Quirks & Quarkswith Bob McDonald
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April 13, 2019 — Black hole imaged, a new tiny human, rebuilding coral reefs and more…
Treating depression with ketamine, flipper fornicates for fun and why cats purr
Bob McDonald's blog
How Canadian astronomy made the black hole photo possible
Canada pioneered the radio telescope integration used in the Event Horizon Telescope
We have the 1st photo of a black hole. Here's how it was taken
Canadian physicist Avery Broderick, who helped photograph the black hole, explains how it was done.
A new tiny hominin discovery gives the 'hobbit' a distant cousin
Discovered in the Philippines, this new human relative changes our picture of 'out of Africa'
Collapsing coral reefs — can we rebuild them?
'If we don't engage in active restoration, we will lose coral reefs completely'
Ketamine works its magic on depression by 'stabilizing the brain in a well state'
The drug helps restore synaptic connections eroded by stress
Female dolphins may know the joy of sex, thanks to a human-like clitoris
Dolphins are known to mate outside of their reproductive period, possibly for pleasure
How and why do cats purr?
Purring is like a hug for cats — it can signal pleasure and sooth anxiety
Apr 6, 2019 —The day the dinosaurs died, Soviet race to the moon, tasmanian devils fight off cancer and more …
Roadside testing for cannabis impairment, and Arctic landslides
Bob McDonald's blog
Scientists plan to freeze ship in Arctic ice to understand melt
Disappearing ice is like a receding hairline for the planet. Canada's Arctic is going bald.
A catastrophe frozen in time — a new fossil site shows how the dinosaurs died
Incredible site has animals buried alive amid debris from the asteroid impact
The race to the moon — what the Russians were doing behind the Iron Curtain
While Apollo was working towards a moon landing, the Russians were still in the space race
Tasmanian Devils are learning to live with the cancer that was pushing them to extinction
Researchers have found changes in the devil's genome and behaviour in recent years that indicate they might be able to coexist with the cancer.
Roadside THC tests do not test for impairment. How can science help?
Unlike alcohol, THC levels can't accurately predict whether you're too high to drive
Permafrost landslides are eating great swathes of Arctic landscape
Sixty square kilometres of land has turned to muck on Banks Island
March 30 — Erasing memories, biggest T-Rex and the smell of Parkinson's and more …
Saturn’s tiny ring moons, Google glass helps autistic kids and a supervolcano eruption
Bob McDonald's blog
High technology helps kids cope with autism
Augmented and virtual reality tools can help children with autism better recognize emotions and deal with phobias.
How to remember to forget — the new science of erasing memories
Memory is much more fluid and flexible than we'd ever thought, and scientists may be able to apply that knowledge to weaken traumatic memories
Big, old and banged-up — Canada is home to the world's largest Tyrannosaurus Rex
A dinosaur discovered more than two and a half decades ago has finally been extracted from the rock it was buried in, so that paleontologists could see how big it was in life.
A woman who can smell Parkinson's disease could hold the key to early diagnosis
The chemicals she's detecting could be biomarkers that could reveal early onset of the disease
Meet the odd little moons that interact with Saturn's spectacular rings
The last orbits of NASA's Cassini spacecraft got up close with 5 unusual moons within or just outside Saturn's main rings
Google glasses could help kids with autism read emotional cues in people's faces
The kids named them 'Superpower Glasses' because they say that's what it feels like when they wear them
What would happen if the Yellowstone supervolcano exploded?
Vast amounts of ash and massive climate disruption would be a global disaster
Mar 23 - Shopping for souvenirs on an asteroid, new Cambrian explosion fossils, the gut-brain axis and more...
Why we can say ‘f’ words, green icebergs from Antarctica and the length of a dream
Bob McDonald's blog
Cobbling together planets one piece at a time
Scientists studying asteroids look at the leftovers from planetary formation
