Quirks and Quarks

After Hadfield, who's the next Canadian in space?

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 11:39:29 -0500

Canada's singing astronaut announced his retirement this week, leaving Jeremy Hansen and David Saint-Jacques to fill his space boots. But there is no date set for when the next Canadian will fly in space.

World Oceans Day sheds light on our blighted seas

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 11:35:32 -0500

Cities around the world are celebrating our blue planet with World Oceans Day on June 8. Beach cleanups, festivals, lectures, art shows and many other activities will focus on the need to take better care of our most valuable resource. And the oceans desperately need our attention.

Young and old can learn a lot from each other

Fri, 31 May 2013 11:07:53 -0500

Seniors and young people often have warped perceptions of each other. Kids think old people are slow and scary; seniors see youth as noisy and troublesome. But it is amazing what happens when you put the two groups together in meaningful and respectful ways.

Hollywood and physicists still don't really get gravity

Mon, 27 May 2013 07:56:29 -0500

In a dramatic scene in the current Star Trek movie, the laws of gravity are seriously violated as the starship falls out of the sky. It shows how creators of science fiction find it just as hard to deal with the universal force as physicists do.

Chris Hadfield: The gravity of gravity

Fri, 17 May 2013 08:24:28 -0500

After five months of being Superman and a media superstar, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield is now beginning the challenging task of adapting his mortal body and brain to life back on Earth.

Chris Hadfield's fall from space

Fri, 10 May 2013 13:32:07 -0500

The final segment of Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield's mission, the return to Earth on Monday evening, will be the most difficult of all. As he plunges into the atmosphere, he will transform from a free floating body to a heavy prisoner of gravity.

Glimmer of hope even as planet hits CO2 climate milestone

Fri, 03 May 2013 12:08:50 -0500

A new record level of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere has been recorded at the Mauna Loa observatory on the island of Hawaii, the world's premier atmospheric monitoring station.

Celebrating 60 years of DNA

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:31:27 -0500

A ceremony at Cambridge University in England this week unveiled a memorial to Dr. Francis Crick, co-discoverer of the structure of the DNA molecule. His co-author, Dr. James Watson, now 85, attended the ceremony for a discovery many consider to be as important as Darwin's theory of evolution and Einstein's theory of relativity.

Crowdsourcing the space program

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 12:52:33 -0500

This weekend, hackers from around the world will gather for the International Space Apps Challenge. It's an opportunity for the public to become involved in the space program, and a chance for NASA to acquire fresh new ideas.

Failure of Radarsat a success for Canada

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 11:56:01 -0500

After almost 18 years in space, Canadian satellite Radarsat-1 has gone silent. But few tears have been shed at the Canadian Space Agency, because the instrument was designed to run for only five years, so it was well past its warranty.

Elusive dark matter still elusive, but Canada is on it

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 13:02:57 -0500

A poorly attended press conference at NASA headquarters this week announced early results from a dark matter experiment on the International Space Station. While the scientists were excited by their findings, the media responded with a shrug, because the results were somewhat incomplete.

Creature comforts matter on the road to space

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 15:45:31 -0500

On any long road trip, taking breaks to deal with bodily functions are an important part of the journey. Well, it's no different on a space trip. The latest crew to head up to the International Space Station took a fast track for much the same reason.

Science and pseudo-science on the ocean floor

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 10:10:30 -0500

When filmmaker James Cameron made a daring solo dive to the deepest part of the ocean last year, he reported that the abyss appeared as a desert, almost devoid of life. But new research by Danish scientists using robots has shown that there is actually more life down there than Cameron saw. Real science sees the world differently than adventure seekers.

Captain Canada (colonel, actually) takes charge of the ISS

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 12:03:05 -0500

When Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield was named new commander of the International Space Station, a rendition of O Canada was included in the ceremony.

It was a symbol that the rest of the world recognizes Canada as a technological leader, while Hadfield fulfilled his ultimate childhood dream.

Spelunking in space

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 12:42:19 -0500

The science fiction image of alien life crawling around on the surface of a strange new world may not be the type of life we first encounter in space. We may have to look inside other worlds to meet our celestial neighbours. A new study of an ice-covered moon of Jupiter has shown a surface covered in salts and minerals, suggesting it might be easier to look for life there than previously thought.