Explore every episode of the podcast Dare to Know

Wishful thinking, or dismissing beliefs that make us uncomfortable, even if they’re true, is a common human weakness. Find out how a new study examined how we tend to avoid thinking about negative consequences and how we can learn to manage this familiar tendency.

Ice cap melting is one of many adverse results of global warming and climate change. Find out how the flow of meltwater from Earth’s poles to its equator is affecting our planet’s rotation rate and how our atomic clocks measure time.

The Milky Way’s origins have puzzled scientists since we first realized its one of countless galaxies in our universe. Find out how scientists have applied information from the Gaia Space Observatory and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to uncover two of our galaxy’s earliest star streams.

Memory has puzzled scholars since the dawn of civilization. Find out how new research shows that spacing out study periods, along with varying the context of the item we’re trying to remember, improves our memories.

Bumblebee hives can provide fascinating insights into animal behaviour in groups. Find out how a new study suggests that bees can learn complex, multi-step tasks through social interaction.

Odysseus is the name of the first American spacecraft to land on the moon in 52 years. Find out how its missions succeeded despite enduring and overcoming some demanding challenges and setbacks.

Robots with AI (artificial intelligence) are emerging as developers combine large language models (LLMS) with autonomous devices. Find out why they’re discovering that it takes far more than linguistic skills to replicate basic human abilities.

Migratory species are the subject of a new report presented at the United Nations this week. Find out why populations of migratory animals are declining, and what scientists recommend to conserve and sustain these threatened species and their habitats.

Black holes and galaxies existed together during the first one percent of our universe’s existence. Find out why this upends conventional thinking on how stars, galaxies and black holes formed after the Big Bang.

Brain cells have a remarkable capacity to organize themselves. Find out how a new study explains the strikingly simple networking processes behind these vital connections.

White rhino extinction has reached the point where there are only two of the animals left on Earth. Find out how a team of veterinarians and conservationists has found a way to rescue this species using in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer.

Artemis II is NASA's planned, crewed mission to return to the moon. Find out why NASA has rescheduled the space flight and the delay’s implications for an eventual crewed lunar landing.

Cultural evolution refers to the way humans create tools and social systems to adapt to and shape their environments. Find out how the tension between our cooperative and competitive natures may be preventing us from solving the ecological crisis humanity faces.

Photosynthesis evolution remains a mystery to biologists. Find out how a new study sheds light on our understanding of this critical organic process by pushing the timeline of its origins back by over a billion years.

A military space plane called the Boeing X-37B blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center this week. Find out more about its secretive mission, and why it creates unnecessary tension between the United States and China.

Prehistoric herders in the high mountains kept small, diverse animal herds. Find how a new study reveals that their animal husbandry practices were far more sophisticated than previously thought.

COP 28 was a UN conference on climate change that wrapped up this week. Find out why many observers believe the results don’t go far enough and that the parties’ commitments are too vague to seriously address the climate crisis.

The heaviest chemical elements in the universe come from neutron stars. Find out how a new study shows that this process creates heavier atoms than anything we experience on Earth. 

Our sense of smell is often overlooked when we consider the tidal wave of artificial intelligence applications. Find out how a new machine-learning model can predict how a new chemical compound will smell without involving humans.

COP 28 is the upcoming UN conference on climate change. Find out why the mood leading into this global gathering is a blend of frustration, scepticism and just a faint trace of wary hope.

Blobs in the Earth’s interior mantle have been puzzling geologists for decades. Find out how a new study solves the mystery by linking them to an ancient planet that collided with Earth to form the Moon.

Remembrance Day in Canada commemorates the veterans who gave their lives in the First and Second World Wars, Korea and Afghanistan. Find out the topics on which I found myself reflecting during this annual moment of silence.

The carbon budget estimates how much more C02 we can emit into the atmosphere and still keep global warming below 1.5˚ C. Find out why a new study found that we only have a 50% change of meeting our climate targets.

Space junk is the debris left behind from spent rocket stages and defunct satellites. Find out why the discovery of space junk particles in the stratosphere has implications for our environment and climate.

The Gaza crisis has captured everyone’s attention over the past couple of weeks. Find out why the roots of the conflict, and its solutions, lie in all parties understanding and respecting universal human rights.

“Survival of the boring” describes a traditional view that evolution favours unremarkable, generalist species over innovation. Find out how a new study challenges that assumption by showing that diversity and innovation often drive evolutionary success.

The Orion Nebula is one of the most studied areas of star formation in the galaxy. Find out how the new James Webb Space Telescope has revealed previously unknown objects that defy our understanding of how stars and planets form.

