brain changes that happened as the animal developed the capacity to fly. The research was published in the journal Current Biology.Scientists are using AI to find life in 3 billion year old rocksEarth's earliest signs of life are often incredibly difficult to detect. An international team of researchers have developed a new tool that uses AI to find “whispers” of life locked inside ancient rocks. Using this tool, the researchers, including astrobiologist Michael Wong from Carnegie Science, were able to detect fresh chemical evidence of life in rocks that are 3.3 billion years old. This tool can not only be used to explore the origins of life here on Earth, but also on Mars and other planetary bodies. The work was published in the journal PNAS.

Scientists are shedding light on the strange, car-sized, armoured fish that lived 360 million years ago in what is now Cleveland. Plus: The cosmic collider that gave us our moon came from our own solar system, soccer fanatics' brains are wired differently than regular fans, industrial chemicals are hurting our microbiome, and scientists are using our brains to build a better computer.

On this week's episode: a mini tyrannosaur is a new species, ants redesign to avoid illness, toxic lead gave humans the edge over Neanderthals, invasive fish are evolving to avoid eradication attempts, and how big mining projects — and attempts to hurry them along — can spell bad news for the environment.

This week: bees trained to keep track of time, eating small amounts of plastic can kill ocean animals, scientists spot winds blowing from our black hole, a "one-two punch" earthquake may be coming for the Pacific coast and what “drunken trees” can tell us about our warming climate.

On this week's episode: tracking down a stellar explosion, climate apathy, arctic foxes are key in northern food web, why golf balls lip out of holes and making snake bites less deadly.

On this week's episode: studying a rare visitor to our solar system, eating saturated fats can mess with our internal clocks, holding hands with our 2 million year old ancestors, woodpeckers drill into trees like hammers, and the pros and cons of geoengineering.

On this week's episode: selling sunlight on demand, rhinos roamed Canada's Arctic 23 million years ago, making a more precise parachute using kirigami, the winner of this year's prestigious Gerhard Herzberg Gold Medal and uncovering widespread scientific fraud.

On this week's spooktacular episode: Wolves are afraid of the big bad human, methane spewing from Montreal's largest snow dump, screaming babies make us hot to get our attention, baby pterosaurs died in a torrential storm and mind-controlling parasites turn bugs into zombies.

Nobel in Medicine for a leash on our immune systemOur immune system has enormous power to defend us against the wide range of pathogens and invaders that nature sends at us. But it's a double-edged sword, and can target its powerful weapons against us as well. This year's Nobel prize in Medicine or Physiology went to a group who discovered a critical mechanism that keeps the immune system in check, under normal circumstances, giving them new insights into the diseases that occur when it goes wrong.Yogurt with a creepy-crawly secret ingredientA team of researchers has duplicated an ancient recipe for yogurt that uses a unique ingredient to initiate fermentation: ants. They added squished ants to fresh milk, buried it in an anthill to incubate it, and enjoyed zesty yogurt soon after. A microbiological analysis showed that the ants contributed a bacteria to the yogurt that is also present in sourdough starter.An ancestor of the largest dinosaurs was a dog-sized bipedResearchers have discovered a 230 million year old fossil high in the Andes of Argentina that is the precursor to the giant, long-necked sauropod dinosaurs like the iconic brontosaurus. This animal, however, is a two-legged herbivore that likely weighed less than 20 kilograms.Nobel in Physics for making particles ghostlyQuantum tunneling is a strange phenomenon in which subatomic particles can pass through apparently impenetrable objects like magic. This year's Nobel prize in physics was awarded to a team that discovered that this strange quantum phenomena can happen on larger scales too, and this has been exploited in all sorts of modern technology, including quantum computers.Neanderthals systematically rendered fat from animal bonesScientists think that the fragmented bones of hundreds of animals discovered at a neanderthal site in Germany represent the remains of a large-scale processing site where they extracted nutritious and useful fat. This could be used for a range of things, from skin protection to preserving meat similar to pemmican.Moose are hot. Are they bothered?During the fall rut moose, particularly the males, are very active searching for mates and competing with rivals. This activity generates a large amount of heat, which could be a problem as moose don't sweat. Scientists are investigating if, in a warmer climate, this might be interfering with their reproductive success.