Quirks and Quarks

On this week’s best of Quirks & Quarks, we revisit our annual holiday listener question show, with fascinating queries like:
Why did a Canadian astronaut's eyesight change when she went to space?
How is the dust inside our homes changing?
Why do some professional athletes stick out their tongues when they play?
Why are most fruits round, but bananas and pineapple are not?
What would have happened if the dino-killing asteroid never struck Earth?
We'll satisfy all these scientific curiosities and many more!

From the science of how we sweat to solving golf's greatest mystery, we revisit some of our favourite summery segments from the past season.

From elephant whiskers to Arctic rhinos and even science programming in prisons, we revisit some of our producers’ favourite stories from this season. Including:
One of the world's earliest plant-eaters discovered in Nova Scotia
Elephant trunk whiskers increase their sensitivity to better 'feel' their surroundings
Yogurt with a creepy-crawly secret ingredient
Rhinos roamed Arctic Canada 23 million years ago
Bringing science education to the incarcerated

We revisit our conversations with authors of some of the year’s most fascinating science books in our annual holiday book show. Featuring:
Questioning the purpose of whale song — for love or echolocation?
Journeying through deep geological time to better tackle problems of the future
Biological sex is complicated, but that's what helps animals like humans thrive
Plus, science journalist and BookLab podcast co-host Dan Falk reviews The Martians by David Baron, Dinner With King Tut by Sam Kean and The Mind Electric by Pria Anand.

From tiny T. rexes to a car-sized sea monster, we revisit some of our favourite stories about predators in their prime, like:

Smaller tyrannosaur solves decades-long debate about the T. rex
Among Yellowstone’s top predators, wolves beat out cougars as the top dog
Bears with us. Tracking grizzlies in B.C.
Cleveland’s ancient car-sized sea monster had bony fangs made out of its skull
Wild wolves run for their lives when they hear Big Bad Humans nearby
Why penguin-eating pumas live closer together in Patagonia