The C-NRPP recommends Radonova’s Radtrak³ Alpha Track Long-Term Test, to find out a home’s radon levels. (Curtis Hicks/CBC) You can’t see it, you can’t smell it and you can’t taste it — and it’s the No. 1 cause of lung cancer for non-smokers.  Radon is a natural radioactive gas that comes from…

Imagine a future in which a wearable device tells advertisers when you’re in the mood for chocolate, or lets your employer know when you’re not paying attention at work. Or where a medical implant that’s supposed to save your life ends up being used against you in court. These are…

A federal fisheries vessel sailed north this September, some 12,000 nautical miles (22,200 kilometres) to the Aleutian Islands, the first Canadian patrol of its kind in the North Pacific. This newly outfitted Canadian Coast Guard vessel, the Sir Wilfrid Laurier, is part of Canada’s effort to ramp up monitoring of the North…

Quirks and Quarks10:29A Nobel prize for understanding how genes are turned on and off Gary Ruvkun says microRNA, which are molecules that control how genes form our cells, could be the key to improving how humans fight diseases, and even finding extraterrestrial signs of life.  On Monday, the Nobel Prize in…

The ongoing debate about how warm and wet the climate on Mars was in the distant past continues with new evidence from the Curiosity Rover. The latest findings suggest the environment could either have been salty and icy or alternating between warm and wet, and cold and dry.  Ever since the…

One evening this past August, Marc Bourgeois and his daughter Justine were among the lucky participants of a very delicate undertaking.  Starting last year, a handful of volunteers and scientists began a yearly ritual of collecting turtle eggs on Petrie Island, a conservation area off the shore of Orléans, a suburban neighbourhood in east Ottawa.…

As It Happens6:27A Chicago engineer built a functioning Remy from Ratatouille As Christina Ernst prepared her Halloween costume for this year, she drew on her engineering knowledge, and the classic animated movie Ratatouille.  Her creation received more than nine million views in less than a week, thanks in part to…

A county in northwestern Alberta wants livestock producers to be compensated when coyotes prey on their animals, which would bring the province in line with the rest of Western Canada. Currently, the carnivores are not listed alongside wolves, grizzly bears, black bears, cougars or eagles under the wildlife predator compensation…

NASA launched a spacecraft from Florida on Monday on a mission to examine whether Jupiter’s moon Europa has conditions suitable to support life, with a focus on the large subsurface ocean believed to be lurking beneath its thick outer shell of ice. The U.S. space agency’s Europa Clipper spacecraft blasted off from the Kennedy…

Scientists in Brazil have announced the discovery of one of the world’s oldest fossils believed to belong to an ancient reptile dating back some 237 million years that could help explain the rise of the dinosaurs. Named Gondwanax paraisensis, the four-legged reptile species was roughly the size of a small…

If you have clear skies this weekend, now is the time to head out to try to catch a glimpse of the naked-eye comet, C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS). This comet had garnered a lot of attention recently over the chance it could brighten to naked-eye visibility, and it seems to be…

SpaceX on Sunday launched its fifth Starship test flight from Texas and returned the rocket’s towering first-stage booster back to land for the first time, achieving a novel recovery method involving large metal arms. The rocket’s Super Heavy first-stage booster lifted off at 8:25 a.m. ET from SpaceX’s Boca Chica, Texas,…

The Current9:21Using oysters to fight coastal erosion In October 2012, Hurricane Sandy ravaged the U.S. eastern seaboard. The storm surge, flooding and winds caused extensive loss of life and damage in Tottenville, a neighbourhood surrounded by water on three sides in the Staten Island borough of New York. In addition…

SpaceX is preparing to once again launch its 37-storey Starship as soon as Sunday, pending regulatory approval.  This will be the fifth launch of Starship, and could be a particularly incredible show: SpaceX plans to catch the 21-storey booster at the launch pad shortly after liftoff. The news comes as a bit of a surprise, as…

As It Happens5:49Scientists have finally seen the face of the world’s largest bug What’s as big as an alligator, with the body of a millipede, the head of a centipede and the eyestalks of a crab? That would be Arthropleura, believed to be the largest bug to ever exist. But fear…

A photo of a swarm of western toad tadpoles swimming in the waters of Vancouver Island has netted a Canadian photographer a prestigious international award. Shane Gross’s The Swarm of Life has been named the Adult Grand Title Winner in the annual Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards by the U.K.’s Natural History Museum.…

Get ready to pull out your cameras: There’s a geomagnetic storm underway, and it could produce the northern lights across the country. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) has called for a major geomagnetic storm that was anticipated to hit Earth Thursday and into Friday,…

1 day ago News Duration 1:48 Concerns about air pollution in the area of southwestern Ontario dubbed Chemical Valley go back decades. And earlier this year, high benzene levels prompted Aamjiwnaang First Nation — which neighbours a petrochemical facility — to declare a state of emergency. Last week, some members…

One entomologist says the increase could be due to the amount of rain in the province. When it rains, mosquito and fly populations grow so spiders have more food sources.

