Quirks & Quarkswith Bob McDonald
Latest
Oct 31: Wasps make cockroaches into zombies, water on the moon, how remoras surf whales and more…
What Spirit bears do when we aren’t watching, and why hope matters in our environmental crisis and a continental question.
Analysis
Halloween costs more than the Canadian space program
Bob McDonald's blog: Canada's contributions in space benefit science, technology and the development of true superheroes.
Forget fake vampires and ghouls; here's a real life zombie story from nature
The emerald jewel wasp turns the American cockroach into a zombie so it can be manipulated into providing a living meal for its larvae
The moon's a wetter place than we thought, and that could be critical for exploration
Two new studies reveal potential water in permanent shadows and in minerals
How remora 'sucker fish' use physics to surf on their whale hosts
Researchers discover how remoras are able to stay close to their host without being blown off by fast flowing water.
What well-watched wildlife does when humans aren't around
Researchers are using COVID-19 lockdowns to study how ecotourism changes bear behaviour in the Great Bear Rainforest.
An argument for 'evidence-based hope' to help fight the environmental crisi
In a new book Elin Kelsey calls for more attention to our successes in preserving the environment, which will help motivate people to do more.
How have supercontinents affected the Earth's rotation?
Did Pangea cause the world to wobble
Oct 24: Ironclad beetle's uncrushable shell, extinction made us upright and warm blooded and more…
‘Forever chemicals’ contaminate all of Canada, and a vet takes on great apes
Analysis
Keeping buildings cool with colour
Bob McDonald's blog: Paint that can actually cool buildings, and tinted windows that generate solar power could be important innovations in reducing energy used by buildings.
The diabolical ironclad beetle's super-tough shell can even resist being run over by a car
Researchers used advanced imaging to look at the microstructure of the beetle's exoskeleton to understand how it works.
Birds and mammals got an evolutionary edge by getting their legs under them
Evolving warm-bloodedness and an upright posture after a massive extinction event allowed the ancestors of mammals and birds to survive — and thrive, said paleontologist Mike Benton.
How 'forever chemicals' have come to contaminate even the most remote parts of Canada
Toxic PFAS chemicals travel the world by water and air from contaminated locations, but they can concentrate in the north.
How a Canadian vet took on the challenge of saving the world's great apes
Training African vets how to treat injuries to gorilla eyes was the start of a conservation mission
Oct 17: Coronavirus and pain, sampling an asteroid, intersex moles and more …
Wildfires and CO2, Angry Weather and how much oxygen do trees produce?
Analysis
Canada just signed a new moon pact — is it a good idea?
Bob McDonald's blog: The Artemis Accords outline new rules for exploring and exploiting the moon, but they're for the U.S. and selected allies, not a multilateral UN agreement.
The coronavirus could be messing with your pain perception — and that could help it spread
A Canadian researcher has found that the virus that causes COVID-19 can hijack a pain receptor on our cells, using it to get into the cell, but also blocking its ability to signal pain.
A NASA probe with Canadian content will touch an asteroid next week
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will touch down on the near-Earth asteroid Bennu next week and collect samples that may provide clues to the origin of life on Earth.
Which forest fires spew out the most CO2? It's the soil that matters, not the trees
New study finds that carbon emissions from boreal wildfires are largely coming from fuel available underground.
Female moles are intersex — they have testicle-like tissue that helps them grow big and tough
In a new study, geneticists looked at how female moles evolved intersexual traits in order to dig and fight like the males.
Angry Weather: the science of blaming droughts, hurricanes and wildfires on climate change
'Attribution science' can put a figure on how much climate change is to blame for extreme weather events
Which trees provide the most oxygen over the course of a year, deciduous or evergreen?
Deciduous and evergreen trees can produce similar amounts of oxygen each year, as long as they also have a similar total leaf area.
Oct 10: A Nobel for CRISPR, awakening with a sleeping pill and more…
Sea turtle egg decoys thwart thieves and the toxic threat of forever chemicals
Analysis
Seeing the 'old Mars' in a close encounter with the Red Planet
Bob McDonald's blog: the view of Mars from Earth hasn't been this good since 2018
Q&A
CRISPR pioneer Jennifer Doudna reflects on Nobel win, calls for 'responsible use' of gene editing technology
French microbiologist Emmanuelle Charpentier and American biochemist Jennifer Doudna won this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry, marking the first time an all-female team has won any science Nobel.
