Quirks and Quarks

COVID ‘fuse’ may have been lit weeks or months before the Wuhan market ‘bomb’; Nature's sounds improve well-being — reducing stress and even pain; Researchers use 'mini-brains' to find out why ours grow so large; A theoretical cosmologist explores the right to wonder upon the night sky; How do you explain the changing hair colour pattern of a tabby cat?

Ice cores drilled for missile silo research reveals when Greenland was last green; Grizzly Tinder: Bears rubbing up against trees may be their dating calling card; Microgravity on a trip to Mars might leave astronauts emotionally impaired; Listening in on fin whale calls to do seismic sensing of the ocean floor; COVID vaccines were made in record time. Meet a scientist who made that possible; Why do gasoline fumes cast a shadow on a cold, sunny day?

Earthquake science takes great strides in the 10 years since massive quake hit Japan; Ant-i-social distancing: Ants know how isolation prevents the spread of infection; Sea otters have been saving Pacific kelp forests from rapacious sea urchins; As big as a hippo, but speedy like a cheetah: meet the intimidating Anteosaurus; Is autism the legacy of humans evolving the ability to innovate?

COVID gave climate scientists a natural experiment. Here’s what they learned; Flexing memory muscles like the pros can build long term memories; Do you feel lucky? Chance likely played a major role in life persisting on Earth; Frogs have noise cancelling lungs so females can hear males over the swampy din; Dispatches from the dreamworld: establishing two-way communication with lucid dreamers; If hot air rises, why is it cold at the top of mountains?

This week’s special edition of CBC Radio’s Quirks & Quarks looks at the history and future of Black people in science.

We delve into the history of biased and false “race science” that for hundreds of years was used to justify slavery, exploitation and exclusion.

This has left a terrible legacy in systemic racism that in the past and present has, on one hand, led to misunderstanding and mistreatment of Black people by the scientific and medical community, and on the other has created obstacles for talented Black researchers that prevented them from fully participating in the scientific process.

We also talk to Black researchers about how they’re working to increase recognition for the contributions of Black scientists, and use that profile to build more opportunities and representation across all disciplines of science.

Along the way we identify and honour historical Black scientists who overcame the obstacles to make significant but often unrecognized contributions to science.

Meet the Canadian engineer who will help guide NASA’s new rover on Mars; Butterfly males leave a stinky parting gift with mates that deters further suitors; Biologists can tell how some corals survive climate-related coral bleaching events; Quick decisions might not be easy ones as ‘choice overload’ leads to stress; Monkeys are 'naturally selecting' themselves for domestic cooperation and tranquility; Why don’t animals get sick from filthy, drying-up water holes in Africa?

Treating COVID-19 one year in: what have we learned?; Me, myself and I: Little words might signal a breakup is coming, long before you know it; What’s feeding the algae growing on — and helping to melt — Greenland’s ice?; Faster, higher, stronger — bats reach Olympian heights and record speeds; Amateur astronomers use the ‘mark one eyeball’ to find brown dwarf stars; If fish don’t experience gravity, can astronauts learn from them to stay in shape?

Prominent climatologist behind ‘hockey stick’ graph talks about the ‘New Climate War’; Australian monitor lizards build underground condos used by dozens of other species; Phases of the moon could be playing with your bedtime without you knowing it; Naked mole rats learn their 'language' from their queens and speak in dialect; Scientists find male praying mantises taking a stand against cannibal females; Why aren’t astronauts affected by gravity or centrifugal force in the space station?

Pandemic boredom research is thrilling and — and might even be helpful; A dinosaur's 'butthole' was a swiss-army-knife of orifices; Building Earth's largest telescope on the far side of the moon; Mussels play a 'shell game' to deal with increasingly corrosive ocean waters; Cancer cells 'hibernate' to hide from chemotherapy.

Fourteen year-old Tai Poole returns with Season 3 of Tai Asks Why to ask: What’s happening in my teen brain? How is the Universe going to end? Why do humans dance? And how much screen time is too much? Join Tai as he boldly goes where no 9th-grader has gone before to find you answers you never knew you needed. His conversations with everyone from NASA experts, to physicists and dancers, to his little brother Kien will expand your mind, no matter how old you are! More episodes are available at http://hyperurl.co/taiaskswhy