Scientists David Baker, Demis Hassabis and John Jumper won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, the award-giving body said on Wednesday, for work on the structure of proteins. The prize, widely regarded as among the most prestigious in the scientific world, was awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences…

A tiny microbe recently isolated in Bedford Basin has been named for Halifax. T. haligoni is a type of bacteria known as a diazotroph — or nitrogen fixer. The microscopic organism was recently described in an article in the Journal of Science Advances. Sonja Rose, a PhD candidate in microbial…

Scientists Geoffrey Hinton from the University of Toronto and John Hopfield of Princeton University were honoured with the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics for discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning within artificial neural networks, the award-giving body said on Tuesday. Hinton, born in Britain, has spent the last decade…

The weather wasn’t looking too promising Monday morning ahead of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Hera mission, scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla., at 10:52 a.m. ET. However, the weather began to co-operate, and Hera blasted off right on time on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Now, it begins its…

The Nobel Prize in medicine was awarded Monday to Americans Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for their discovery of microRNA, a fundamental principle governing how gene activity is regulated. The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute, which awarded the prize, said the duo’s discovery is “proving to be fundamentally important”…

Playful large white beluga whales’ happy chirps leap out in an environment and economy threatened by warming water that’s melting sea ice, starving polar bears and changing the entire food chain. Loud and curious belugas swarm boats here, clicking, nudging and frolicking. At any given summer moment on the Churchill…

A census of endangered southern resident killer whales off the coast of British Columbia and Washington State shows the pods have lost three orcas, bringing the population to 73, excluding a new calf born after the survey. The Center for Whale Research completed its 49th census as part of its Orca Survey program…

Look up at the night sky from a city — where most people live — and you’ll see just a smattering of stars. Perhaps even an airplane or two. But drive further out, past the glare of lights from houses, cars, office buildings and street lamps, and the stars reveal themselves in a…

The sun is kicking up a storm. In the past three days, the sun has released three powerful eruptions, two of which may give us another spectacular display of the northern lights. The Space Weather Prediction Center (SPWC) at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is forecasting geomagnetic storms from…

It was pretty obvious that two male flamingos at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park wanted to start a family together, say staff. The duo, neither of whom had ever raised a chick in their 40 or so years at the zoo, recently started acting as if they were incubating an…

The federal government has released a proposed list of more than 30 chemicals and groups of substances Canadians encounter daily that it wants to prioritize for risk assessments. The announcement is part of a batch of measures Health Canada and Environment Canada are introducing as they revamp the country’s cornerstone environmental legislation.…

A team of whale rescuers were hollering, screaming and high-fiving Wednesday afternoon when they freed a young whale caught in fishing gear in the St. Lawrence Estuary. The whale, believed to be one of the calves of a 35-year-old female named War (ID number 1812) was first observed on June…

A series of four earthquakes, including one with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4, struck off the coast of Vancouver Island on Thursday morning, part of an ongoing “swarm” of quakes being detected off the British Columbia coast. The first and largest quake occurred at 8:08 a.m. PT at a depth of 10 kilometres,…

One day in May 2023, Anand Aujlay was walking through his eight-hectare blueberry farm in Delta, B.C, when he noticed bushes that had yellowing leaves and shrivelled berries — telltale signs of blueberry scorch. The virus wiped out about three hectares of Didar Berry Farm’s blueberry fields that year. Aujlay…

This story is part of CBC Health’s Second Opinion, a weekly analysis of health and medical science news emailed to subscribers on Saturday mornings. If you haven’t subscribed yet, you can do that by clicking here. One morning in Sept. 2021, MaryAnn Harris felt strangely tired. She told her husband, Charles de…

Mars and the North have more in common than you would think. Their similarities brought around 80 astroscientists to Yukon this week, representing universities and space agencies from all over the world.  They were attending the eighth international conference on Mars polar science. This year, Whitehorse was chosen to host for…

Parks Canada says it’s seeing encouraging signs of dune regrowth in Prince Edward Island National Park — and some of the credit goes to beachgoers who stay off them. Kerry-Lynn Atkinson, a landscape ecologist with Parks Canada, said marram grass, beach pea and sea rocket are all starting to re-establish…

NASA has released a stunning new image from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) marking the two-year anniversary of the release of its first images. And the space agency is calling it the “Penguin and Egg.” What exactly are we looking at? Well, it’s two interacting galaxies known jointly as Arp 142 that lie 326…

First Nations along British Columbia’s coast and the federal government have announced the designation of the country’s largest marine protected area. A statement from Fisheries and Oceans Canada says the ecologically unique ocean area is located about 150 kilometres off the west coast of Vancouver Island. It says the area spanning more than 133,000 square…

On June 5, a rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., into a blue sky dotted with puffy, white clouds. At the top of the rocket, made by United Launch Alliance, sat Boeing’s new Starliner CST-100, a gumdrop-shaped capsule carrying astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore.  It was a picture-perfect launch of a test…

Fisheries and Oceans Canada is seeking feedback on a draft of its national strategy on Atlantic salmon. The goal of the strategy is to restore and maintain Atlantic salmon populations and habitats. The deadline to submit feedback on the draft is July 30, with the department aiming to publish it by the fall. “We hope that…

On a river bend in the boreal forest of northern Saskatchewan, archeaologist Andrea Freeman is chipping away hardened soils thousands of years old. She places a small piece of charcoal in a test tube, to be taken back to a lab and radiocarbon-dated.  “Once we analyze the samples, we can…

Barry Hayes recounts the moment Tom Waddington was swarmed by whales while attempting to solo-row across the Atlantic Ocean.

