Quirks and Quarks

From tiny T. rexes to a car-sized sea monster, we revisit some of our favourite stories about predators in their prime, like: Smaller tyrannosaur solves decades-long debate about the T. rex Among Yellowstone’s top predators, wolves beat out cougars as the top dog Bears with us. Tracking grizzlies in B.C. Cleveland’s ancient car-sized sea monster had bony fangs made out of its skull Wild wolves run...

From camping out on 'bird poop island,' chasing down wild dogs in Madagascar, or even looking for bombs in a bog in Ottawa –– no one quite does summer like scientists. This week, we revisit some of the hijinks that Canadian researchers got up to last year as they left their labs to get their hands dirty in the field. FEATURING: Camping out on a remote island with thousands of screaming, pooping, b...

Quirks & Quarks has been taking your burning science questions for half a century. And while we thought we might have answered every question there is to answer over the years, our listeners proved there are always more fascinating head-scratchers for us to tackle. Like: Are comets eternal? In a sauna, what am I sweating out? Did dinosaurs produce milk? If heat rises, why is there snow on the...

Some of the oceans biggest, most powerful predators, like certain sharks and tuna, are “mesothermic” or warm-bodied. Running hot allows them to rapidly convert their food to energy and heat, helping them swim faster and hunt in cold waters. But that advantage may become a disadvantage in a warming climate, meaning these fish need to find new ways of cooling off, or face a new threat to their survi...

Gold miners working in the Yukon regularly find ancient ground squirrel burrows throughout the permafrost, many containing fossilized feces. Researchers analyzing these well-preserved poop piles found they contain some of the oldest DNA ever recovered, dating from 30,000 to 700,000 years ago. Tucked inside were traces of a wide range of ancient animals, including woolly mammoths, grasshoppers, ste...

150 years ago, Charles Darwin noticed that birds and humans were both drawn to bright plumage and elaborate display. He called this interspecies esthetic appreciation a “shared taste for the beautiful.” Now, in a recent study, an interdisciplinary team of scientists built an online game exploring the mating calls of 16 different species and discovered, to their surprise, that humans and animals ag...

The newly described Tylosaurus rex was a violent bus-sized Komodo dragon-like creature with serrated teeth. Dubbed the ‘T. rex of the sea,’ it would have occupied the top of the food chain in the marine ecosystem over 80 million years ago. PLUS: Pigeons use their livers to find their way home From the archives: How Jocelyn Bell Burnell discovered pulsars  Scientists discover an underground ne...

Scientists recorded audio and video of 8 different kinds of rockfish living in the wild near British Columbia, and were surprised they could tell the species apart through their various grunts, pops and knocks, even though the fish are closely related. PLUS: DNA identifies four Franklin Expedition sailors — and solves a 160-year-old mystery Immune cells that fight infection get a boost from food&n...

In a study inspired by a field of dandelions, researchers wanted to know why, when you blow on a dandelion seed head, only the seeds closest to you take flight. They found that a dimple in the seed heads where the seed attaches is larger on one side than the other, and that the seeds consistently broke off from the smaller side of that dimple. Once they take flight, each dandelion seed uses its un...

On the morning of August 10, 2025, a landslide in a fjord along the southern Alaskan coast triggered a mega tsunami. It generated the second highest wave ever recorded that reached up to 481 metres above sea level. A new study suggests that catastrophic events like this are more likely to occur as our climate warms and glaciers melt. PLUS: The hantavirus at the centre of the outbreak struck Argent...

Cocaine and many other chemicals and drugs are found in many waterways, but especially around wastewater treatment plants. Scientists exposed wild juvenile Atlantic salmon to cocaine and its byproduct to see how it impacted their behaviour in the wild. As a result, the fish swam twice as far, which could put them in more danger.

IDEAS, hosted by Nahlah Ayed is a weekday podcast that explores how ideas shape our world. “One of your tribe is enough.” That’s what Margaret Rossiter was told when she said she wanted to study female scientists in the ‘70s. Nevertheless, Rossiter persisted. She found and documented hundreds of women whose contributions to science had been overlooked, under-credited and misappropriated. Then she...

Seabird poop plays a surprising role in bringing life to barren islands, spreading nutrients throughout the ocean, and even creating wealth for an ancient human empire. PLUS: The precursors of written language go back a lot earlier than we thought Dolphins exposed to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill also more likely to be hit by boats From the archives: Canadian astronomer spots a supernova visible...

