The Big Question: “Is snow really white?” DESCRIPTION: With the help of an animal expert, Harrison finds out how chameleons change color and viewers find out if they’re lion sighted in a color blindness test. A physicist explains why there are some colors that we can’t see, and viewers get a bug’s eye view of the world in order to discover how bugs see things that are invisible to humans! Harrison carries out an experiment to see if kids will turn their noses up at a batch of blue scrambled eggs! My Great Challenge: In this week’s challenge, viewers have to make colors - with other colors! In the Field: Harrison takes to the skies in an Air Force search and rescue helicopter for a high-flying experiment to find out why some colours attract our eye more than others.
The Big Question: “Are mosquitoes good for anything, or are they just annoying?” Description: Harrison visits an entomologist who explains to him how insects that eat insects can replace the poison farmers use to keep bad bugs away from their crops. Harrison is joined by a biologist who puts on a fascinating show and tell with all kinds of live bugs. He then puts school kids to the test by asking them to eat everyday products that most of us don’t realize contain…you guessed it…bugs! And viewers find out that a lot of household products are made using insects (everything from carpets to lipstick!). My Great Challenge: Harrison sets up a face-off between Team Bee and Team Butterfly to see who the best pollinator is! In the Field: Our roving correspondent Sidney visits a food scientist and a chef who cook her up a tasty bug stir-fry! Finding Stuff Out is a lively science-oriented series which, instead of imposing adult notions on kids about what they should know, gives them what they want: answers to the questions that matter to them the most!
The Big Question: “Why does the moon follow us?” Synopsis: Harrison investigates intriguing facts about the moon, like why people think wolves howl at the moon (they don’t), whether the moon really turns people into werewolves, who the first men on the moon were and why the moon appears to follow us. Viewers at home test out their jumping skills as Harrison demonstrates where we’d be without gravity! My Great Challenge: Using nothing more than a light, their wits, and funny headgear, challengers must figure out why the moon is sometimes full and why at times, it disappears! In the Field: Harrison goes to…the Moon! Okay, maybe not the actual moon, but a simulated moonscape created by the Space Agency, where astronauts practice their extraterrestrial techniques and test out new equipment. There, a lunar geologist provides the answers to more kid questions, explaining how the Moon was formed and why there are craters.
The Big Question: “Can a horse and a pig communicate?” Harrison is visited by a very special guest - a parrot - and he tries to figure out if he can understand what it’s saying! Meanwhile, viewers get to test out their ability to communicate with dogs. Harrison also discovers why humans speak so many different languages. My Great Challenge: Kids use their hands to pantomime ideas in an effort to communicate like our distant ancestors. In the Field: Harrison sets off to the Sea Aquarium to see if dolphins can understand sign language.
The Big Question: “Why do bats sleep upside down?” Description: Harrison sets off on an investigation of such sleep phenomena as yawning, snoring, and sleepwalking. Along the way he shows kids how to make other people yawn and how to make it seem like they are fast asleep (with fake snoring!). Viewers get to find out what causes nightmares and how to make bad dreams go away. My Great Challenge: The challengers must have slept in today….there is no great challenge in this episode. In the Field: Harrison explores a sleep lab where he is hooked up to an EEG machine that monitors his brainwaves.
The Big Question: “Why can’t we fly?” Synopsis: With the aid of a wind-tunnel and a four-time national radio-controlled airplane champ, Harrison takes to the school yard to discover why some things fly better than others and viewers find out what it really takes to leave the ground. My Great Challenge: Challengers take part in a paper airplane experiment to see who can make the best wing. In the Field: Harrison goes out into the field with a bird trainer to get a close up look at two of the best flyers in the animal world - an owl and a falcon.
The Big Question: “Why does my hair stick to my chair?” Description: A physicist visits Harrison to explain how electricity is generated, and teaches us how it can be conserved. Viewers can take part in a fun experiment to see electricity at work in their own bodies. My Great Challenge: Kids race to complete a circuit! But before they can do anything they must find a way to transfer power over a short distance, from a battery to a light bulb, by determining what materials conduct electricity. In the Field: Harrison goes to the Sea Aquarium to visit a marine expert and some willing aquatic life to explore why electric eels don’t electrocute themselves and how sharks can detect our presence because of electricity!