For the first time, the Canadian government has conducted a rapid analysis of a period of extreme heat and determined its connection to human-caused climate change. The analysis conducted by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) found that a heat wave in Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada between June 17…

With a little help from the warming Gulf Stream, Nova Scotia beachgoers are encountering a strange creature with a balloon-like body whose sting packs a bigger punch than that of jellyfish. Last week, a Portuguese man-of-war appeared at a surfing hot spot on Lawrencetown Beach near Dartmouth, N.S. The animal,…

In the spring of 2023, a Parks Canada team strung electric fence along a section of the Trans Canada Highway from Lake Louise to the boundary between B.C. and Alberta. It was part of an attempt to help keep animals including a beloved white grizzly bear named Nakoda away from…

Vanessa Leegstra is still recovering after a bear attack in Haines Junction, Yukon on June 30.  Speaking from hospital, she said she’s still in a lot of pain.  Leegstra was on a run with her dog near the Pine Lake campground at around 10 p.m. that day when she spotted a group…

Federal rescuers are looking for an entangled humpback whale in the Salish Sea, which experts say is the latest incident in an increasingly common problem.  The three-year-old whale, named Vector, was last spotted on Friday near Campbell River off the east coast of Vancouver Island. Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO)…

For rats in Ottawa’s Heron Park neighbourhood, Melanie Giroux has become something like the Grim Reaper. Giroux estimates she’s trapped and killed many hundreds of the rodents since her backyard became infested in 2021. That year alone, she bagged nearly 500 using black reusable traps. Despite that prolific record, Giroux said…

Decades ago, McMaster University paved paradise and put up a parking lot. Now the Hamilton post-secondary school is looking to reverse course and “re-wild” its west campus that sits beside the Cootes Paradise nature sanctuary.  The strategy is part of its new master plan developed by international design firm BDP. The project is…

In this week’s issue of our environment newsletter, we look at places using goats to mow invasive weeds, compare Canadians’ thoughts on climate policies to the rest of the world and check out a climate update to a popular board game.

Chicken trainer, Emily Carrington, recounts the moment her hen, Lacey, was crowned the world’s smartest chicken by the Guinness Book of World Records.

WARNING: This story contains graphic images of a leg injury. Last week, George Mandl, an American vacationing in Montreal, took his eight-year-old son Max to Parc Jean-Drapeau for a swim. It was a hot afternoon, and Max played on an inflatable structure anchored in the park’s man-made lake. As his legs…

Animal rights advocates who followed four recent shipments of live horses for slaughter from Canada to Japan are calling on the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to stop the exports until exporters comply with regulations that say the animals can’t go more than 28 hours without food, water and rest.  The investigation…

Surgeons will amputate a limb when a traumatic injury causes major tissue destruction, or in instances of serious infection or disease. But humans are not alone in doing such procedures. New research shows that some ants perform limb amputations on injured comrades to improve their survival chances. The behaviour was documented…

The hurricane season is off to a roaring start, with Beryl the earliest Category 5 storm ever to form in the Atlantic Ocean. Beryl has since been downgraded to a Category 4, yet as of Wednesday, it was still expected to bring life-threatening winds and storm surge to Jamaica. Typically,…

Two weeks ago, Dawn Lalonde of Mikkola Family Farm & Apiary in Lively, Ont., was doing a routine checkup on one of her bee yards when she noticed something was off.  She usually hears the millions of bees in her 40 or so colonies buzzing around and about. But on that day,…

A woman from China has been arrested at a Vermont lake bordering Quebec for trying to smuggle 29 eastern box turtles, a protected species, into Canada by kayak, according to border patrol agents. Wan Yee Ng was arrested on the morning of June 28 at an Airbnb in Canaan, Vt.,…

As It Happens6:21A brain implant reduced this boy’s epilepsy seizures by 80%. And he charges it with his headphones Before he got his new brain implant, 13-year-old Oran Knowlson’s whole life revolved around his seizures. The British boy has a rare, medicine-resistant form of epilepsy that caused him to have…

Andrea Gigeroff is a PhD researcher at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick. She is studying snakes in Newfoundland. (Submitted by Andrea Gigeroff) If you catch a glimpse of something long and slinky on the ground in western Newfoundland this summer, it could indeed be just what you think it…

The same lightweight concrete roofing material blamed for safety risks at the Ontario Science Centre is used in hundreds of other aging public buildings across the province, yet officials haven’t pointed to any others that have been ordered closed. The revelation comes as critics question whether the findings of an engineering…

The federal government has announced a return to the commercial northern cod fishery this year. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has managed a limited fishery under strict conditions in recent years. (Brett Favaro, Marine Institute) Thirty-two years after the federal government announced a moratorium that shut down Newfoundland and Labrador’s…

Early on in the pandemic, in 2021, Hugh Potter ate dinner and watched TV next to his wife while she coughed violently from COVID-19, yet he never even sniffled. It’s been thought that some people may not have gotten COVID because they were careful to avoid exposure. Alternatively, some people…

An unusual infestation of cutworms is wreaking havoc in fields in Abitibi-Témiscamingue. Témiscamingue, in northwestern Quebec, has been especially affected by the damage caused by cutworms — caterpillars that can destroy canola, potato and grain crops in a matter of days. Cutworms are found every year in small quantities in…

The Dose20:45What can I do to prepare for a summer medical emergency? As the parent of four very active children, Dr. Shaneka Kulasingham is no stranger to taking precautions to prevent medical emergencies while travelling.  And as an emergency physician at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton in Ontario, Kulasingham is also…

Two NASA astronauts will stay longer at the International Space Station as engineers troubleshoot problems on Boeing’s new space capsule that cropped up on the trip there. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration on Friday did not set a return date until testing on the ground was complete and said the…

Earth is surrounded by rocky bodies and bits of debris from when the solar system formed roughly 4.5 billion years ago. On Saturday, one of those leftover rocks will whiz past Earth. The asteroid is called 2024 MK and, at its closest, it will pass roughly 290,000 km from Earth. While…

Over 45,000 species are now threatened with extinction — 1,000 more than last year — according to an international conservation organization that blames pressures from climate change, invasive species and human activity such as illicit trade and infrastructural expansion. The International Union for Conservation of Nature released its latest Red…

The world is full of dangers when you’re a falcon chick less than six weeks old and learning to fly — even if you’re a member of the fastest species on Earth. This week, three falcon chicks named Hugo, Polo and Estebane started to spread their wings around the nest…

