Latest from Bob McDonald
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Bob McDonald’s Top 10 Science Stories of 2025
In no particular order, Bob McDonald reviews 10 of the most fascinating accomplishments and noteworthy science news events of 2025.
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25 years ago, we imagined what science would be like in 2025. What we got right — and wrong
On October 14, 2000, we aired our 25th anniversary show, where we imagined what science would look like in the distant year 2025. Now, we look back and see how our predictions fared.
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One 'light day' for Voyager 1, a half a lifetime for this science journalist
Bob’s Blog: "It's been a profound experience to actually feel how slow we are by watching myself grow old as we take our first baby steps among the stars"
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The 'Internet of Animals' has new eyes in space to soon track wildlife from above
Bob's Blog: A project designed to track thousands of animals from space, which was halted due to the Russia-Ukraine war, has just returned to space better than ever.
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After 10 years of delay, the controversial Thirty Meter Telescope may finally get built — in Spain
Bob's Blog: A long-delayed project to build the largest telescope in the Northern Hemisphere atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii has been given new life, as Spain has offered new funding and a new location on the island of La Palma.
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ChatGPT may help you find information faster, but you learn less
Bob McDonald’s Blog: Recent studies show that using chatbots like ChatGPT may get us information faster than ever before, but we’re not gaining much knowledge by using it.
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Spacecraft designed to study the effect of solar storms delayed by a solar storm
Bob’s Blog: NASA’s latest mission, designed to study the effects of the solar wind on the atmosphere of Mars, was ironically delayed on the launch pad due to a solar storm affecting conditions here on Earth.
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How NASA’s proposed budget cuts could threaten the future of space exploration
A tremendous effort is underway at NASA to send humans to Mars and return astronauts to the moon, including the flight of Canadian Jeremy Hanson on Artemis II early next year. Meanwhile, every other research program at the space agency is facing cuts. The US administration has proposed a 24 per cent cut to NASA’s budget, which would make it the smallest NASA budget since before human spaceflight programs began in 1961.
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Mars spacecraft observed this interstellar comet — and no, it's not an alien spaceship
An alien comet passing through our solar system made its closest approach to Mars recently, and two European robotic spacecraft orbiting the red planet turned to take a look.
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50 Years of Quirks & Quarks and half a century of science
As Quirks & Quarks celebrates its 50th anniversary, Bob McDonald looks back at a half century of science and peers forward to the next 50 years.