Quirks and Quarks

CBC Discover & Learn
  • 4.7 (310)
  • EARTH SCIENCES
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

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. 3D AGO

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

    54 min

  2. JAN 2

    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 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 and many more!

    54 min

  3. 12/25/2025

    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 years of science. It's a mindbending audio time-capsule with predictions that were oddly prescient, sometimes unsettling or wildly wrong.

    54 min

  4. 12/19/2025

    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 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.

    54 min

  5. 12/12/2025

    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 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 Newfoundland, when she made a surprising discovery that female reindeer are losing and growing their antlers much earlier than usual. This can put more stress on the animal during a crucial part of their pregnancy, and the researchers think this could eventually lead to the reindeer losing their antlers altogether. The work was published in the journal Ecosphere. Pterosaur brains reveal clues about why these mighty fliers took to the skies Flight has only evolved among vertebrates three times — in bats, birds, and first in pterosaurs. How pterosaurs first took to the skies was always a mystery to scientists, until the discovery of a fossilized 230-million year old pterosaur relative in Brazil. An international team, including Ohio University professor Lawrence Witmer, used an MRI for detailed analysis of the fossilized skull, to pinpoint the miniscule brain changes that happened as the animal developed the capacity to fly. The research was published in the journal Current Biology. Scientists are using AI to find life in 3 billion year old rocks Earth’s earliest signs of life are often incredibly difficult to detect. An international team of researchers have developed a new tool that uses AI to find “whispers” of life locked inside ancient rocks. Using this tool, the researchers, including astrobiologist Michael Wong from Carnegie Science, were able to detect fresh chemical evidence of life in rocks that are 3.3 billion years old. This tool can not only be used to explore the origins of life here on Earth, but also on Mars and other planetary bodies. The work was published in the journal PNAS.

    54 min

  6. 12/05/2025

    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 are hurting our microbiome, and scientists are using our brains to build a better computer.

    54 min

  7. 11/28/2025

    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

  8. 11/21/2025

    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
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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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