Our Listener Question Show

Quirks and Quarks

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 each other's butts?

To get the answer, we reached out to Simon Gadbois, the principal investigator at the Canine olfaction lab at Dalhousie University.

Robert Smith from Victoria asks: Is there evidence to suggest red-heads are particularly sensitive to pain?

To find out, we spoke with someone who has studied this in the past: Jeffrey Mogil, the E.P. Taylor Professor of Pain Studies at the Alan Edwards Centre for Research on Pain at McGill University.

Stephen Quinn from St. John’s, Newfoundland asks: How can the universe be expanding at the same time as galaxies are colliding?

For the smashing answer, we spoke with Sara Ellison, a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Victoria.

Susan Boyd from Ottawa asks: Since some of the elements in the periodic table do not occur naturally, is there a limit to the new elements that could be created? If so, what is the limiting factor?

We went to the National Research Council Canada’s element expert, Juris Meija, for this answer.

Robert LaRoche in Halifax asks: Why is the color of wet clothes always more vivid than when they are dry?

For the answer, we turned to Sarah Purdy, a Physicist at the University of Saskatchewan who uses light to investigate materials.

Paul Vander Griendt of Newmarket, Ontario asks: If animals wake up at sunrise and go to sleep at sunset, how do they cope with the varying hours of sunlight? How do they do compared to humans who are supposed to get 8 to 9 hours of sleep regardless of the length of sunlight?

For the answer we turned to Ming Fei Li a Phd candidate at the University of Toronto in Anthropology who is studying the sleep patterns of animals.

Marie Beaudoin from Salt Spring Island, BC asks: How do birds where the males and females look the same tell each other apart when it comes to mating?”

We went to Matt Reudinik, a professor of biology at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, BC, for the answer.

Warren Saylor of London, Ontario asks: Could Neanderthals speak? If they could not, would that contribute to the dominance of Homo Sapiens?

We spoke to paleoanthropologist Dr. Bence Viola, an associate professor in the department of Anthropology at the University of Toronto.