Wedged into the tiny holes of masonry bricks, which heat their bodies up to near 30 C, you might think Australian green and golden bell frogs would be uncomfortable. But new research says the amphibians love it, and that these DIY dry saunas — made with spray-painted bricks housed in plastic…

This story has been updated since it was first published to include new details from the London Police Service. London police are investigating the deaths of two animals and the illness of a third after they were on display at a petting zoo for children, part of a weekend Pride event…

China’s Chang’e 6 probe returned to Earth with rock and soil samples from the little-explored far side of the moon, in a global first. The probe landed in the Inner Mongolian region in northern China on Tuesday afternoon.  “I now declare that the Chang’e 6 Lunar Exploration Mission achieved complete success,”…

Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault is recommending the adoption of an emergency decree to protect the boreal caribou in Quebec as some herds cross the “threshold of near-disappearance.” The Pipmuacan, Val-d’Or and Charlevoix woodland herds could soon be subject to federally imposed protection measures. In a letter addressed to Quebec Environment Minister Benoit Charette,…

Tick experts are warning Canadians to be on the lookout for symptoms of a tick-borne disease whose case counts have been steadily increasing over the past 15 years. Anaplasmosis is an infection contracted by humans and animals caused by the Anaplasma phagocytophilum bacteria and spread by ticks.  In the early 2000s, provinces…

The Current11:38How our discarded drugs are sparking sex changes in fish What do fish act like on anti-anxiety medication? According to Karen Kidd, “they get bolder” and don’t rely on their usual survival skills — and that’s part of a big problem. “Fish are swimming around in the soup of…

Why do humans live so long? A new study suggests a mother’s care could be a major part of it. The study, out of Cornell University, says that the reason humans and other primates live so long can be at least partly explained by the mother-child relationship. Maternal care leads to the…

As It Happens6:30Alaska man helps trapped and shrieking baby moose — while avoiding its mama When Spencer Warren pulled up at work on Friday morning, he heard a strange, high-pitched creaking sound from the nearby lake.  “I’m used to the animals on the lake, and I said, ‘That’s an odd…

Cancer-causing chemicals are being blown downwind from coal mines in southern British Columbia in concentrations that rival those next to oilsand mines, newly published research has concluded. “Our results reveal, for the first time, clear evidence that coal mining contaminants are spread far downwind from their sources,” says the paper, published in the journal…

If, on a clear night, you were to gaze up into the blackness of the sky, you would expect to see nothing but the magnificent Milky Way stretching out above you, billions of stars twinkling in place. Instead, every few minutes or so, you will most likely also see an…

A family of polar and grizzly bear hybrids, or grolars, in Canada’s western Arctic — which all started with a “pretty strange” female polar bear — is “quite rare,” according to a new study.  The research paper, published last week in the journal Conservation Genetics Resources, used a new tool…

Laurie Rousseau-Nepton says she wants to understand the very large and the very small, and that’s why she became the first Indigenous woman in Canada to earn a PhD in astrophysics.  Rousseau-Nepton received her PhD in 2017 from Université Laval in Quebec City. She said that at the time she wasn’t aware…

When wolves are killed by bullets fired from helicopters during Alberta government culls, surviving members of the pack quickly learn to evade the threat, a new study has found.  For nearly two decades, Alberta has killed off hundreds of grey wolves each year in an attempt to bolster dwindling caribou…

Last year was the hottest in recorded human history, and this year Canada continues to be affected by heat waves and record-breaking temperatures. One big shift is the increase in nighttime temperatures, prompting health concerns across the country as certain nightly forecasts across Eastern Canada predict highs of 24 C,…

Tallica Robson has always been a child who reaches for the stars. The 10-year-old, who wants to be an astrophysicist, says her interest in the topic took off when she came across a book at school called The Mysteries of the Universe. “I kept reading that book over and over…

Two new studies are highlighting what researchers say is the harmful effect of log booms — floating structures that contain logs before processing — on fish habitats in B.C. rivers. A report from the Pacific Salmon Foundation and the B.C. Conservation Foundation (BCCF), led by the Cowichan Tribes, finds the presence of log booms…

Future missions to the moon to establish bases may face a threat we haven’t understood properly in the past. New research is suggesting rocket exhaust will create a kind of lunar sandstorm that could damage lunar infrastructure and pose a threat to astronauts. Just this week the vehicle NASA is planning…

As It Happens6:34This elderly, 1-eyed wolf keeps going strong and having pups. And she’s the leader of her pack Wolf 907F is a shrewd survivor, a wise elder, a prolific mother — and an absolute boss.  The one-eyed alpha female at Yellowstone National Park has blown scientists away by living…

Retired major-general William Anders, the former Apollo 8 astronaut who took the iconic Earthrise photo showing the planet as a shadowed blue marble from space in 1968, was killed Friday when the plane he was piloting alone plummeted into the waters off the San Juan Islands in Washington state. He was…

New research offers a clearer picture of a fault line hundreds of kilometres long off the West Coast that is predicted to generate a major earthquake and tsunami commonly known as “The Big One.” The study confirms that the northern part of the fault, close to Vancouver Island and Washington, is most…

6 days ago News Duration 2:33 They have four-inch legs, bright yellow stripes and the ability to ‘fly’ several kilometres through the air. But while Joro spiders aren’t as dangerous as they look, some experts are still concerned about the spread of this invasive species. CBC’s Kris Reyes has more.

