Quirks and Quarks

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

  1. 2 DAYS AGO

    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 environment.

    54 min

  2. 21 NOV

    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.

    54 min

  3. 14 NOV

    Making snake bites less deadly, and more…

    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.

    54 min

  4. 7 NOV

    The pros and cons of geoengineering, and more...

    On this week's episode: studying a rare visitor to our solar system, eating saturated fats can mess with our internal clocks, holding hands with our 2 million year old ancestors, woodpeckers drill into trees like hammers, and the pros and cons of geoengineering.

    54 min

  5. 31 OCT

    Sleuthing out scientific fraud, and more...

    On this week's episode: selling sunlight on demand, rhinos roamed Canada’s Arctic 23 million years ago, making a more precise parachute using kirigami, the winner of this year's prestigious Gerhard Herzberg Gold Medal and uncovering widespread scientific fraud.

    54 min

  6. 24 OCT

    Rise of the zombie bugs, and more…

    On this week's spooktacular episode: Wolves are afraid of the big bad human, methane spewing from Montreal’s largest snow dump, screaming babies make us hot to get our attention, baby pterosaurs died in a torrential storm and mind-controlling parasites turn bugs into zombies.

    54 min

  7. 17 OCT

    Moose are hot and bothered, and more...

    Nobel Prize in medicine for a leash on our immune system Our immune system has enormous power to defend us against the wide range of pathogens and invaders that nature sends at us. But it’s a double-edged sword, and can target its powerful weapons against us as well. This year’s Nobel prize in Medicine or Physiology went to a group who discovered a critical mechanism that keeps the immune system in check, under normal circumstances, giving them new insights into the diseases that occur when it goes wrong. Yogurt with a creepy-crawly secret ingredient A team of researchers has duplicated an ancient recipe for yogurt that uses a unique ingredient to initiate fermentation: ants. They added squished ants to fresh milk, buried it in an anthill to incubate it, and enjoyed zesty yogurt soon after. A microbiological analysis showed that the ants contributed a bacteria to the yogurt that is also present in sourdough starter. An ancestor of the largest dinosaurs was a dog-sized biped Researchers have discovered a 230 million year old fossil high in the Andes of Argentina that is the precursor to the giant, long-necked sauropod dinosaurs like the iconic brontosaurus. This animal, however, is a two-legged herbivore that likely weighed less than 20 kilograms. Nobel in physics awarded for laying the groundwork for quantum computing Quantum tunneling is a strange phenomenon in which subatomic particles can pass through apparently impenetrable objects like magic. This year’s Nobel prize in physics was awarded to a team that discovered that this strange quantum phenomena can happen on larger scales too, and how their superconducting circuit also absorbs and emits energy at distinct energy levels, laying the groundwork for quantum computers. Neanderthals systematically rendered fat from animal bones Scientists think that the fragmented bones of at least 172 animals discovered at a Neanderthal site in Germany represent the remains of a large-scale processing site where they extracted nutritious and useful fat. This could be used for a range of things, from skin protection to preserving meat similar to pemmican. Moose are hot. Are they bothered? During the fall rut moose, particularly the males, are very active searching for mates and competing with rivals. This activity generates a large amount of heat, which could be a problem as moose don’t sweat. Scientists are investigating if, in a warmer climate, this might be interfering with their reproductive success.

    55 min

  8. 10 OCT

    Celebrating 50 years of Quirks & Quarks!

    On October 9, 1975, CBC listeners across the country heard David Suzuki introduce the very first episode of Quirks & Quarks. 50 years and thousands of interviews later, Quirks is still going strong, bringing wonders from the world of science to listeners, old and new. On October 7, 2025 we celebrated with an anniversary show in front of a live audience at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario. We had guests from a range of scientific disciplines looking at what we’ve learned in the last 50 years, and hazarding some risky predictions about what the next half century could hold.  Our panelists were: Evan Fraser, Director of Arrell Food Institute and Professor of Geography at the University of Guelph, co-chair of the Canadian Food Policy Advisory Council, a fellow of the Pierre Elliot Trudeau foundation, and a fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. Katie Mack, Hawking Chair in Cosmology and Science Communication at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. Luke Stark, Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Information & Media Studies at Western University in London, Ontario, and a Canadian Institute for Advanced Research Azrieli Global Scholar with the Future Flourishing Program. Laura Tozer, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Toronto and director of the Climate Policy & Action Lab at the Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences at the University of Toronto Scarborough. Ana Luisa Trejos, a professor in the Department Electrical and Computer Engineering and the School of Biomedical Engineering and Canada Research chair in wearable mechatronics at Western University in London, Ontario. Yvonne Bombard, professor at the University of Toronto and scientist and Canada Research Chair at St. Michael’s Hospital, Unity Health Toronto, where she directs the Genomics Health Services Research Program.

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

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