The Big Question: “How come weather changes?” Description: Harrison is visited by a real-life television weatherman who shows us how he predicts the weather. Viewers will learn how to gauge wind strength and direction from famous storm chaser George Kourounis as Harrison talks to him live from a location in America’s Tornado Alley. My Great Challenge: Harrison and the weatherman create an in-studio challenge where kids try their hand at presenting a weather forecast in front of a green screen. In the Field: Terrible storms must be in the area today…there is no In the Field segment in this episode.
The Big Question: “Why do people hate the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard?” Harrison is joined by rapper and musician Kid Koala, a special guest canine, and opera singer Lindsay Michael. Individually, these experts help us find out about the delicate mechanisms that help us hear. The special guest canine helps Harrison figure out whether dog whistles really are silent, and Lindsay Michael tests out whether a person can actually shatter a crystal glass with their voice. Viewers at home find out if they have bat-like hearing! My Great Challenge: Kids must compete to see who can give our opera singer goose bumps by figuring out which material to scratch together to make the shriekiest sounds! In the Field: Harrison travels to the sea aquarium and discovers that certain fish may use sound to communicate – by farting at each other!
The Big Question: “Do dinosaurs eat people?” Harrison sets out to explore why it is that some animals evolve to be big, while others evolve to be small. He is visited by a miniature horse and its foal who help him find out why animals are bred to be different sizes. Viewers are encouraged to test their own ability to make themselves seem as big as possible! My Great Challenge: Challengers take part in a competitive (and tasty!) experiment to find out whether it’s an advantage for a predator to eat big or small prey (or to be big or small prey). In the Field: Harrison takes a trip to the aquarium to visit some of the biggest animals of all - whales!
The Big Question: “Why will things change when you get older?” An anthropologist and real-life expert in prehistoric tool-making teaches Harrison how to make Neanderthal knife blades and to paint like a “cave kid”. Harrison invites kids at home to join him in making simple machines – a wedge, an inclined plane, and a lever - using nothing more than a sheet of paper. My Great Challenge: Contestants must figure out how to adjust a simple catapult in order to see who can throw a toy monkey the furthest. In the Field: Harrison takes on an assembly line robot to see which of them can put a car together the fastest.
he Big Question: “How does your nose get runny?” Harrison is visited by a microbiologist who helps him take a close look at an invisible world and figure out how to stop viruses from hurting us. In the name of science, Harrison performs a top secret experiment at an elementary school to find out how quickly germs can spread. Viewers at home learn how to grow their own fungus. My Great Challenge: Harrison tests school kids by seeing who among them can get their hands the cleanest. In the Field: Roving reporter Sidney puts on a full containment suit and goes to a high-security lab where the most dangerous viruses in the world are studied. There, she discovers that not all germs are bad, and – surprise – we actually need some of them to survive!
The Big Question: “What would happen if someone cracked the Earth?” Synopsis: Harrison gets permission from his school to build a very large volcano and with the help of a real-life volcanologist he creates a grand finale in the form of one of the largest mentos and cola eruptions ever concocted on television! Viewers learn what to do if the earth starts shaking. My Great Challenge: Oozing lava must have swallowed up the challengers today. There is no great challenge in this episode. In the Field: Roving reporter Sidney visits an exhibition on volcanoes and earthquakes, and gets to make her own mini-earthquake. She meets an adventurer who goes down inside active volcanoes and gets a live demonstration of how his flame-proof suit works when one of his friends sprays him with liquid fire!
The Big Question: “Why do we have hair?” Synopsis: In a search to learn about the origins of hair, Harrison finds out about the cultural implications of different hairstyles – from mohawks to baldness. My Great Challenge: Harrison’s guest challengers must identify different types of animals from close-ups of their fur. In the Field: Harrison visits a hairstylist and finds out why our hair turns grey and how amazingly strong it is. He also visits an anthropologist with a big skull collection who explains to him why the gradual loss of our primordial “fur” helped shape us into the type of animal that humans are today.
