Quirks And Quarks Complete Show From Cbc Radio

Bits of Bennu have building blocks of lifeNASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission took six years to travel to the asteroid Bennu and return samples to Earth. Now, the first results from the analysis of these rocks are being released. Researchers found evidence of salty water, as well as the elements necessary for life, such as amino acids and the building blocks for RNA and DNA. We spoke with Kim Tait, senior curator of mineralogy at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, and co-author of one of the recent studies, published in the journal Nature.Unlocking the secret of Polar bear de-icingPolar bears spend so much time going in and out of the water that they are considered marine mammals. So when they do this in the frozen Arctic, why are they not covered in ice? A new study reveals the secret turns out to lie in the unique oils they produce that covers their white fur. Julian Carolan, a PhD candidate at Trinity College Dublin, worked with scientists in Norway, Denmark and the U.K. on this paper published in the journal Scie

Reintroducing Hawaii’s sacred crow to the wildThe world’s most endangered crow, the Hawaiian crow or or ʻalalā, is making tentative steps towards a comeback. After going extinct in the wild, only 120 birds remain in captivity, in two facilities operated by the San Diego Zoo. Over the years, researchers have attempted reintroductions in the bird's native habitat on the Big Island of Hawaii, but those efforts have all been unsuccessful. Recently, the team tried something different - reintroducing the birds to a different island than their native home. The initial release happened in October and so far, the team, including Bryce Masuda, has high hopes and positive signs from their latest attempt.Lasers tell us about the pterosaur’s unique tailThe great flying reptiles of the dawn of the age of dinosaurs, the pterosaurs, took flight with delicate but flexible internal tail structure that allowed it to work like a kite. Scientists used recently developed technology to enable them to see a lattice-like structure in

Ancient human ancestors didn’t eat meat, and so couldn’t build big brainsOne of the main reasons scientists think we became so smart is because at some point in our evolutionary past, our ancestors started eating energy-dense meat to fuel the growth of large brains. However it hasn’t been clear when this started. Using a new technology, scientists were able to analyze the tooth enamel of seven 3.5 million year old Australopithecines to directly measure their meat consumption. Tina Lüdecke, from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, said it revealed they were primarily herbivores so meat eating would have had to come later in our evolutionary history. Their study was published in the journal Science. Building a robot bee that could one day pollinate cropsBees do an incredibly important job pollinating crops and wild plants. Now scientists in the US are trying to emulate their skills with a tiny robot bee that has all the agility and ability of the real insect. They hope eventually they can be used in in

Was Rome’s fall due to heavy metal poisoning making Romans dumber?Ice cores that preserve traces of atmospheric pollutants through history have revealed that industrial activity by Romans – particularly the use and production of lead – meant the air the Romans breathed was heavily contaminated. The levels were high enough to cause neurological problems, including a drop in cognitive function across the population. Joe McConnell and his team at the Desert Research Institute published their findings in the journal PNAS.Bats are surfing storms to make migration easierMigrating bats in Europe have to fly up to 2000km while pregnant, but they’ve figured out how to get a lift from the weather. The bats have been observed waiting for storm fronts, and then surfing the strong winds in front of the storm to save energy during their migration. Dina Dechmann from the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour, and colleagues, were able to tag bats with tiny specialized sensors to track their nocturnal movements during mig

Genevieve Willis from London, Ontario asks: Is there any evidence to suggest that “getting cold” by, say, dressing inadequately in cold weather, or sitting in a cold draft, actually increases our susceptibility to illness?For the frigid answer, we spoke with Michael Kennedy who is an associate professor of exercise physiology at the University of Alberta. Jim Raso from St. Albert Alberta wrote us: My question has to do with our sense of time passing. As I have gotten older – I am 73 now –  I noticed that time seemed to pass more quickly.  Why does this happen?For the answer, we asked Dr. Holly K. Andersen, a professor of philosophy at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia.Dan from Chateau-Richer in Quebec writes: Where does moon dust come from?We reached out to planetary geologist Gordon Osinski, a professor of Earth Sciences at Western University, who has studied samples sent back from the Apollo missions. Scott Beach from East York Ontario asks: Why do dogs sniff and lick