The NASA project scientist who led the grandest and farthest tour humanity’s ever taken in our solar system has died. Ed Stone, the former director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Voyager project scientist, was 88 years old when he died on June 9. For five decades, Stone led the Voyager mission,…

As It Happens6:38Elephants may have names for each other that humans can’t understand Elephants appear to know their own names, according to a new study. Not the nicknames we humans sometimes give them, but their own, unique elephant names, which they use to call to each other. The findings, published this week in…

The message from wildlife advocates is clear after the death of a beloved blond bear and her two cubs: more needs to be done to protect the animals. Bear 178 — a rare white grizzly nicknamed Nakoda by locals — died Saturday of injuries she suffered in a car collision two days…

SpaceX has retrieved pieces of debris that fell to earth and were found on Saskatchewan farmland in April.  Barry Sawchuk made headlines earlier this year when he said a giant piece of space debris had slammed into his field. On Tuesday, SpaceX employees came to his farm near Ituna, Sask., northeast of…

The Royal Canadian Geographical Society says it has found polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton’s final ship, the Quest, off Labrador’s south coast, 390 metres underwater. (Royal Canadian Geographical Society/X) A hushed buzz filled a mood-lit lecture hall inside Memorial University’s Marine Institute on Wednesday morning as anticipation grew among a…

When doctors perform laparoscopic surgery, they can’t rely on their own eyes. Instead, laparoscopic surgeons make a small incision and insert two long tools to work inside the patient’s body, guided only by a camera. It’s notoriously challenging, but laparoscopic surgery has become increasingly available because it’s less invasive and leaves less scarring, and…

Some people who wanted to ride the tidal bore of a Nova Scotia river got more than they bargained for on Sunday, when they came across a minke whale beached on a sandbar. Crews with Tidal Bore Rafting Resort, a company that takes passengers on river rides, spotted the stranded marine animal…

After hopes that Bear 178 would walk off her injuries and survive the car crash that left the grizzly limping, the bear affectionately known as Nakoda has died in Yoho National Park, in southeastern B.C., Parks Canada officials confirm. On the evening of June 6, as wildlife management staff were repairing fencing along…

A diet promoting plant-based protein to help the environment now has a more human argument: It may lower your risk of dying from several major diseases.  “It wasn’t just one cause of death. It was right across the board,” said Walter Willett, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard…

A research scientist on Prince Edward Island is searching for new varieties of potatoes that will grow more quickly and be more resistant to drought, to help potato growers battling the impacts of climate change.  Bourlaye Fofana has a collection of more than 800 different genetic lines of potatoes that…

After a failed launch attempt of Boeing’s new Starliner crew capsule on May 6, NASA and the aerospace company are prepared for a second go — even though the spacecraft will be flying with a small helium leak. On Wednesday, Boeing and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration called a “go”…

Plant biologist Marcus Samuel has been working for more than a decade to improve the climate resilience of crops. At his research greenhouse at the University of Calgary, he uses cutting-edge gene editing techniques to produce hardier varieties of plants able to withstand temperature fluctuations, floods and frosts. But while…

The federal government has announced salmon fishery closures and mandatory speed limits in areas where southern resident killer whales forage and travel in the ongoing effort to protect the endangered species. A statement from Transport Canada says the measures off Vancouver Island are aimed at protecting the whales from noise, contaminants and…

Researchers in British Columbia have set their sights on virtually eliminating organ rejection by using advanced genetic testing to better match patients with kidney donors.  Dr. Paul Keown, lead researcher for the pilot project and a University of British Columbia specialist in immunology and transplantation, said the new technology involves genetic sequencing at the molecular…

When Jacques Juneau and Chantal Germain bought their home in Saint-Adolphe-D’Howard, Que., it seemed like the perfect spot. Nestled among the trees and surrounded by mountains, it felt safe. “[I thought] there’s no chance of any kind of storm, tornado or anything here,” said Germain. But a year after moving…

It’s fledgling season, a time when animal rescue experts say they are inundated with calls about goofy-looking birds stumbling around on the ground. In eastern Newfoundland, Karen Gosse of the Rock Wildlife Rescue gets so many calls about baby crows that she posted a reminder on social media that the…

Boeing’s new Starliner capsule and its inaugural two-member NASA crew safely docked with the International Space Station on Thursday, meeting a key test in proving the vessel’s flight-worthiness and sharpening Boeing’s competition with Elon Musk’s SpaceX. The rendezvous was achieved despite an earlier loss of several guidance-control jet thrusters, some…

Hot on the heels of the successful crewed launch of Boeing’s new CST-100 Starliner on Wednesday, we have another rocket launch: This time it’s SpaceX’s massive Starship. This is the fourth test flight of the rocket — which will be uncrewed — that SpaceX founder Elon Musk hopes will one day take…

Boeing, NASA and United Launch Alliance (ULA) are breathing a sigh of relief after successfully launching Boeing’s new CST-100 Starliner spacecraft. ULA’s Atlas V rocket blasted off on schedule at 10:52 a.m. ET Wednesday and reached orbit just under an hour later. This comes after their second launch attempt was scrubbed with just…

Visitors pepper the length of Utah Beach in Normandy, France, some pausing to take photos, others simply staring out across the English Channel.  One passerby in a bright orange windbreaker stops to scoop a handful of sand into a plastic bag and tucks it into his satchel.  “Dad always wanted…

A First Nation in northwestern Ontario that has faced decades of mercury poisoning is suing the provincial and federal governments, arguing they’ve failed to protect its treaty rights. Asubpeeschoseewagong Netum Anishinabek First Nation — known as Grassy Narrows — filed the lawsuit in Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice on Tuesday morning. It argues the…

Christine Moses was playing Scrabble with her husband in their Ottawa home this spring when she looked outside the window and shrieked. “I just saw this gigantic beast crawling up the window,” Moses said. After taking a picture of the giant insect, Moses asked her husband to eliminate the intruder with a…

