Quirks and Quarks

Some dogs are more adept at learning language than others. Researchers studying these special dogs discovered that, much like toddlers, these smart furry canine companions can pick up words just by eavesdropping on their owners' conversations. PLUS Tracking space debris using seismometers Using nitrogen to boost trees How Mars shapes our climate Extracting ice age mammoth RNA and using lichens to...

We may share a common ancestor with chimpanzees, but somewhere along the evolutionary line to us, our brains took a major detour. New research suggests that chimpanzees can rationally weigh evidence, a trait that used to be thought as uniquely human. PLUS: Why penguin-eating pumas live closer together in Patagonia Ants sacrifice the strength of individual workers for quantity Mapping the land...

An unassuming fossilized slab in the basement of a museum in Brazil turned out to be 110-million-year-old dinosaur vomit, and inside that vomit were the bones of two strange, seagull-sized pterosaurs. PLUS: Loss of fresh groundwater is now the leading driver of sea level rise How doubting your self-doubt makes you doubt less A huge black hole in a peculiar galaxy may date from the universe’s earli...

On this week’s episode of Quirks & Quarks, it's our ever-popular and always satisfying Holiday Listener Question Show that includes:  Why did a Canadian astronaut's eyesight change when she went to space?  How is the dust inside our homes changing?  Why do some professional athletes stick out their tongues when they play? Why are most fruits round, but bananas and pineapple are...

In 2000, Quirks & Quarks celebrated its 25th anniversary by travelling forward in time — to 2025 — to find out how science had changed in the years since. In this fictitious future, our present, Zargon the robot, wakes up a Bob McDonald clone from the year 2000 to speak with scientists about 25 years of science. It's a mindbending audio time-capsule with predictions that were oddly prescient,...

We talk to authors of some of this year’s most fascinating science books in our annual Holiday Book Show. INCLUDING:  Questioning the purpose of whale song — for love or echolocation? Journeying through deep geological time to better tackle problems of the future Biological sex is complicated but that's what helps animals like humans thrive Mini reviews of: The Martians by David Baron, Dinner...

Next stop - the moon! Jeremy Hansen stops by our studio to chat about how he’s prepping to be the first Canadian to go to the moon. Plus: Santa’s reindeer may be losing their antlers –– and climate change could be the culprit Reindeer are the only animal in the deer family where the females also grow antlers, and they typically have a full rack over the wintertime and drop them in June when they g...

Scientists are shedding light on the strange, car-sized, armoured fish that lived 360 million years ago in what is now Cleveland. Plus: The cosmic collider that gave us our moon came from our own solar system, soccer fanatics' brains are wired differently than regular fans, industrial chemicals are hurting our microbiome, and scientists are using our brains to build a better computer.

On this week’s episode: a mini tyrannosaur is a new species, ants redesign to avoid illness, toxic lead gave humans the edge over Neanderthals, invasive fish are evolving to avoid eradication attempts, and how big mining projects — and attempts to hurry them along — can spell bad news for the environment.

This week: bees trained to keep track of time, eating small amounts of plastic can kill ocean animals, scientists spot winds blowing from our black hole, a "one-two punch" earthquake may be coming for the Pacific coast and what “drunken trees” can tell us about our warming climate.

On this week's episode: tracking down a stellar explosion, climate apathy, arctic foxes are key in northern food web, why golf balls lip out of holes and making snake bites less deadly.