Episodes
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Spooktacular bogs, zombie cells, ghostly stars and more…
The biting dynamics of the world’s deadliest mosquitoes: meet the researcher who rolled up her sleeves and endured more than 1,000 mosquito bites, all to understand how these deadly little creatures bite and guzzle our blood. Also today: Astronomers spot ghostly green star Stubby-legged sled dogs...
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Scientists find anti-aging secrets in a 194-year-old tortoise
DNA samples from the oldest living land animal show how good genes and limited biochemical wear and tear have given a giant tortoise named Jonathan an extended lifespan. The genetic switches that control the genes for DNA repair and metabolism more closely matched his much younger relatives. Also...
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Nobel laureates share their winning science
We talk to two of this year’s newest Nobel Laureates, Dr. Karl Deisseroth and Peter Hegemann, about their discoveries in optogenetics, a technique that has transformed what we know about the brain — all thanks to a light-detecting algal protein. Also today: Gut microbes can encourage fever after...
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How feasting black holes time their burps
Black holes are voracious eaters, but they’re also quite messy, and often after devouring a star, they’ll let out a big burp, launching jets of high energy particles through space. Now, in a recent study, a team of astrophysicists has figured out the formula behind the timing of these burps. Also...
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How corals tell us climate change is supersizing El Niño
The El Niño underway in the Pacific Ocean is a natural climate phenomenon but its warming effects are being boosted by climate change. Researchers recently used corals growing around the Galapagos Islands to create a local temperature record of the ocean going back 1,000 years. Also today…
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A feather found in dino poop and more...
It’s long been a mystery why one particular avian dinosaur was the only kind to survive mass extinction, but the recent discovery of a perfectly preserved fossilized feather, found in a cherry-sized piece of dinosaur poop, offers new clues. Also today: Why citizen scientists buried thousands of...
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Summertime and the science isn’t always easy
Summer is fieldwork time for many scientists. We talk to researchers who have been busy hiking on fresh lava, capturing thousands of ticks, shooing away moose from their study sites, and even spelunking for Neanderthals — all in the ever-important quest for data.
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Sweat, comets and dino milk. It’s our summer question show!
Quirks & Quarks has been taking your burning questions for 50 years. And while we thought we might have answered every question there is, our listeners proved there are always more science questions for us to tackle. Including: What does the black hole orbit? What do you sweat out in a sauna? Why...
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How to battle climate apathy, and more stories about humans
From doubting our doubts to sleuthing out scientific fraud, this week we revisit some of our favourite stories about humans.
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Celebrating 50 years of Quirks & Quarks!
For our 50th anniversary celebration last October, we spoke with some of Canada's top scientists about their predictions for the future. We revisit our conversations with: Evan Fraser, director of Arrell Food Institute and professor of geography at the University of Guelph Katie Mack, Hawking…
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Sensing space junk, and other stellar stories
From filming a black hole to flaming hot water ice on Neptune, we revisit some of our favourite space-related stories from the past season.
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Dust? Tongues? Uranus? It’s our Holiday Question Show!
On this week’s best of Quirks & Quarks, we revisit our annual holiday listener question show, with fascinating queries like: 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...
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Monkeys swallow soil to eat more junk food, and other summery science
From the science of how we sweat to solving golf's greatest mystery, we revisit some of our favourite summery segments from the past season.
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Using ants to make yogurt, and other producer picks
From elephant whiskers to Arctic rhinos and even science programming in prisons, we revisit some of our producers’ favourite stories from this season. Including: One of the world's earliest plant-eaters discovered in Nova Scotia Elephant trunk whiskers increase their sensitivity to better 'feel'...
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Whales, sex and rocks — it's our book show!
We revisit our conversations with authors of some of the year’s most fascinating science books in our annual holiday book show. Featuring: Questioning the purpose of whale song — for love or echolocation? Journeying through deep geological time to better tackle problems of the future Biological…
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Pumas vs. penguins, and other clever carnivores
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...
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Summer Science Spectacular
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…
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Sweat, comets and dino milk. It’s our summer question show!
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...
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Great white sharks in hot water, and more…
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…
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Fossilized squirrel poop full of ancient animals, and more…
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....
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Humans and animals love the same sounds, and more...
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...
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A terrifying T. rex of the sea, and more…
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…
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Listening in on fish grunts, and more…
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…
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How dandelion seeds take flight, and more…
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...
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A CN Tower-sized mega tsunami, and more…
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…
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Cocaine in waterways makes salmon roam further, and more…
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…
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Introducing IDEAS | How a historian found the lost women of science
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...
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Seabird poop does whaaat? And more…
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…
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Why this biologist loves unpopular animals, and more…
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'...
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Moving beyond animal testing, and more…
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...
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What we hope to see on the far side of the moon, and more…
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...
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Dogs have been by our side for 16,000 years, and more...
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...
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A stinky planet full of magma, and more...
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...
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Bonobo females bully the boys, and more…
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...
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Filming a black hole in action, and more…
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...
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How starfish move their tiny tube feet, and more…
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...
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How living on Mars could change humans, and more…
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,...
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The sensitive secrets of elephant whiskers, and more…
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…
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Belugas swap mates for survival, and more…
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...
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Polar bears are thriving in Svalbard, and more...
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...
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'Gifted' dogs learn from eavesdropping, and more...
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...
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The reason chimps can reason, and more…
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...
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New dino species in another dino's vomit, and more
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...
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Dust? Tongues? Uranus? It’s our Holiday Question Show!
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...
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Predictions about science in 2025, recorded 25 years ago
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...
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Whales, sex, and rocks — it's our holiday book show!
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...
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How Jeremy Hansen is prepping for the moon, and more…
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...
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Cleveland’s ancient car-sized sea monster had bony fangs, and more…
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…
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The environmental costs of nation-building, and more…
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...
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The mystery of the drunken trees, and more…
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.