An agricultural biotech group based out of the University of Saskatchewan wants to help protect wine grapes from the cold, and that’s welcome news to vineyard owners across the country. U of S chemist Naveen Diddi has been examining a round glass flask filled with an orange-coloured substance containing abscisic acid — or ABA: a naturally-occurring plant hormone, and says…

It all started with a few text messages in late April. Several well-known Canadian scientists — Toronto-based infectious diseases specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch, Saskatoon-based virologist Angela Rasmussen and Winnipeg-based microbiologist Jason Kindrachuk — were all chatting about the unprecedented outbreak of H5N1 bird flu in U.S. dairy cows. By then, American…

3 days ago News Duration 4:21 In anticipation of SailGP races in Halifax, coaches from across Canada are working on their foiling skills in the city’s harbour. CBC reporter Elizabeth McMillan stopped by to learn more about foiling, the type of sailing that sees boats rise into the air. If…

Early last June, a powerful storm descended on southern Quebec, leading to lightning strikes in quick succession across the vast forest north of Montreal. Given the hot, dry conditions at the time, the strikes quickly turned into scores of wildfires that overwhelmed fire crews and quickly spread through the region.…

A last-minute problem nixed Saturday’s launch attempt for Boeing’s first astronaut flight, the latest in a string of delays over the years. Two NASA astronauts were strapped in the company’s Starliner capsule when the countdown automatically was halted at 3 minutes and 50 seconds by the computer system that controls…

Natalie Sansone and her family are “not usually bug people” but the family has welcomed a rare pink grasshopper into their northeast London, Ont., home after finding it hopping across their driveway.  Sansone and her husband, Ryan Seed, were walking home from school with their 3-year-old and 5-year-old on Tuesday afternoon…

Quirks and Quarks11:40Killer whales are likely ramming boats because they’re bored and having fun When Renaud de Stephanis sees killer whales surround his boat off the coast of Spain, he isn’t afraid — he’s excited because it’s a chance to get some research done. When asked how often his boats…

Rivers and streams offer far more than pretty scenery or an opportunity for a summertime cool-off. They make up an important component of a global system that determines how much carbon is stored in soil or sent into the atmosphere. New research shows that human activities are directly disrupting this…

Scientists will implant tiny tracking tags in up to 200 captive-raised Atlantic whitefish this year as part of the effort to stave off extinction of one of Canada’s most critically endangered species. Three interconnected lakes behind the town of Bridgewater, N.S., are the only place on earth where this ancient…

As It Happens7:04Scientists tested replica Bronze Age armour on Greek marines. Here’s what they learned More than a dozen elite Greek marines dressed up like Bronze Age warriors and practised ancient fighting techniques — all in the name of science. The 13 soldiers, all members of the Hellenic Armed Forces,…

It’s a fist-sized piece of granite that speaks to the history hidden beneath the paved streets and manicured yards in Saskatoon. “That is a very lovely, classic example of a grooved maul. It’s got the nice groove going all the way around; it’s got some wear on its end. So it’s…

From fake images of war to celebrity hoaxes, artificial intelligence technology has spawned new forms of reality-warping misinformation online. New analysis co-authored by Google researchers shows just how quickly the problem has grown. The research, co-authored by researchers from Google, Duke University and several fact-checking and media organizations, was published in…

Nova Scotia fisherman Jonathan Porter recounts the moment he found a rare yellow lobster, just off the coast of Pictou Island, N.S., a one-in-30-million catch.

The Dose25:48How can I keep my brain sharp as I age? Read transcribed audio The health of our brains can change as we age.  For some, that might look like worries about memory loss. But experts say cognitive health is about much more than forgetting someone’s name or where you…

It may come as a scoop of white powder to add to a latte or smoothie, promising to help achy joints and sagging skin. Or, as an ingredient in face masks and moisturizers, claiming to offer a youthful glow. It’s marine collagen, a buzzword in beauty and supplement circles, often…

As It Happens5:58The world’s most prevalent cockroach is ‘a monster of our own creation,’ study finds Despite its name, the German cockroach isn’t from Germany. In fact, it’s not really from anywhere. Blattella germanica, the most prevalent species of cockroach on the planet, was named for specimens collected in Germany…

An endangered snail species thought to have disappeared from many parts of Canada has been discovered in the Upper Thames River watershed, according to a biologist with the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA).  Shagreens are a terrestrial snail listed as endangered provincially and federally but recently, they have been confirmed sightings in…

When it comes to rooting out roosting ravens, never say “nevermore.” So quoth the residents of a formerly quiet street in the east Ottawa suburb of Orléans where people have become captivated by a pair of the glossy black birds that have, for the third time in two years, chosen to nest not…

In March 2022, a couple living in the rural town of São Mateus do Sul, Brazil, were shocked to find a 600-kilogram piece of smashed metal lying just 50 metres from their home.  Four months later, two Australian sheep farmers found a strange, black object that appeared to have embedded itself…

At first glance, the image doesn’t look like much: a few smatterings of bright, yellow stars among dimmer white ones. And in the centre, a smudge that appears to be a collection of stars.  But zooming in reveals an entirely different story. That smudge isn’t stars at all, but dozens upon…

It was a shock to Dorothy Suliga when she learned that her mother, Teresa Suliga, and her aunt, Elizabeth Seremak, had been struck and killed by a vehicle on a rural road in Chatham-Kent. But it wasn’t surprising that the two women were trying to save a turtle at the time.…

All signs are pointing to a very busy hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has just released its annual hurricane season forecast and is projecting 17 to 25 storms, the most it has ever forecasted. Of those storms, eight to 13 are expected to become…

