We're on our summer break, so no new podcasts before our new season starts Sep 10. Check out our website at cbc.ca/quirks to listen to previous episodes.

We end our season with our ever-popular, always fascinating listener question show. In this show we'll answer listener questions like:

Why humans don't have a tail - even though we have a tailbone?

What would happen to your body if you were to die in space?

Why the immune system doesn't permanently get rid of herpes viruses?

Why the Earth hasn't cooled through 4 billion years of floating in frigid space?

Why we can't remember our early years of life?

Why mammal poop is brown while bird poop is white?

And much, much more.

The Black Death was history’s most lethal plague. Now we know where it started; When we first kept chickens it was likely because they were pretty, not tasty; Fossil tusks tell the life story of a mastodon that died by violence; Elephant seals feel their way to prey using whiskers in the deep, dark ocean; How do birds smell? A new book says very well, and sometimes very good.

Astronomers make the music of the cosmos, by turning data into sound; Evidence suggests that humans omletted Australian Thunderbirds to extinction; New Hubble image proves there’s life in the old space telescope; Why removing invasive species can help ecosystems battle climate change; A paleontologist reconstructs what Earth sounded like through its long history.

Why wild baby parrots babble like human babies; A mysterious stone found in the Egyptian desert is made of supernova stuff; Buzzing bats mimic hornets to deter predatory owls; Scallops will ‘go into the light’; A Canadian researcher makes the case for admiring the mighty mushroom.

This salamander is an unlikely but agile, aerial amphibian; Headbutting animals can accumulate brain damage; We can use the cables that carry the internet as environmental sensors; Plants that can survive extreme conditions could help us engineer more resilient crops; What we lose as we lose most of the world’s sharks; How do marine mammals surface to breathe during storms?

Study says climate change could cause us to lose sleep – in more ways than one; Scientists successfully grow plants in moon dust; Fossil preserves critical evidence for how trilobites had sex half a billion years ago; A scientist recreates avian soundscapes so we can hear what we’re missing; How the medical system needs to – and is – engaging with its climate impacts; Quirks Question: Why does my breath feel warm when I exhale with an open mouth, and cool when I blow through tight lips?

Oyster shell mountains show history of sustainable Indigenous fisheries; Seagrass is hiding a submerged sweet CO2 secret; Saving the Mekong delta in six (not) easy steps; Researchers can read a bird’s brain to tell what it’s about to sing; The first COVID-19 vaccines were a medical miracle – the next ones could be even better.

With only 10 left, scientists say this tiny porpoise could survive – if we let it; Mars probe detects a whole lot of shaking going on; New heat-to-electricity device could make large thermal batteries a reality; A venomous marine worm with metal teeth reveals its secrets; Meet the Canadian researcher determined to take the animals out of lab testing; Question - Why does burning coal release mercury?

Avian flu outbreak not currently a threat to humans, but awful for our feathered friends; Prehistoric people enjoyed “moving pictures” by combining rock art and firelight; The dingo genome tells a story of an animal that’s not quite dog or wolf; Joggers may be trying to make an effort, but mostly we run as efficiently as possible; A $50 million dollar ticket bought a Canadian millionaire the dream of space travel; Quirks Question - What do underwater volcanoes and tsunamis do to marine life?