Home | Quirks & Quarks with Bob McDonald | CBC Radio
Latest
Feb 4: Dolphins and fishers work together, Arctic foxes' epic treks and more...
Plus: Neanderthal hunt giant elephants; rubble pile asteroid threat and how particle physics helped us understand what was the matter.
Analysis
With Terence Dickinson's death, we've lost one of Canada's most illustrious sets of eyes on the skies
Dickinson was a prominent popularizer of astronomy, author, magazine editor, and regular contributor to Quirks & Quarks for fifteen years.
Asteroid sample shows just what we might need to deflect a surprise killer impactor
Rubble pile asteroids are extremely shock resistant which may explain how they've stayed together for almost as long as the solar system is old. It also has important implications for how we might deal with one that's heading towards the Earth.
Q&A
A physicist looks at the experiments that gave us the modern picture of matter
In her new book, The Matter of Everything, particle physicist Suzie Sheehy looks at 12 experiments over the last 120 years that allowed us to understand the nature of matter and the subatomic world.
Jan 28: Humans understand ape gestures, wolves eat sea otters, 'Golden Boy' mummy and more…
Polar pre-primate, Black in science update and domestication and taming.
Analysis
Nuclear powered rockets could take us to Mars, but will the public accept them?
Bob McDonald's blog: NASA and DARPA are beginning development of a new fission rocket which will have to get over a high bar of safety. And it won't be our first experience with nuclear power in space.
52 million years ago Canada's Arctic was home to pre-primates, paleontologists say
Primitive primates living on Ellesmere Island didn't have to deal with extreme cold, but would have had to adapt to the 6 months of darkness that falls the Arctic every winter
Black in Science: Have recent years of activism made a difference?
For Black people in science, 2020 was a transformative year. In the context of the Black Lives Matter protests, the year brought a lot of attention to the way systemic racism in science created obstacles for talented researchers. We get an update on what’s different a couple of years later from evolutionary ecologist Dr. Maydianne Andrade.
Jan 21: Fork-headed trilobite, echidnas blow snot bubbles, Perseverance delivery drop-off and more…
Farming fish lose their fertilizer and inoculation against misinformation.
Analysis
Dirty old mines could be a source of clean new energy
Bob McDonald's blog: The town of Springhill, N.S. is a pioneer in tapping into geothermal energy from water heated in underground mines
Ancient sea creature sported a big fork on its head to toss away the competition, study suggests
Researchers have used 3D model reconstructions of a bizarre trilobite — an ancient shelled sea creature — to understand why it grew a trident as long as its whole body on its head.
Jan 14: Exxon's excellent climate science, dolphins drowned out by noise, supersonic but boomless and more...
Climate change and insects, and designing Canada’s lunar rover
Analysis
When 'Earth-like' planets aren't necessarily very much like Earth
NASA announced the discovery of a solar system with rocky planets orbiting in the habitable zone of their star, but there are good reasons to think these planets aren't very much like Earth.
Jan 7: A real viral video, is scientific innovation stagnating, rocks from the Oort cloud and more…
Constipated scorpions, nature and nurture and why we try to cool fevers.
Analysis
Water, water, everywhere — and maybe here's how to make it drinkable
Bob McDonald's blog: Researchers propose a new idea for harvesting fresh water from ocean air, that could be a boon for for arid coastal regions.
Viral video? Watch this microscopic virus try to infect a cell
Scientists developed a new imaging technique that allows them to see the types of movements a virus makes among cells before hijacking one of them.
Dec 31: Our annual holiday question show
On this year's edition of our holiday science question show, we've got answers for your burning science questions like why did Bob's voice change so much? Does more C02 help trees grow? Do insects and reptiles play? And more...
Dec 24: Testing reindeer hearing, a river runs under Antarctica and more
Saving sharks with electricity and cougars and grizzlies return to Manitoba
Analysis
Bob's pick of the most spectacular science stories of 2022
Bob McDonald's blog: Space and climate change dominated science headlines in the past year
How cougars and grizzlies are reintroducing themselves in Manitoba
More than a century ago, settlers in Manitoba eliminated the last populations of cougars and grizzlies in the province. But in recent years rising numbers of sightings have convinced biologists that these top predators are back.
Dec 17: Our annual holiday book show, including the health hazards of space travel and more
A history of COVID-19 and the neuroscience of religion.
Analysis
Why burning plasma could be the next milestone in nuclear fusion research
Bob McDonald's blog: A laser fusion experiment in the U.S. produced more energy out than went into driving it, which is an important step. But practical fusion power will likely come from a different technology and is still many years away.
Q&A
A Canadian astronaut explains the toll space travel takes on the human body
Dave Williams' new book is 'Why am I taller? What Happens to an Astronaut's Body in Space.'
Q&A
A neuroscientist asks: Do we long for a divine creator or do we just want our mommies?
A new theory in The Phantom God proposes a believers sense of God’s presence stems from their infantile love of mother
Q&A
A medical historian looks at the historical echoes of the past in the pandemic of the present
In a new book, medical historian Dr. Jacalyn Duffin looks at how COVID compares to our previous experiences with disease outbreaks. She contrasts those events with how this novel Coronavirus spread around the world, the ways we tried to stop it and lessons to learn for when the next pandemic hits.
