Quirks and Quarks
CBC
Kategorier: Vetenskap och medicin
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Sabre tooth cats had baby-tooth backup
The fearsome canines of saber-toothed cats were terrific weapons for stabbing unfortunate prey, but their impressive length also made them vulnerable to breakage. A new study by University of California, Berkeley associate professor Jack Tseng suggests adolescent California saber-toothed cat kept their baby teeth to buttress the adult sabers, and reinforce them while cats learned to hunt. This research was published in The Anatomical Record.
Global warming could swallow Antarctic meteorites
Over 60 per cent of all meteorites found on Earth are discovered in Antarctica, embedded in the ice. But a new study published in Nature Climate Change cautions that the warming temperatures are causing the dark space rocks to sink below the surface before researchers can get to them. Glaciologist Veronica Tollenaar, who is the lead author of this study, says it’s important to collect as many of these meteorites as possible to avoid losing the insights they provide about the space around us.
This worm’s eyes are bigger than its — everything
A pair of high-functioning eyes is perhaps not something you would associate with the various worm species on our planet. But down in the depths of the Mediterranean sea lives a small, translucent worm with alien-looking eyes that weigh more than twenty times as much as the rest of its head. Now, a group of vision researchers have found that their size is not just for show. Their vision works about as well as that of some mammals. Michael Bok, a researcher in the Lund Vision Group at Lund University in Sweden, said they may be using it to detect prey at night. They report their findings in the journal Current Biology.
We’re breathing out an environment in which respiratory viruses may thrive
One of the questions that’s been raised by the COVID-19 pandemic is just what conditions allow viruses carried in aerosol droplets to survive and spread. A new study in the Journal of The Royal Society Interface found that a CO2 rich environment — like a crowded room with poor ventilation — makes the aerosol particles more acidic, which allows the virus to remain stable and survive longer. Allen Haddrell, a Canadian aerovirologist at the University of Bristol, said this means that CO2 levels don’t just tell you how well ventilated a room is, but it also tell how healthy the virus is in that air.
Why an essential subatomic particle plays the field
The detection of the Higgs boson particle by the Large Hadron Collider in 2012 was one of the great moments for modern physics. But while many celebrated the discovery of the “God Particle,” physicist Matt Strassler was a bit frustrated by the way the particle discovery overshadowed what he said was truly important for our understanding of the universe: not the Higgs particle, but the Higgs field. In his new book called, Waves in an Impossible Sea: How Everyday Life Emerges from the Cosmic Ocean, he explains how the Higgs field literally makes the universe — and our place in it — what it is today.
Listener Question — Do mated animals reject others crashing their relationships?
We hear the answer from Sarah Jamieson, a behavioural ecologist and assistant professor at Trent University.
Tidigare avsnitt
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615 - Why the famous Higgs particle plays the field and more… Fri, 10 May 2024
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614 - Quirks & Quarks goes to the dogs -- a dog science special Sat, 04 May 2024
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613 - Tiny black holes that could smash through our planet, and more… Fri, 26 Apr 2024
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612 - Bonus: What On Earth's Earth Day special Mon, 22 Apr 2024
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611 - Why this Indigenous researcher thinks we can do science differently, and more… Sat, 20 Apr 2024
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610 - COVID-19’s “long tail” includes a range of impacts on the brain and more… Fri, 12 Apr 2024
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609 - The dark side of LED lighting and more... Fri, 05 Apr 2024
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608 - An Australian Atlantis and other lost landscapes, and more... Thu, 28 Mar 2024
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607 - The future of freshwater — will we have a drop to drink, and more. Fri, 22 Mar 2024
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606 - How animals eating, excreting and expiring is like the world's bloodstream, and more Fri, 15 Mar 2024
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605 - How disabled primates thrive in the wild and more… Fri, 08 Mar 2024
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604 - The boreal forest is on the move, and we need to understand how, and more... Fri, 01 Mar 2024
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603 - Icelanders reap the costs and benefits of living on a volcanic island and more… Fri, 23 Feb 2024
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602 - A post valentine’s look at humpback mating songs and a marsupial that’s sleepless for sex Fri, 16 Feb 2024
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601 - Scientists explore which came first, the chicken or the egg, and more… Fri, 09 Feb 2024
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600 - An ancient tree’s crowning glory and more… Fri, 02 Feb 2024
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599 - The aftermath of a record-smashing volcano: Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai two years later, and more... Fri, 26 Jan 2024
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598 - Can diet and exercise be replaced by pills and more… Fri, 19 Jan 2024
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597 - Could buried hydrogen help save the world, and more… Fri, 12 Jan 2024
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596 - A Cave of bones could rewrite the history of human evolution, and more… Fri, 05 Jan 2024
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595 - Our annual holiday question show Fri, 29 Dec 2023
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594 - Seasonal science with reindeer, special stars and miracle babies… Fri, 22 Dec 2023
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593 - The Quirks & Quarks holiday book show! Fri, 15 Dec 2023
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592 - A young carnivorous dinosaur’s last meal and more Fri, 08 Dec 2023
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591 - Cat facts — the latest science on our feline companions Fri, 01 Dec 2023
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590 - How biodiversity contributes to human health and more… Fri, 24 Nov 2023
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589 - Alien blobs in the Earth’s mantle, and much more Fri, 17 Nov 2023