For the holidays, The Decibel is sharing their favourite stories of the year, with the producers taking you behind-the-scenes on how the episodes were made, what inspired them and all the tidbits that never made it into the original airing.

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No one really knows what dark matter is. We just think it exists. And we believe it makes up 85 per cent of all mass in the universe. So how do you solve the mystery of something that is currently unknowable?

Enter SNOLAB. This underground, clean lab is located in Sudbury, Ontario, and researchers there are running experiments to try to solve this cosmic query. Decibel producer Madeleine White, along with Globe science reporter Ivan Semeniuk, go two kilometres underground to visit SNOLAB and bring you up to date on the lab’s quest to discover dark matter.

This episode originally aired on August 10, 2023

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Food and family are often front and centre during the holidays. These two ingredients also help make up our identities and cultures.

So today, The Decibel is sharing stories of finding family through the act of baking.

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Earlier this year, The Globe’s sports editor Jamie Ross got a peculiar package in the mail – a wallet, with a request from a man nearing the end of his life, to help return it to its rightful owner. That piqued the interest of investigative reporter Grant Robertson. And that began the saga of trying to track these people down.

Today, Grant Robertson tells us the story of a hockey player, his wallet, and the mystery Grant is trying to solve around it.

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The Globe’s Carrie Tait recently went to visit a bowling alley in the small town of Kimberley, British Columbia. It’s tucked in the basement of the town’s Elk’s Lodge and has a feature that exists in just a few other locations in North America: the pins are set by humans, not machines. It’s a profession from a bygone era but in Kimberley, this bowling alley from the past, is making a comeback.

Carrie is on the show to tell us about this unique space, the people who put it together and how the bowling alley is helping to revive a small town looking toward its future.

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A giant squid discovered in Newfoundland in 1873 turned what until then was a mythological creature into the scientifically named Architeuthis dux, or giant squid. In the generations since, more sightings and myth-making have become the stuff of local legend on “The Rock”.

Atlantic reporter Lindsay Jones explores how the giant squid has since entwined itself in the history and culture of Newfoundland, even as sightings have dwindled in the 21st century.

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Nearly every day, The Globe published an editorial cartoon. Around 8,000 of those cartoons were drawn by Brian Gable. After 35 years of drawing cartoons for The Globe, Brian Gable has retired.

Today, we talk to Brian about the complicated art of political cartoons, how he does it, who his favourite people have been to draw, and why he thinks we need editorial cartoons in today’s world.

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Earlier this week, a man from Mississauga, Kenneth Law, was charged with 14 counts of second-degree murder. Police allege he helped people end their lives by selling them sodium nitrite online.

Today, Globe reporters Mike Hager and Colin Freeze explain what we know about Kenneth Law, the charges against him, and how he defended himself in an interview earlier this year.

If you are having thoughts of suicide, call Crisis Service Canada at 1-833-456-4566 or visit crisisservicescanada.ca. Young people can also call Kids Help Phone at 1-800-668-6868, text 686868, or visit kidshelpphone.ca. If it is an emergency, call 911.

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One in five Canadians suffer from chronic pain. According to one estimate, in 2019 the direct and indirect costs of chronic pain totalled $40-billion. And yet, the affliction is poorly understood and accessing treatment through the health care system can be tedious and frustrating.

Lara Pingue is an editor at The Globe. In 2018 her life changed when a sneeze sent her spiralling into the world of chronic pain. On her years-long journey, she’s dealt first-hand with the health care system, she’s tried multitudes of treatments to help alleviate her pain and she’s learned about the research currently being done to figure out this mysterious affliction. She’s on the show to explain her experience and what her bad back taught her about the world of chronic pain.

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There are over a half million public-sector workers on strike in Quebec this week. This comes after an offer from François Legault’s government, which the multiple unions involved in negotiations rejected.

The strikes – some of which started weeks ago – seem to have strong public support despite schools being shut down and delays piling up at hospitals. Frédérik-Xavier Duhamel, a staff reporter based in Montreal, discusses whether there’s an end in sight.

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Canada’s oil and gas industry has been facing immense pressure to reduce emissions. Last week, the federal government announced a cap and trade system to help do that, and one of the main ways the industry is planning to cut back on emissions is through carbon capture.

Today, The Globe’s energy reporter Emma Graney explains the new cap and trade system, the science behind carbon capture, and the concerns around whether it is a viable option for Canada’s oil and gas sector.

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