Bob McDonald

Bob McDonald is the host of CBC Radio's award-winning weekly science program, Quirks & Quarks. He is also a science commentator for CBC News Network and CBC TV's The National. He has received 12 honorary degrees and is an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Latest from Bob McDonald

Analysis: Bob's Blog

De-extinction or pre-extinction? Biotech company's resurrected 'dire wolves' raise questions

Scientists created a version of the extinct dire wolf. But we should be directing our resources to preventing extinction in the first place.
Analysis: Bob's blog

How chimpanzee tool use provides insight into early human behaviour

Chimps apply engineering skills to select tools with the right characteristic for hunting termites. This can teach us more about how ancient humans learned to use tools.
Analysis: Bob's Blog

Assault at Antarctic base could be a warning for future travellers to Mars

A tense situation among members of an isolated base in Antarctica could foretell conflicts among astronauts on a long distance journey to Mars.
Analysis: Bob's Blog

Advances in solar technology could push us closer to cheap, clean energy

There has been great hope for perovskite solar cells because they have the potential to produce low cost solar energy in a wide variety of applications, where conventional cells will not work.
Analysis: Bob's blog

European Paralympic athlete in line to become the first disabled astronaut in space

British Paralympian John McFall has formally completed his astronaut training, and is now on the waiting list for a spot to fly to the International Space Station, which would make him the first disabled person to reach orbit.
Analysis: Bob's blog

Does ELIZA, the first chatbot created 60 years ago, hold lessons for modern AI?

Using code that was thought to be lost for nearly 60 years, scientists brought the world's first chatbot back to life for anyone to try.
Analysis: Bob's blog

Falling space debris could increasingly affect airline traffic, research finds

A new study from researchers at UBC found that the chance of debris entering air space around major cities is as high as 26 per cent each year.
Analysis: Bob's blog

Stunning photo mosaic of neighbouring Andromeda Galaxy captures the glow of 200 million stars

To celebrate the 100-year Edwin Hubble discovery that Andromeda was a galaxy outside our own, astronomers release the most detailed Andromeda Galaxy image ever.
Analysis: Bob's blog

Kissing moons may explain why Earth's moon is so large

The larger moons of Pluto and Earth likely formed through a collisional process with Charon and our moon, respectively, rather than by gravitationally capturing them. Due to Pluto and Charon's rocky, icy nature, their collision was more of a gentle short-lived kiss.
Analysis: Bob's blog

How quickly is the universe expanding? Astronomers and theorists can't agree

New observations from the James Webb Space Telescope back up previous findings from the Hubble telescope that contradict theoretical predictions, suggesting the standard model theorists work from needs a revisit.