The Indonesian hunter gatherers known as the Punan Batu have their own, secretive language that they sing instead of speaking. Find out how this trait, combined with their unique genetic background, gained them official recognition and legal rights as Indigenous peoples.

The Earth Species Project is using artificial intelligence (AI) to understand how animals communicate. Find out how learning to “talk to the animals” could boost animal conservation and welfare around the world.

Check out the Dare to Know Website at

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NASA appointed a new director of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) research this week. Find out what this new role entails and what NASA hopes to contribute by studying these anomalies.

“Music is the universal language,” we often hear, but how true is that maxim? Find out how a new study shows that people from diverse cultures can recognize the emotions expressed in songs.

Carbon offsets allow businesses and wealthy individuals to buy credits to compensate for failing to meet their carbon emission targets. Find out why the system isn’t helping the planet, and the reforms needed to make this emerging marketplace effective.

Lunar missions made the news twice this week, but for very different reasons. Find out why India is celebrating a technological triumph, while Russia is downplaying a catastrophic failure.

Climate Justice is the name of a movement recognizing the climate crisis as a threat to social justice. Find out why human rights group Amnesty International has issued a detailed policy briefing on global warming.

Hydrothermal vents are underwater springs that form on the ocean floor. Find out how an international scientific expedition surprised even themselves when they uncovered a new kind of ecosystem beneath one of these formations.

A giant exoplanet has been discovered orbiting a low-mass star. Find out why this finding challenges our understanding of planet formation and helps scientists decipher the origins of solar systems, including our own.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to investigations of  genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes of aggression. Find out why the International Criminal Court and  UN Independent Commission of Inquiry are working to hold Russian authorities accountable.

A galaxy without dark matter has come to light in the constellation Perseus. Find out why this poses a puzzle for astronomers and challenges cosmology’s explanation of how our universe began.

Creative people enjoy their idle time, and it’s often when fresh ideas inspire them. Find out how a new study shows we need to find time to relax with our thoughts in this hectic, digital age.

Animal origins have puzzled biologists ever since Darwin documented the process of natural selection. Find out how a new study of how fossils form helps scientists establish when animal life first arose on Earth.

The Euclid Space Telescope’s mission is to explore the composition and evolution of dark energy. Find out how its observations of over a billion galaxies aim to solve what scientists call cosmology’s greatest mystery.

Genius is an idea that humanity has accepted since the dawn of civilization. Find out why some scholars question the validity and value of the concept, with some even viewing it as a potential danger for society.

“Anthropocene epoch” is the term for a proposed geological era to represent the influence modern humanity has on our planet. Find out why a picturesque lake near Milton, Ontario is the chosen site to represent this new epoch.

Wildfire season in Canada runs every year from May through October. Find out why climate change is making this year’s forest fires the most intense and destructive ever recorded.

Also available as a text blog at daretoknow.ca/2023/06/10/wildfire-season-in-canada-and-climate-change/

Dying brains of some animals and humans show some remarkable brain wave activity. Find out why researchers want to find out  if these readings indicate some form of near death experience or hidden consciousness connected to the end of life.

Also available as a text blob at http://daretoknow.ca/2023/05/27/dying-brains-may-experience-surge-of-consciousness/

Dying brains of some animals and humans show some remarkable brain wave activity. Find out why researchers want to find out  if these readings indicate some form of near death experience or hidden consciousness connected to the end of life.

Also available as a text blog at http://daretoknow.ca/2023/05/27/dying-brains-may-experience-surge-of-consciousness/

Environmental DNA (eDNA) comes from the traces of genetic material organisms shed as they go about their lives. Find out how our ability to analyze human eDNA samples is a mixed blessing for the fields of ecology and forensics.

Also available as a blog at http://daretoknow.ca/2023/05/20/environmental-dna-poses-scientific-and-ethical-dilemmas/

Mars exploration was in the headlines for several reasons during the month of April. Find out the latest exploits of NASA’s Ingenuity, Curiosity and Insight rover missions on the Red Planet.

Brain scans from a recent study enabled scientists to decode what people were thinking. Find out how the researchers used artificial intelligence to read minds, and how this new technology might help people who can’t speak or even change how we all communicate.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://daretoknow.ca/2023/05/08/brain-scans-enable-scientists-to-read-minds/

Quasar origins have been a mystery to astrophysicists since they discovered these quasi-stellar radio sources sixty years ago. Find out how a team of researchers discovered that quasars ignite when galaxies collide.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://daretoknow.ca/2023/04/29/quasar-origins-explained-by-studying-distant-galaxies/