A poultry producer in Lower Branch, N.S., who lost more than 200 birds after avian flu infected her farm is still months away from getting the all-clear to restart business. The deadly flu infected Montana Pineyro’s farm in February, killing geese, guinea fowl and chickens. The infection killed 140 birds before…

An undergraduate biology student at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ont., is doing some research that has caught the attention of local food foragers. Mackenzie Hobbs has started collecting fiddleheads, mushrooms and eventually blueberries for her thesis into the metal and nutrient content of these wild, urban foods. While she’s majoring…

Western University researchers are developing a new kind of farm that uses machine-learning algorithms and data analytics to create optimum conditions for growing food anywhere and in any season — producing bigger and better yields while using as little energy and water as possible. The venture comes at a pivotal time in agriculture, with climate change escalating the likelihood of drought and floods capable…

In a new report, a think-tank within Employment and Social Development Canada cites 35 “plausible” global disruptions that could reshape Canada and the world in the near future. The Policy Horizons Canada (PHC) panel drafted the list and then asked more than 500 stakeholders within and outside government to suggest which ones were more likely, when…

Parts of downtown Toronto were without power for a few hours Wednesday after a squirrel came into contact with a utility pole. In an email to CBC News, Hydro officials said the outage impacted about 6,500 customers between Rosedale Valley Road and the Gardiner Expressway, and from Church Street to the Don Valley Parkway. Toronto…

Lorraine Sherren says what’s holding her together as she and her husband grieve the death of their 40-year-old son is knowing he was able to donate his heart, with some out-of-the-box thinking. Robbie Sherren was a Special Olympics bowler, Trekkie and computer whiz, his parents said. What started as a…

British Columbia’s chief veterinarian has issued an order making it illegal to transport boats or other watercraft without removing the drain plug to prevent the spread of whirling disease. Whirling disease, which is fatal in fish, is caused by a microscopic parasite that mainly targets salmon and trout. The Ministry…

On his YouTube channel, Anand Munje interviews entrepreneurs, academics and artists. He communicates with them even though his cerebral palsy makes it hard to speak, but it’s possible thanks to the software his brothers Arun and Amit Munje developed — AIHEARU.  It’s pronounced “I hear you,” and it takes Anand’s…

The colourful auroras that treated skywatchers across the country last weekend and the total solar eclipse last month are reminders that the Earth is in direct line of fire from activities on the surface of the sun. The Space Weather division of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)…

Tanner Borsa was working his farm near Yellow Creek, Sask., last weekend when the Global Positioning System in his tractors stopped working.   Like many farmers, Borsa pays for a premium GPS satellite signal to ensure accuracy and efficiency when he’s planting seeds and spraying pesticide and fertilizer. When that signal…

Western University researchers are developing a new kind of farm that uses machine-learning algorithms and data analytics to create optimum conditions for growing food anywhere and in any season — producing bigger and better yields while using as little energy and water as possible. The venture comes at a pivotal time in agriculture, with climate change escalating the likelihood of drought and floods capable…

For the first time since the 1990s, Quebec’s Transport Ministry and a group of experts have teamed up to relocate a nest of peregrine falcon eggs.

The Current16:06Decoding the sperm whale’s alphabet Scientists have examined thousands of hours of sperm whale calls — bursts of clicks known as codas — and discovered a kind of phonetic alphabet that the animals use to communicate. “What we’ve done here is really sort of expand … the library of…

Hike up your socks and check your pets — tick season is already in full force. Rob and Kathy Bull of Cambridge, Ont., are warning others to check themselves and their pets. After the couple took their four-year-old Jack Russell terrior, Roxy, for a short walk through Dumfries Conservation area, they had…

As a farmer in rural Saskatchewan, Barry Sawchuk is used to removing rocks and weeds from his fields. But he recently discovered a two-metre wide, 40-kilogram heap of twisted, burnt metal. “My oldest son and I were out driving around just checking fields,” said Sawchuk, who farms near Ituna, Sask., about…

As It Happens7:16This geologist says she found the Mona Lisa’s setting While many art historians have focused on the woman in Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, Ann Pizzorusso has a different obsession — the mountain ridges in the background. Pizzorusso, a geologist and Italian Renaissance scholar, says she combined her two…

A new $25-million marine research centre opened Monday in Dartmouth, N.S., to co-ordinate the sophisticated underwater platforms used by Canada to gather ocean data. The Facility for Intelligent Marine Systems brings together researchers from Fisheries and Oceans, Natural Resources Canada and Defence Research and Development Canada into one place. “These researchers…

The promised northern lights over the weekend did not disappoint, producing a dazzling light show across Canada and around the world. Social media platforms were filled with hues of purple, green, yellow and pink skies in Canada, the United States, England, Switzerland and beyond. CBC News spoke to experts about…

If you have boxwood plants in your yard or neighbourhood, there’s an invasive pest you need to be on the lookout for this spring.   The box tree moth is an invasive species that can decimate boxwood plants — going from larvae to caterpillar devouring the plant, only to turn into…

A cruise ship sailed into a New York City port with a 13-metre dead whale across its bow, marine authorities said. The whale, identified as an endangered sei whale, was caught on the ship’s bow when it arrived at the Port of Brooklyn on Saturday, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration fisheries…

Our planet is changing. So is our journalism. Keep up with the latest news on our Climate and Environment page. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox every Thursday. This week: Wireless earbuds don’t have to be such a waste Daylighted creek brings back salmon What to look for in a…

Before Transformers, there was the Aquatron — Dalhousie University’s dynamic and evolving superhero of a marine research centre. If it swims, floats or sinks, it may have been tested inside the Aquatron’s laboratories and tanks since it opened 50 years ago. The golden anniversary is being marked this weekend with an open house. In…

