Quirks and Quarks

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 vaccination
• Weather forecasters are less confident in their predictions these days. Here’s why
• What raccoons and other wild brains can teach us about ourselves

Quirks & Quarks has been nominated for a Signal Award! You can vote for us here. 

For more information about today’s episode, visit cbc.ca/quirks.

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 today: 

• Skiing, hiking and roads are taking a toll on wolverines
• The buzzy, chirpy sounds of the Jurassic forest
• A notorious invasive species has been here a lot longer than we thought. Does that matter?
• Anomalies suggest King Tut’s tomb may conceal hidden chambers

Quirks & Quarks has been nominated for a Signal Award! You can vote for us here. 

For more information about today’s episode, visit cbc.ca/quirks. 

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: 

• Massive study redraws bat family tree and uncovers genetic oddities
• How the Surinam toad uses star-shaped fingertip lobes to ‘see’ its prey
• T. rex tooth enamel reveals these dinosaurs were warm-blooded
• Why great white sharks are converging on the East Coast

Quirks & Quarks has been nominated for a Signal Award! You can vote for us here.  

For more information about today’s episode, visit cbc.ca/quirks. 

The El Niño underway in the Pacific Ocean has been called extraordinary, supersized and likely record-breaking. And while El Niño is a natural climate phenomenon, its warming effects are being boosted by climate change. Julia Cole, a paleoclimatologist at the University of Michigan, recently used corals growing around the Galapagos Islands to create a local temperature record of the ocean going back 1,000 years to add to what they've learned from similar studies elsewhere in the Pacific. She said the temperature record in this area of the East Pacific indicates that the El Niños from the last 40 to 50 years are unlike anything the area experienced in the last millennium. Her study was published in the journal Science.

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 undies
• How climate change tipped the scales on a catastrophic Himalayan avalanche
• Why an AI leap has left mathematicians feeling uneasy
• Why scientists put teeny-tiny micro-trackers on chimney swifts

Quirks & Quarks has been nominated for a Signal Award! You can vote for us here.

For more information about today’s episode, visit cbc.ca/quirks. 

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.

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 are robins' eggs blue?
• What if we no longer had a moon?
• Did dinosaurs produce milk?
• Were there ever giant humans?

From doubting our doubts to sleuthing out scientific fraud, this week we revisit some of our favourite stories about humans.

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 Chair in Cosmology and Science Communication at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
• Luke Stark, assistant professor in the faculty of information and media studies at Western University
• Laura Tozer, assistant professor of environmental studies at the University of Toronto
• Ana Luisa Trejos, 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, Ont.
• Yvonne Bombard, professor at the University of Toronto and scientist and Canada Research Chair in Genomics Health Services and Policy

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.