Quirks & Quarkswith Bob McDonald
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It's critical to detect life on Mars before humans set foot on the red planet
Bob McDonald's blog: how we can avoid accidental microbiological 'wars of the worlds'
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Getting to Mars is a shooting gallery where all targets are moving
Bob McDonald's blog: Given the precision that's required, it's no wonder roughly half of Mars missions fail.
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Scientists develop transparent wood that is stronger and lighter than glass
Bob McDonald's blog: A simple backyard procedure results in see-through wood with enormous potential as a building material.
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The latest self-portrait in a gallery of Earth photos taken from space
Bob McDonald's blog: The Solar Orbiter captured images of Earth, Venus and Mars together in a single frame
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It's no yolk — egghead experiment simulates concussion
Bob McDonald's blog: Researchers discovered it was the sudden stopping of rotational forces that could do the most damage
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Robotic dogs and fish could help explore deeper into other worlds
Bob McDonald's blog: Robotic animals could boldly go where wheeled rovers can't
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Apollo landing sites now protected by U.S. law, but what about the flags?
Bob McDonald's blog: Fading flags open the question of how to preserve the legacy of the landings.
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COVID-19 in 2020 showed science and society in action
Bob McDonald's blog: The pandemic gave rise to unprecedented global scientific cooperation to combat the greatest health threat of our lives. Here's a look back at how it all unfolded.
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An encounter with the real stuff
Bob McDonald's blog: Meeting the test pilot legend Chuck Yeager, who died this week.
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New 3D map of the Milky Way continues a quest that began in Canada
Bob McDonald's blog: The map includes data from more than 1.8 billion stars
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Chinese sample return mission to the moon harkens back to 1960s lunar race
Bob McDonald's blog: Robot mission will return first moon rocks since 1976
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Famous Arecibo telescope was the first to send a signal to alien civilizations
Bob McDonald's blog: Damage to historic instrument means it will be dismantled
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Would hyperloop transportation technology work in Canada?
Bob McDonald's blog: Travelling by hyperloop could theoretically get you from Toronto to Montreal in 1 hour, or Edmonton to Calgary in 30 minutes
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20 years of living in space: What's next for the ISS?
Bob McDonald's blog: It's going to come down eventually, so how? And what might replace it?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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Airbus aims to produce zero emission airliners by 2035
Bob McDonald's blog: the airline manufacturer is betting on hydrogen fuel to reach carbon targets
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Preventing the loss of Arctic ice by spraying it with glass
Bob McDonald's blog: engineers want to make Arctic ice more reflective by coating it with glass. But it's a temporary solution that could, at best, just buy us more time.
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66 Million years of climate history give present day perspective
Bob McDonald's blog: We're in the midst of an unprecedented rate of climate change
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A summer of seeing and tasting climate change
Bob McDonald's blog: Bob's summer adventures included witnessing the results of global warming
Missions to Mars, meteors and astronauts: A summer of space science
Bob McDonald's blog: We may not be travelling much this summer, but there's lots going on above us
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There may be 36 other intelligent civilizations in the galaxy, but odds of communicating with them are small
Bob McDonald's blog: Researchers calculate the nearest is probably 17,000 light years away
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Science strike for Black Lives Matter
Bob McDonald's blog: shutting down research for a day to focus on how to eliminate anti-Black racism