The Big Question: “Do sea monsters really exist?” Finding out how crucial the ocean is to our ecosystem, Harrison discovers that although monsters might get the attention, it’s the little things that count. For example, a tiny creature called phytoplankton creates half of the oxygen that we breathe. Using potatoes, a marine biologist helps Harrison figure out how fish drink! My Great Challenge: Harrison hosts a challenge for his guests to figure out how to make plasticine float… then, with musical accompaniment, he reveals the identity of “the monster in the sea”. In the Field: Harrison visits the shark tank of a sea aquarium to find out if it’s true that sharks die if they fall asleep.
The final show of the first season brings together highlights of the previous fifteen episodes. The most amazing experts, incredible experiments, and entertaining animals – and the funniest bloopers - all come together to help Harrison’s first season go out with a big bang!
The Big Question: “Why when I build my castle tall, it always falls down?” Synopsis: Structures are things that we build, that make life easier, like a house or a bridge. Harrison finds out how animals have been building structures for millions of years, as well as the best way to build structures, to keep them strong and sturdy, and realizes that humans could learn a lot from beavers. My Great Challenge: Two teams of challengers build a bridge over dino-valley with marshmallows and pasta. Who will cross first, and who will be dino-dinner? In the Field: Harrison visits some really cool tree houses, and discovers that tension can be very relaxing.
The Big Question: “Why do we have to eat?” Synopsis: We have to eat, because our parents make us! But seriously, Harrison learns how good, healthy food helps us grow big and strong and smart, why foods taste different between boys and girls, and which junk foods disguise themselves to pretend that they’re healthy. My Great Challenge: How well do you know what’s in your food? Harrison surprises some challengers as they try to guess how much fat and sugar are in their favourite foods. In the Field: Yummy?? Bacon-flavoured popcorn is on the menu, washed down with onion soda. Harrison visits a company that makes flavours and creates some weird ones to share.
The Big Question: “Why can’t everything be solar powered?” Synopsis: Harrison takes a close look at the biggest star in our solar system – the sun, and learns that everything DOES run (at least indirectly) on solar power. Without the sun, we wouldn’t… we couldn’t, even be here! My Great Challenge: Before watches were invented, people used the sun as a clock. Harrison puts two challengers to the test to see if they can tell the time the ancient way. In the Field: Harrison takes a solar-powered boat cruise with its inventor.
The Big Question: “What would happen if you never cut your fingernails? Would they grow forever?” Synopsis: Every living creature that is born grows up. But HOW do they grow, and WHY do they stop growing? Harrison finds out if girls grow faster than boys and if you can make yourself grow taller. He also uncovers the real difference between humans and other creatures, and how scientists are working to make us more like salamanders. My Great Challenge: “Are you my Mommy?” Challengers race to match up photos of baby animals to their grown-up parents. In the Field: Harrison sees his future! The Vancouver Film School turns Harrison into an 80 year-old man!
The Big Question: “Do plants think?” Synopsis: Harrison discovers that plants are living things, and humans depend on them for survival not just for food and clothing, but also for the very air we breathe! Harrison investigates why flowers smell so nice and fruit tastes so good. My Great Challenge: Team Pine Tree and Team Maple race to see who sucks the most – water that is. In the Field: Harrison visits an organic farm to get the juice on grafting - naturally creating the strongest and best–tasting fruits and vegetables
The Big Question: “Why do some spiders have eight eyes?” Synopsis: How do we see? Why CAN’T we see some things? Why do cat’s eyes glow in the dark? Harrison sheds some light on one of our five most important senses: sight! He also learns that seeing more, doesn’t necessarily mean you can see well. My Great Challenge: Team Lion and Team Tiger search for camouflaged jelly beans. In the Field: Harrison visits 12-year old Tait in Calgary to learn how to have fun using your other senses, when you can’t see.
The Big Question: “Why are human teeth and animal teeth different?” Synopsis: Humans and animals have all different kinds of teeth because they eat all different kinds of things. Harrison finds out lots of new stuff about teeth, including why some are sharp and some are flat, why birds have beaks instead of teeth, and how overworked the poor Tooth Fairy is! My Great Challenge: Herbivore, carnivore or omnivore? Challengers guess if an animal is a meat eater, a plant eater or both based on their teeth. In the Field: Harrison visits his dentist, Dr. Cooperberg, to find out why taking care of his teeth is so important.
