We talk to authors of some of this year’s most fascinating science books in our annual Holiday Book Show.

INCLUDING:

• Questioning the purpose of whale song — for love or echolocation?
• Journeying through deep geological time to better tackle problems of the future
• Biological sex is complicated but that's what helps animals like humans thrive
• Mini reviews of: The Martians by David Baron, Dinner With King Tut by Sam Kean and The Mind Electric by Pria Anand.

Next stop - the moon! Jeremy Hansen stops by our studio to chat about how he’s prepping to be the first Canadian to go to the moon.

Plus:

Santa’s reindeer may be losing their antlers –– and climate change could be the culprit

Reindeer are the only animal in the deer family where the females also grow antlers, and they typically have a full rack over the wintertime and drop them in June when they give birth. University of Guelph PhD student Allegra Love was monitoring reindeer on Fogo Island in Newfoundland, when she made a surprising discovery that female reindeer are losing and growing their antlers much earlier than usual. This can put more stress on the animal during a crucial part of their pregnancy, and the researchers think this could eventually lead to the reindeer losing their antlers altogether. The work was published in the journal Ecosphere.

Pterosaur brains reveal clues about why these mighty fliers took to the skies

Flight has only evolved among vertebrates three times — in bats, birds, and first in pterosaurs. How pterosaurs first took to the skies was always a mystery to scientists, until the discovery of a fossilized 230-million year old pterosaur relative in Brazil. An international team, including Ohio University professor Lawrence Witmer, used an MRI for detailed analysis of the fossilized skull, to pinpoint the miniscule brain changes that happened as the animal developed the capacity to fly. The research was published in the journal Current Biology.

Scientists are using AI to find life in 3 billion year old rocks

Earth’s earliest signs of life are often incredibly difficult to detect. An international team of researchers have developed a new tool that uses AI to find “whispers” of life locked inside ancient rocks. Using this tool, the researchers, including astrobiologist Michael Wong from Carnegie Science, were able to detect fresh chemical evidence of life in rocks that are more than 3.3 billion years old. This tool can not only be used to explore the origins of life here on Earth, but also on Mars and other planetary bodies. The work was published in the journal PNAS.

Scientists are shedding light on the strange, car-sized, armoured fish that lived 360 million years ago in what is now Cleveland.

Plus:

The cosmic collider that gave us our moon came from our own solar system, soccer fanatics' brains are wired differently than regular fans, industrial chemicals are hurting our microbiome, and scientists are using our brains to build a better computer.

On this week’s episode: a mini tyrannosaur is a new species, ants redesign to avoid illness, toxic lead gave humans the edge over Neanderthals, invasive fish are evolving to avoid eradication attempts, and how big mining projects — and attempts to hurry them along — can spell bad news for the environment.

This week: bees trained to keep track of time, eating small amounts of plastic can kill ocean animals, scientists spot winds blowing from our black hole, a "one-two punch" earthquake may be coming for the Pacific coast and what “drunken trees” can tell us about our warming climate.

On this week's episode: tracking down a stellar explosion, climate apathy, arctic foxes are key in northern food web, why golf balls lip out of holes and making snake bites less deadly.

On this week's episode: studying a rare visitor to our solar system, eating saturated fats can mess with our internal clocks, holding hands with our 2 million year old ancestors, woodpeckers drill into trees like hammers, and the pros and cons of geoengineering.

On this week's episode: selling sunlight on demand, rhinos roamed Canada’s Arctic 23 million years ago, making a more precise parachute using kirigami, the winner of this year's prestigious Gerhard Herzberg Gold Medal and uncovering widespread scientific fraud.