We tend to think of animals like snakes, rats and even cockroaches as pests, but in her new book, biologist Marlene Zuk says there's a lot we can learn from these less than desirable creatures, if we just give them a chance. PLUS: A case of mistaken identity: The truth about the world's 'oldest' octopus fossil From the archives: Carl Sagan on the worlds beyond our solar system The evolutionary cos...

There's been a growing movement to develop new technologies to replace at least some of the animals used in scientific research. Researchers across Canada are working to create these tools, to usher in a new animal-free era for medical science. PLUS: Harbor seals can 'talk' thanks to their parrot-like brains 'Flaming hot' water ice may explain Neptune and Uranus' strange magnetism A thigh bone tha...

On their mission around the moon, Jeremy Hansen and his crewmates will become the only four people on Earth to ever lay eyes on the entire far side of the moon. Since joining the space program, the Artemis astronauts have been undergoing intensive geological training to help train their eyes to look for lunar features that satellites can't pick up.  PLUS: How Neanderthals skillfully hunted an...

New research confirms that dogs were the first animal to form a domestic relationship with humans, dating back to the end of the last Ice Age almost 16,000 years ago. PLUS: Constructing shelters out of Martian soil may be possible with bacterial help Male-on-male cricket 'twerking' and 'booty bumping' is not a case of mistaken identity Narrowing down potential alien signals from 12 billion to 100,...

An unusual hellscape of a planet found 34 light years from Earth has a deep ocean of molten magma surrounded by noxious, hot, rotten egg-type fumes. It just may be the most uninhabitable alien landscape we've ever come across. PLUS: Neanderthal DNA can help explain how human faces form Nearly indestructible teeny tiny tardigrades struggle to survive in Martian dirt Tiny tags on monarch butterflies...

We used to think that of our primate relatives, chimps were the more aggressive ape and bonobos were more peaceful. A recent study found that bonobos are just as antagonistic as chimps, but it's the females targeting males. PLUS: Mission to deflect an asteroid was a smashing success Low gravity environments can lead to stronger blood clots in astronauts From fire to galaxy formation, a celebration...

You may have seen Black Hole, the image, but have you heard of the upcoming Black Hole, The Movie? This week, astronomers launched a new campaign to capture video footage of the supermassive black hole pulsing at the heart of the M87 galaxy. PLUS: Sunlight and fungi inspiration can help recycle plastic waste into vinegar Ancient kangaroos were hopping giants How monogamy helps termite colonies num...

Starfish don't have brains, and yet they're able to mobilize hundreds of tiny hydraulic tube feet to get around. Now scientists are getting an understanding of just how they do that. PLUS: Atmospheric pollution from an individual rocket re-entry event measured for the first time How the Earth’s greenhouse age transitioned into a world with frozen poles What is dark matter? The contenders — from WI...

From the pressurized space suits to living in underground spaces, it's clear that living on Mars would cause irreversible biological changes to any humans living there, to the point that it may be impossible for them or their descendants to return to Earth. With bigger heads and lighter bodies, might we also end up looking like Martians? PLUS: Yellowstone’s predators battle it out, and wolves rema...

An elephant’s trunk is incredibly strong and rugged, and yet it is one of the most sensitive touch organs in the animal kingdom. New research reveals that this sensitivity is partly powered by over 1000 whiskers. PLUS: A new 'inside out' solar system is making astronomers question planet formation Paleo-Inuit people in the high Arctic were masterful seafarers, new study shows Two-month-old babies...

Researchers made the surprising discovery that Alaska beluga whales have swinging sex lives — and that could be their key to survival in the warming Arctic. Plus: mission to the 'doomsday' Thwaites glacier in Antarctica ends in disappointment near-infrared light therapy offers hope to football players with brain injuries with nuclear power making a comeback, what's changed since the last Atomic Ag...

Scientists spent nearly 25 years studying close to 800 polar bears in the Barents Sea region and discovered that those polar bears seem to be doing just fine, even though melting sea ice is also a major issue. PLUS: Sargassum seaweed is becoming such a problem, you can see it from space Why some people only get mild sniffles with a cold and others get sick A woolly rhino's DNA found in an ancient...