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PODCAST

Quirks and Quarks

CBC Radio"s Quirks and Quarks covers the quirks of the expanding universe to the quarks within a single atom... and everything in between.

science earth sciences

All Episodes

00:54:09

Moving beyond animal testing, and more…

Quirks and Quarks ·

2026/04/10

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 magnetismA thigh bone that could represent the oldest evidence of our human lineageThe ravens of Yellowstone remember where wolves

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00:54:09

What we hope to see on the far side of the moon, and...

Quirks and Quarks ·

2026/04/03

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 and butchered a giant elephantFilming fish over their lifetime reveals behaviours that lead to longevityHow our

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00:54:09

Dogs have been by our side for 16,000 years, and more...

Quirks and Quarks ·

2026/03/27

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 helpMale-on-male cricket 'twerking' and 'booty bumping' is not a case of mistaken identityNarrowing down potential alien signals from 12 billion to 100, thanks to SETIResearchers find a brain switch in mice to turn a deadbeat dad into a doting one

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00:54:09

A stinky planet full of magma, and more...

Quirks and Quarks ·

2026/03/20

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 formNearly indestructible teeny tiny tardigrades struggle to survive in Martian dirtTiny tags on monarch butterflies allow scientists to track their exact migration routeA weird fish has a big hole in its head. Scientists

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00:54:09

Bonobo females bully the boys, and more…

Quirks and Quarks ·

2026/03/13

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 successLow gravity environments can lead to stronger blood clots in astronautsFrom fire to galaxy formation, a celebration of friction as a fundamental forceWinter spiders survive subzero temperatures with a potent antifreeze

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00:54:09

Filming a black hole in action, and more…

Quirks and Quarks ·

2026/03/06

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 vinegarAncient kangaroos were hopping giantsHow monogamy helps termite colonies number in the millionsOur infant universe's primordial soup was soupy, according to new study

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00:54:07

How starfish move their tiny tube feet, and more…

Quirks and Quarks ·

2026/02/27

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 timeHow the Earth’s greenhouse age transitioned into a world with frozen polesWhat is dark matter? The contenders — from WIMPs to dark matter starsQuirks Question: why doesn’t flowing water freeze at the same temperature as still

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00:54:09

How living on Mars could change humans, and more…

Quirks and Quarks ·

2026/02/20

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 remain top dogfossil of the earliest veggie-eater found in Nova ScotiaCovid is disappearing in animals, which

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00:54:09

The sensitive secrets of elephant whiskers, and more…

Quirks and Quarks ·

2026/02/13

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 formationPaleo-Inuit people in the high Arctic were masterful seafarers, new study showsTwo-month-old babies can categorize objects in their brainHow insects deal with smog or microplastics can impact them and the

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00:54:09

Belugas swap mates for survival, and more…

Quirks and Quarks ·

2026/02/06

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 Age?

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00:54:09

Polar bears are thriving in Svalbard, and more...

Quirks and Quarks ·

2026/01/30

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 spaceWhy some people only get mild sniffles with a cold and others get sickA woolly rhino's DNA found in an ancient wolf’s stomach reveals their quick demiseHow to change a memory — one scientist's quest to understand memory

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00:54:09

'Gifted' dogs learn from eavesdropping, and more...

Quirks and Quarks ·

2026/01/23

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.PLUSTracking space debris using seismometersUsing nitrogen to boost treesHow Mars shapes our climateExtracting ice age mammoth RNA and using lichens to find dino bones

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00:54:09

The reason chimps can reason, and more…

Quirks and Quarks ·

2026/01/16

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 PatagoniaAnts sacrifice the strength of individual workers for quantityMapping the landmass beneath Antarctica's massive ice sheetHow deep sea ocean environments affect fish body shape

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00:54:09

New dinosaur species identified in fossilized dino...

Quirks and Quarks ·

2026/01/09

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 riseHow doubting your self-doubt makes you doubt lessA huge black hole in a peculiar galaxy may date from the universe’s earliest momentsShining a light on where viruses hide out in our bodies, and how they make us sick

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00:54:09

Dust? Tongues? Uranus? It’s our Holiday Question Show!

Quirks and Quarks ·

2026/01/02

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 not?What would have happened if the dino-killing asteroid never struck Earth?We'll satisfy all these scientific curiosities

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00:54:09

A 25-year-old time capsule with science predictions...

Quirks and Quarks ·

2025/12/25

Twenty-five years ago, Quirks & Quarks celebrated their 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, sometimes unsettling or wildly wrong.

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00:54:09

Whales, sex, and rocks — it's our holiday book show!

Quirks and Quarks ·

2025/12/19

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 futureBiological sex is complicated but that's what helps animals like humans thriveMini reviews of: The Martians by David Baron, Dinner With King Tut by Sam Kean and The Mind Electric by Pria Anand.

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00:54:09

How Jeremy Hansen is prepping for the moon, and more…

Quirks and Quarks ·

2025/12/12

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 culpritReindeer 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 give birth. University of Guelph PhD student Allegra Love was monitoring reindeer on Fogo Island in

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00:54:09

Cleveland’s ancient car-sized sea monster had bony...

Quirks and Quarks ·

2025/12/05

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.

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00:54:09

The environmental costs of nation-building, and more…

Quirks and Quarks ·

2025/11/28

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.

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