Quirks & Quarkswith Bob McDonald
Latest
June 15 — Should we have humans in space? A Quirks & Quarks public debate
Retired astronaut Chris Hadfield, cosmologist Renée Hložek, planetary scientist Marianne Mader and space flight historian Amy Shira Teitel weigh in on whether we should leave space to the robots.
Bob McDonald's blog
Humans vs robots in space: We need both
To explore space, we need robots to do the early reconnaissance and primary science
WATCH: Quirks & Quarks public debate
Replay of the Quirks & Quarks special live taping
June 8, 2019 — A diet of microplastic, Canada's northern limits, elephants smell numbers and more…
Depression genetics, magnetic therapy for concussion and aurorae on other planets
Bob McDonald's blog
A child's question about climate change
Young people's voices make a difference because the future is theirs
We're consuming a lot of plastic and have no idea of the risks
Plastic is in seafood, salt, sugar, beer, drinking water and the air we breathe
Canada is using science to lay claim to the North Pole
Central to the claim is where a country's extended continental shelf ends, which can only be proved by detailed sub-sea geological work
The elephant's mathematical trunk can smell numbers
Asian elephants can distinguish small differences in quantities of food using smell alone
Depressing conclusion as new study reverses 25 years of research
Genes previously suspected as causing depression turn out to have little impact
Concussion symptoms reversed in mice using magnetic therapy
Magnetic stimulation has shown promise with brain disorders such as depression, anxiety and PTSD in the past, and now scientists have show it can reverse concussion symptoms in mice.
Do aurorae occur on other planets and moons?
Aurorae do not occur on our moon, but they do occur on other planets like Mars and the gas giants.
June 1 — The benefits of video games, composting corpses, brewing ancient beer and more…
Right whales in the wrong place and supernovas and bipedalism
Bob McDonald's blog
New computer model explains faltering jet stream
New model incorporates ozone layer to explain weakening of the jet stream
Video games aren't corrupting young minds — they may be building them
New science suggests that video games are rarely addictive, and they can help with social and intellectual development — and possibly even mental health.
Don't bury or cremate — soon you may compost your corpse
'This soil can then be used to grow new life. Eventually you could be a lemon tree'
Drink like an Egyptian: 5000-year-old yeast is resurrected to brew ancient beer
Researchers brewed five kinds of beer, and report the Philistine brew was best
Right whales were in the wrong place because of the wrong climate
Warming water in their traditional habitat led to a collapse in their favourite prey
Did our ancestors evolve to walk upright because of exploding stars?
Cosmic rays from supernovae might have destroyed forests and forced us up onto two legs
May 25 — Sharks on a bird diet, fossils of fungus, 'lifelike' machines and more…
Giant beaver extinction, the beauty of calculus and oil spill dispersants
Bob McDonald's Blog
Neuroethicists warn of extraordinary claims from 'neurowearables'
The claims of manufacturers are often ahead of the neuroscience
Flying food for fish? Tiger sharks are somehow eating songbirds
Migrating birds who fall into the ocean become fast food for baby tiger sharks
Fungus fossils show the complexity of life a billion years ago
Tiny fossils of fungal spores lived in an ecosystem dominated by bacteria
Scientists create robot-like biomaterial with key traits of life
The DNA-based material can metabolise, self-assemble, and potentially even evolve
Ancient beavers as big as bears died out because of their woodless diet
As the landscape dried up 10,000 years ago this dam-less beaver couldn't create it's own home
No, really, calculus can be beautiful and this mathematician will tell you why
Steven Strogatz wants you to share his enthusiasm for calculus, 'the language of the universe'
