How dandelion seeds take flight, and more…
5/15/202654 min
In a study inspired by a field of dandelions, researchers wanted to know why, when you blow on a dandelion seed head, only the seeds closest to you take flight. They found that a dimple in the seed heads where the seed attaches is larger on one side than the other, and that the seeds consistently broke off from the smaller side of that dimple. Once they take flight, each dandelion seed uses its unique shape to catch a ride on the wind.
PLUS:
- Infrasound, not ghosts, may be why old buildings give us the heebie-jeebies
- These arms are made for lovin'. How male octopuses find their mates
- From the archives: Donald Johanson on the discovery of 'Lucy,' our missing link
- Virtual hearts help doctors fix patients’ life-threatening irregular heart beats
- Quirks Question: What’s the benefit for trees being evergreen?
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsSpeaker 10:00
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Speaker 20:28
[upbeat music stinger] This is a CBC podcast.
Bob McDonald· Host0:32
[upbeat music] Hi, I'm Bob McDonald. Welcome to Quirks & Quarks. On this week's show, how inaudible sounds from old pipes in an abandoned house, not poltergeists, may be what's leaving you spooked.
Rodney Schmaltz· Guest0:50
They might feel like there's some tension in their chest or the hair on the back of their neck goes up, and I think we might have at least a partial explanation for why that might be, and it's not ghosts.
Bob McDonald· Host0:59
And an accidental discovery of how octopuses find mates in the deep, dark ocean.
Nick Bellono· Guest1:05
What we didn't expect was actually that the male put this specialized arm through one of these holes, was able to identify the female, and initiate mating.
Bob McDonald· Host1:15
Plus, the physics of dandelion seeds, virtual hearts for life-saving treatment, a question about conifers, and an archival interview with the paleoanthropologist who unearthed Lucy. All this today on