Tiny Matters
by Multitude
Latest episode
[CHAIN REACTION] The Antibiotics Boom, Bust, and Search for What's…
[CHAIN REACTION] The Antibiotics Boom, Bust, and Search for What's…
About this podcast
Science shapes every facet of our lives, but so much of its influence is overlooked or buried in the past. Tiny Matters is an award-winning science podcast about the small science of big things. From the microbes behind deadly diseases to the molecules informing our search for extraterrestrial life, hosts and former scientists Sam Jones and Deboki Chakravarti embrace the awe and messiness of science and its significance both today and in the past, asking questions like, "how was IVF invented?," "what do glaciers tell us about Earth’s ancient past?," and "why is smallpox the only human infectious disease we’ve eradicated?"
Tiny Matters is created by the American Chemical Society, a non-profit scientific organization based in Washington, D.C., and is produced by Multitude. New episodes every Wednesday, wherever you listen to podcasts.
Episodes
The newest 20 of 197 episodes
- [CHAIN REACTION] The Antibiotics Boom, Bust, and Search for What's Next: The Drugs That Shape Us, Episode 1 · 51 minThrough a few serendipitous discoveries, antibiotics changed the course of history by turning deadly infections into manageable sicknesses. But it didn’t take long for bacteria…
- Next week: 'The Drugs That Shape Us,' from Chain Reaction · 1 minWe'll be publishing a 4-episode miniseries from our sister podcast Chain Reaction over the course of the next 4 weeks! Where Tiny Matters episode span all the scientific fields…
- Secrets in the peat: Ghost lights, bog bodies, and life built on death · 36 min · Episode 121For centuries, ghostly lights floating over bogs have appeared in folklore. Known by names including will-o'-the-wisp, corpse candles, and ‘Lantern Jack,’ they’ve inspired…
- [BONUS] The ‘Tyrant Lizard Queen’ and how evolution shaped our anxious brains: Tiny Show and Tell Us #58 · 33 minWe explore the evolutionary root of anxiety and learn about our favorite lizard queen: T. rex.
- The canaries in the coal mine: How sentinel species monitor our world · 31 min · Episode 120Scientists rely on certain organisms, referred to as sentinels, to reveal hidden environmental threats.
- [BONUS] Decoding dinosaur colors and the failure of postpartum care: Tiny Show and Tell Us #57 · 19 minWe cover how scientists know the colors of some dinosaurs and why maternal mortality rates in wealthy countries like the U.S. and Canada have risen.
- How do you save a species?: Breakthroughs from cheetahs, red wolves, and 'spicy' toads · 42 min · Episode 119Extinction requires far more than protecting habitat alone.
- [BONUS] Milking spiders and why this scientist’s grave is covered in gifts: Tiny Show and Tell Us #56 · 33 minIn this episode of Tiny Show and Tell Us, we first discuss funnel-web spiders, who are among the most venomous spiders on Earth. Maybe somewhat paradoxically, their toxins are…
- Biofilms: The sticky, slimy communities behind some of medicine's toughest infections · 37 min · Episode 118From your teeth to your lungs, biofilms help bacteria hide and thrive.
- [BONUS] ‘Drinking Grandma,’ digital cadavers and debunking a grave robbing myth: Tiny Show and Tell Us #55 · 23 minFrom arsenic-filled embalming fluid to VR anatomy labs, we discuss how we’ve preserved and learned from the dead over millennia.
- The Shroud of Turin: American Medieval x Tiny Matters crossover episode · 1 h 6 minIn this special bonus episode, we join American Medieval with host Matthew Gabriele, a professor of medieval studies and who knows about a LOT of history that we don’t. We're…
- Foraminifera: The one-celled predators that shaped our planet (and kept the receipts) · 37 min · Episode 117Single-celled marine organisms called foraminifera may be microscopic, but they've had an outsized impact on life on Earth.
- [BONUS] Dangerously tiny frequencies, endometriosis tests, and cookies made from ... plastic?: Tiny Show and Tell Us #54 · 26 minDangerous resonance on the power grid, blood tests for endometriosis on the horizon, and scientists converting plastic into cookies.
- Giant viruses: How these amoeba-infecting behemoths are rewriting the rules of virology · 36 min · Episode 116Giant viruses have upended how we think of these common pathogens.
- [BONUS] Fairy tale evolution and the 400(ish) year old elusive Greenland shark: Tiny Show and Tell Us #53 · 31 minHow scientists are using evolutionary methods to reconstruct the history of folktales and the debate over the age of the elusive Greenland shark.
- From cow’s milk to blood banks: The surprising evolution of blood transfusions · 36 min · Episode 115We trace the fascinating history of blood transfusions.
- [BONUS] Bread clip taxonomy and power poles on fire: Tiny Show and Tell Us #52 · 18 minHow humble plastic bread bag clips that have inspired an entire taxonomy and the perfect conditions for a power pole to go up in flames.
- Placebo: Why ‘fake’ treatments can have real power · 37 min · Episode 114A sugar pill shouldn't work as well as a real drug ... except sometimes it does.
- [BONUS] A pathology lab, a sausage duel, and the fascinating lives of yeast: Tiny Show and Tell Us #51 · 23 minA pathology lab worker shares their experience and we unpack the importance of yeast in the foods we love.
- Fireworks over millennia: From battlefields and royal displays to sustainable spectacles · 31 min · Episode 113In medieval Europe, people who worked with early cannons and gunpowder were viewed as untrustworthy, boorish outsiders. But just a few centuries later, as they began creating…