As Harrison prepares for his school science fair, he realizes that science is all around us. Highlights from this past season, including questions about the sun, plants, teeth and spiders, help prove his point.
Harrison investigates the stuff that holds us in: skin. With help from a special-effects make-up artist, he finds out the science behind scabs and bruises, and even learns how to make cool fish-monster scales. “How come humans don’t have scales?” Are parts of our skin more sensitive than others? Blindfolded challengers have to identify mystery objects rubbed against their foot, leg, and hands. Harrison goes to the beach with a skin scientist to test how sunscreen can protect UV-sensitive Frisbees from turning purple.
Harrison is on a quest to break a karate board with his bare hand, but first he’ll need some expert help – from a materials engineer and a karate master -- to understand the science behind why things break. Hiii-yaaa! “How can you break things with a karate chop?” Kids compete in an egg-drop challenge, to see what kind of padding materials can protect a raw egg when it’s dropped from a great height. Harrison has a dynamite time at a rock quarry when an expert helps him blow up rocks with real explosives!
Hold on to your nose! Harrison decides to do a show about, well, you know. He’s visited by a paleontologist who brings million-year-old fossils of dinosaur poop. “How do flowers poop?” Challengers have to pick apart fake animal poop to find bones, berries, and grass, and then guess whether the animal who made the poop was an herbivore, carnivore, or omnivore. Harrison and an animal biologist collect real animal poop in the woods, and then examine it in the lab. P-U!
Harrison finds out how a car works when a teenage race car driver brings her mini Formula 1 to Harrison’s house. “Is a Ferrari faster than a cheetah?” Challengers race remote-controlled cars along a track filled with obstacles to understand how road conditions can make driving hazardous. Harrison goes to a race track and gets to drive a real Ferrari! Then, with an expert driving instructor at the wheel, they burn rubber to see who’s faster – the Ferrari or a cheetah?
Harrison starts a pet-sitting service, but he’s soon overwhelmed by how much work it is -- especially when one of the pets turns out to be surprisingly wild. Fortunately, a zoo-owner friend helps him out. “Why don’t people have wild animals as pets?” Harrison’s studio is full of real animals – a bird, dog, hamster, and a cat. Challengers have to match various pet foods, toys, and other pet-care items to the correct pet before time’s up. Harrison visits a professional dog-trainer to get help with a particularly unruly puppy.
Someone took a bite out of Harrison’s cheese sandwich! Who was this nefarious nabber? To find out, Harrison brings in a detective and a forensics expert to collect fingerprints, DNA evidence, and other clues. “What clues do detectives need to figure out a crime?” How reliable is eyewitness testimony? To find out, challengers watch a video of a “crime,” and then Harrison and the detective quiz them about how much they remember. Harrison visits the world’s cutest crime fighters: police dogs! To test how they can sniff out a criminal, Harrison hides while the dogs follow their noses to find him.
Harrison wants to find out if he can really make gems from charcoal or gold from lead. A geologist guest shows him that other kinds of rocks are cool too, especially meteorites. Rocks rock! “When you squish a piece of coal, how does it turn into a diamond?” Challengers pan for gold in a stream, just like old-time miners. But watch out for fool’s gold! Harrison rappels down into a cave to see how stalactites and stalagmites are formed.
Harrison’s computer says that people do have tails. How is that possible?! To find out more about tails, Harrison invites animal experts who bring over a live kangaroo, skunk, marten, and snapping turtle. Turns out, different animals use their tails for different purposes. “Why don’t humans have tails?” Does a rabbit’s short tail make it harder to catch? To find out, challengers put on both long and short tails, and then have to run for their lives as “carnivores” try to catch them by the tail. Harrison visits a paleontologist at the natural history museum. By comparing vertebrate skeletons, Harrison discovers that tails – including our tailbones -- are evolutionary adaptations.
Harrison and a cheeky humanoid robot named Nao 1337 compete to see whether humans are better than robots. Along the way, Harrison discovers robots that’ll do everything from vacuum your room to play chess against grandmasters. “When will I have my own personal robot?” Kids from a champion robotics club strut their stuff as they compete to see who has the best robot. Harrison visits a tetraplegic who can do amazing things with her robotic arms.
