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The Question Show

For your holiday pleasure we offer another episode of our award-winning Quirks & Quarks question show. We've scoured the country to find the people who can answer questions submitted by you, our listeners. So prepare to have your curiosity quenched!

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• Question: While transporting garbage from our island to the mainland, there are always ants that make the trip with us. Can they join an existing ant colony and make new friends, or are they done like dinner?
  Answer from Dr. Chris Buddle, Associate Professor of Forest Insect Ecology at McGill University.


• Question: How does drinking cranberry juice successfully combat a urinary tract infection?
  Answer from Dr. Cynthia Mannion, Assistant Professor in the Faulty of Nursing at the University of Calgary.


• Question: We know that the Big Bang created four of the hundred-odd elements in the Universe and the stars created the rest. Will new generations of stars or other cosmic events create new elements in the future?
  Answer from Dr. Jaymie Matthews, Professor of Astronomy & Astrophysics at the University of British Columbia.


• Question: Do Sea Mammals require fresh water to survive? And if so, then where do they find it?
  Answer from Dr. Sara Iverson, Professor of Biology at Dalhousie University.

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• Question: Suppose the new Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland could actually create a tiny black hole, what would happen to that black hole? Would it head off in its own direction or stick around and eventually suck up the entire Earth?
  Answer from Dr. Don Page, Professor of Physics at the University of Alberta.


• Question: Why do humans shed tears when we are happy or sad?
  Answer from Dr. Marva Sweeney-Nixon, Associate Professor in Biology at the University of Prince Edward Island.


• Question: Why do worms surface when it rains?
  Answer from Dr. John Reynolds, Director of the Oligochaetology Lab in Kitchener, Ontario.


• Question: Why is the solar system flat?
  Answer from Dr. Christine Wilson, Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at McMaster University.

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• Question: What are floaters - those blobs and tendrils you often see floating in front of you when you close your eyes? And how can we see them when they are inside our line of vision?
  Answer from Dr. Michael York, Optometrist in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.


• Question: Given a reasonable level of fitness, which is more efficient: climbing the stairs one at a time or two at a time?
  Answer from Dr. David Behm, Professor in the School of Human Kinetics and Recreation at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Theme music bed copyright Raphaël Gluckstein. Creative Commons License by-nc-nd-2.0