A series of powerful solar storms made the northern lights unusually visible far south Friday, and could dazzle again on Saturday night in Canada. Scientists expected the geomagnetic storm would lead to colourful auroras overnight not only in Canada, but the northern United States and parts of Europe too.  It could also cause some disruptions to communications over the…

This story is part of CBC Health’s Second Opinion, a weekly analysis of health and medical science news emailed to subscribers on Saturday mornings. If you haven’t subscribed yet, you can do that by clicking here. While there’s no sign a dangerous form of bird flu has gained the ability to transmit…

Scientists in the U.S. and Canada are watching wastewater for early signs of H5N1 as an outbreak of bird flu among American dairy cattle keeps growing. With cases confirmed in dozens of herds across nine states — and roughly 300 people being tested or monitored for symptoms after the detection…

An outbreak of avian flu in U.S. dairy cattle has federal officials in Canada and the U.S. testing milk sold in stores to ensure pasteurization and other food safety measures are working.  Cows sickened with H5N1 in the U.S. produced milk that was abnormally thick and yellowish. The first known outbreak…

They have an inconspicuous designation but the Ukrainian intelligence officers who belong to Group 13 have developed a formidable, far-reaching reputation. Named after their leader within Ukraine’s defence intelligence agency — a man who goes by the nom de guerre Call Sign 13 — this unit of maritime drone operators has destroyed or damaged…

Images of steelhead and trout flicker over long sheets of paper, brought to life in blue and green crayon rubbings by the thousands.  It’s called Project 84,000 and is intended to depict the number of fish that died in the drought-stricken Cowichan River on southern Vancouver Island last July. Jennifer Shepherd…

Picket lines are up outside a world-renowned physics research lab located deep inside a Sudbury, Ont., mine as 52 workers at SNOLAB voted against a tentative contract Tuesday night.  United Steelworkers Local 2020-59 represents dozens of workers, from janitorial staff to physicists, at the dark matter research facility with links to Nobel Prize-winning work in years…

When Rakus the orangutan found himself a little worse for wear, he seemed to know exactly what to do about it. In June 2022, the Sumatran orangutan in Indonesia sustained a wound to his face, likely during a scrap with another male. So he grabbed some liana plant, which is…

The Current23:09What dying people see in their dreams As Charlotte Good was dying of pancreatic cancer in a Toronto hospital in 2007, she experienced a dream or vision of her own mother — who had died years before. Charlotte’s daughter, Cynthia Good, was staying over that night and sensed that…

The Canadian military could have modern satellite coverage in the Arctic a decade earlier than envisioned if the federal government is willing to follow the example of other countries and embrace commercial options in space, a House of Commons committee heard Monday. Mike Greenley, chief executive officer of MDA Canada, told…

Scientists have found evidence the flathead catfish — a species from the southern U.S. that’s known for its huge size and monstrous appetite for fish — has established itself in the Thames River in southwestern Ontario. Over a six-year period, researchers netted 11 catfish from the lower Thames River near Tillbury, a 2019 research paper said.…

It’s been a decade in the making, but Boeing’s commercial spacecraft is finally launching with its first passengers. The final test of its crewed spacecraft, called Starliner — also referred to as its Crew Space Transportation 100 (CST-100) — is scheduled to lift off on Monday at 10:34 p.m. ET from…

Scientists have taken a clue from a carnival stunt known as the Wall of Death to help future astronauts on the moon stay healthy. But instead of riding motorcycles, moon colonists will simply run around the walls. For decades, carnival goers have been thrilled at the spectacle of stunt drivers taking…

China on Friday launched a lunar probe to land on the far side of the moon and return with samples that could provide insights into differences between the less-explored region and the better-known near side. It is the latest advance in China’s increasingly sophisticated space exploration program, which is now…

As It Happens108:20:00Honeybees invaded a reporter’s home, and upended everything she thought she knew about them It started with a single bee. Sarah Kliff, a New York Times reporter, was working from home in Washington, D.C., a few weeks back, when she found a bee buzzing in her window.  “I…

A research team at the University of Alberta is looking into why some trees in Alberta are more resilient when faced with drought, disease and the risk of wildfires by sequencing tree genomes.  A genome is the genetic makeup of an organism, and the thought behind sequencing tree genomes is that it’ll…

5 days ago News Duration 2:55 During the total eclipse earlier this month sun-gazers could see the outer ring of the sun— and bright filaments leaping from it. If they escape the fiery body’s pull, they will form solar storms, and a lot of them are expected in 2024. Radio-Canada’s…

A new study suggests citizen science could help restore Alberta’s grizzly bear numbers, but critics caution that without government action to preserve critical habitat and raise awareness, the elusive predator will remain a threatened species. The research, published in February in the science journal Facets, examines the development of GrizzTracker,…

It turns out morel mushrooms and real estate have something in common. Location, location, location is the golden rule for buying or selling a home as much as it is for morels — the elusive and prized edible variety of mushroom that often grows in the same place every year and, according…

While federal officials say there’s still no sign of a dangerous form of bird flu in Canadian dairy cows, scientists warn limited surveillance means Canada might not be staying ahead of an explosive H5N1 outbreak among dairy cattle south of the border. So far, dozens of herds across various U.S.…

The Dose19:04What’s going on with H5N1 bird flu? H5N1 is in the news again, and this time it has spread to cattle in several U.S. states. It has even infected a dairy worker in Texas. Global health epidemiologist Raywat Deonandan explains how avian flu is spreading, how transmissible it is,…

Our planet is changing. So is our journalism. Keep up with the latest news on our Climate and Environment page. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox every Thursday. This week: Why you should choose native plants for your garden (and how to do it) Turning off the plastic tap 6…