Harrison’s water is shut off today because of a water main break, so he’s extra interested in how water is formed, and how we can conserve it. “Will water ever go extinct?” In some countries, kids have to carry water from a well instead of getting it from a sink. Our challengers compete to see how much of their daily water they can carry before time’s up. Harrison goes to fire-fighter training, where he puts out real fires with water.
To find out where dragon legends could have come from, Harrison goes on a quest to find the biggest, dragon-iest reptiles in the world. “Do dragons exist?” How can snakes move without legs? To find out, challengers squeeze into “snake suits,” then race to wriggle their way to the finish line. At a reptile zoo, Harrison handles real-life crocodiles and meets a cousin of the fearsome Komodo dragon.
Harrison wants to go to space, but first he’ll have to learn how to float in zero gravity, sleep “standing up,” and figure out how a rocket works. Fortunately, he knows some real astronauts who can help him out. “Can kids go into space?” Challengers in a “zero gravity” rig compete to see who can fix a broken satellite the fastest. At the Canadian Space Agency, Harrison samples astronaut food and learns how to “catch” a delivery of space groceries with the Canadarm2 robotic arm.
Harrison’s little sister decided to “improve” Harrison’s show by mixing up all the clips – and adding sparkly dancing unicorns. Now Harrison has to put his show clips back in order. As he goes through them, he notices that his sister picked clips that show how weird and surprising science is. Maybe she arranged them well after all (except for the sparkly unicorns, of course!).
Zoey - in her quest to make her own egg-salad sandwich from scratch - finds out where different foods come from, and how consumer choices (such as eating locally) can help the environment. But her biggest challenge is taking care of all the egg-laying chickens she borrows.
Zoey braves scorpions and tarantulas to discover why some animals have poison or venom - and to learn how we humans can protect ourselves.
Why do things change when they're frozen? Zoey risks ice cream brain freeze to find out - with a little help from her friends in the Arctic and a scientist who works at the North Pole. She finds out that some animals can survive being frozen, and that Inuit have invented ingenious strategies to help us humans survive in extreme cold.
After burning a batch of cookies, Zoey is determined to find out why heat makes some things melt and others burn - or even explode. A scientist guest will explode Gummi bears and shoot a tennis ball from a cannon, while Zoey finds out why cooking makes food easier to digest.
Scary animals might seem evil, but after meeting a bunch of creepy critters close up, Zoey finds out that they're just doing what they need to do to survive.
How does an octopus walk? Why do snails have shells? Zoey investigates a variety of soft-bodied invertebrates - including leeches. -- to find out how "squishy animals" get along without bones.
We often think that sticky is icky, but Zoey finds out that nature and technology use stickiness in all sorts of useful ways. From snot and glue to burrs and Velcro, the world needs sticky stuff.
Zoey zip-lines through the woods to discover how forests are important for animals, provide raw materials for useful products, and keep our planet healthy. Some forest critters even come visit her in her studio.
From camouflage to placebo effects to mirages in the desert, the world is full of things that trick our brain. Zoey investigates the science behind the illusions - with help from twin scientists who make her think she's seeing double.
Cuts, bee stings, broken bones - no one likes pain. But Zoey discovers that pain is actually useful - it's our body's way of telling us if we're hurt, sick, or in danger.
Not only is the world full of ingenious inventions - many of them were invented by kids. Zoey meets the next generation of Einsteins, to find out what they're inventing or discovering.
Birds of prey or "raptors", like falcons and hawks, use their sharp talons, beaks and incredible eyesight to catch and eat small animals, birds and insects. They might seem like bad guys, but like all predators they keep nature in balance. Without birds of prey, the animals and insects they eat might take over the world. My Great Challenge: In teams of two, challengers use their "talons" to see who can catch the most prey. In the Field: Zoey goes to a special summer camp where kids learn to train birds of prey.
There are many causes of water disasters, some natural, some created by us. But in every situation it's important to know what we can do to prevent, prepare for, and survive wild water. My Great Challenge: Water flows downhill, so the challengers must use sandbags and retaining walls to divert as much of it as possible away from the houses in the valley below. In the Field: Zoey visits the Vancouver Science World to learn about how water moves from the ocean to the clouds and back again. She also discovers how flooding can occur when there's TOO MUCH water.