Tiny Matters

Latest Episodes:

Sewage and the Seine: From Mesopotamia messes and the 1858 Great Stink to today's flush toilets and fatbergs Jul 24, 2024

Show notes

The opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics is two short days away. As over 10,000 athletes gather in Paris, France, anticipation builds. But that anticipation is not just for the next 19 days of fierce competition, it’s also for the Seine. The Seine River is set to host events including the 10 kilometer marathon swim and the triathlon, but as the Games approached, much of the testing showed that the Seine was still teeming with dangerous levels of E. coli and other bacteria. And a lot of people are asking, "why is this river so dirty?" In today’s episode, we’re going to get into the interesting history of how people have dealt with sewage, from Mesopotamia times to today, and how the Seine, as well as a river Sam knows well — the Potomac — are trying to clean up their acts. We'll dive into questions like, 'Will it ever be legal to swim in the Potomac?' 'Did Thomas Crapper actually invent the cra... um, toilet?' 'How do you clean up dilapidated old mines that are poisoning a river?' and more.

Send us your science stories/factoids/news here for a chance to be featured on an upcoming Tiny Show and Tell Us episode and to be entered to win a Tiny Matters coffee mug! Subscribe to our newsletter at bit.ly/tinymattersnewsletter. Links to the Tiny Show & Tell stories are here and here. Pick up a Tiny Matters mug here! All Tiny Matters transcripts are available here.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

[BONUS] The disappearance of 10,000 skeletons and get those eyes outside: Tiny Show and Tell Us #2 Jul 17, 2024

Show notes

In this episode of Tiny Show and Tell Us, we cover a recent story about how spending time outdoors can help keep kids from becoming nearsighted and the mysterious absence of skeletons at the site of the Battle of Waterloo despite over 10,000 soldiers dying (and how the beet sugar industry may have played a gruesome role). Here's a link to 'Bones of contention: the industrial exploitation of human bones in the modern age' by Bernard Wilkin and Robin Schäfer. We need your stories — they're what make these episodes possible! Write in to tinymatters@acs.org *or fill out this form* with your favorite science fact or science news story you found captivating for a chance to be featured in a future episode and WIN a Tiny Matters coffee mug!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It’s sporty (science) summer: Cutting edge monitoring of sweat, and how decades of labiaplasty inspired a new bike saddle Jul 10, 2024

Show notes

This summer is a sports fan’s dream! Beyond some major soccer tournaments, Paris 2024 kicks off at the end of July. If you think about it, sports are science in motion, which means that buried in incredible athletic feats is a lot of data about how athlete bodies are using and responding to chemistry, biology and physics. That data is helping scientists design new or better tools for athletes.

Today, in honor of this very sporty summer, we delve into how scientists go about developing the equipment that helps move athletes, and how that equipment is holding importance for the medical field as well, for instance in diagnosing cystic fibrosis in infants. We will also cover the creative experiments one scientist did to design a better bike saddle for female pro cyclists, who endured decades of intense injuries that ultimately required many to undergo labiaplasties, until American racing cyclist Alison Tetrick came along and said “enough is enough.” Title IX may have revolutionized female sports participation, but until more recently building gender-specific sports equipment from the ground up was unheard of.

Email us your science stories/factoids/news at tinymatters@acs.org for a chance to be featured on an upcoming Tiny Show and Tell Us episode! Subscribe to our newsletter at bit.ly/tinymattersnewsletter. Links to the Tiny Show & Tell stories are here and here. Curious as to why mosquitoes might be obsessed with you? Check out this video! Pick up a Tiny Matters mug here! All Tiny Matters transcripts are available here.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Subscribe to the Tiny Matters newsletter! Jul 08, 2024

Show notes

We have exciting news! This Wednesday, July 10th, Tiny Matters is launching a newsletter! It will come out every 2 weeks, so about twice a month. We will not spam you, promise. You can subscribe at bit.ly/tinymattersnewsletter. So what will be in this newsletter you may ask? Well, it will of course alert you to the latest episodes, providing you some additional details here and there. We'll also share fun Tiny Matters video clips, tell you about recent science discoveries we can't stop thinking about, provide future episode teasers, get your input, let you know about any upcoming mug raffles, maybe share a pet photo or two... and really just have fun interacting with this community. We (Sam and Deboki) want to get to know you all better and we want you to get to know us!

Every subscription we get means a lot to us. We spend a lot of time on this podcast and all of the content surrounding it, and knowing that we're reaching our listeners is the best feeling!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

[BONUS] Parrotfish poop beaches and an altitude adaptation: Tiny Show and Tell Us #1 Jul 03, 2024

Show notes

In this episode of Tiny Show and Tell Us, we cover the role parrotfish poop may play in your next beach vacation and how the molecule 2,3-BPG helps people adapt to high altitudes and more. We need your stories — they're what make these episodes possible! Write in to tinymatters@acs.org *or fill out this form* with your favorite science fact or science news story you found captivating for a chance to be featured in a future episode and WIN a Tiny Matters coffee mug!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

‘Beef snow,’ sludge, and seafood fraud: How NIST standardizes everything from $1,143 peanut butter to house dust to keep us safe Jun 26, 2024

Show notes

Standard reference materials — or SRMs — at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) serve as standards for many food, beverage, health, industrial and other products. There are over a thousand SRMs including peanut butter, house dust, dry cat food, soy milk, blueberries, stainless steel, fertilizer, and a DNA profiling standard. SRMs help make products safer and ensure that consumers are getting what they think they’re getting. But how do they work exactly? In this episode of Tiny Matters, we cover SRMs that are helping us accurately detect toxic substances like lead and pesticides in our house dust, fight seafood fraud, and keep PFAS out of our meat. Sam also travels to the NIST headquarters outside of Washington, DC to get a behind the scenes tour of how SRMs are made. She even gets a chance to snoop around the warehouse where SRMs are stored.

Email us your science stories/factoids/news that you want to share at tinymatters@acs.org for a chance to be featured on Tiny Show and Tell Us! Tiny Matters has a YouTube channel! Full-length audio episodes can be found here. And to see video of Sam, Deboki, and episode guests, check out Tiny Matters YouTube shorts here. A video showing 'beef snow' and a bunch of other SRMs is here.

Links to the Tiny Show & Tell stories are here and here. Pick up a Tiny Matters mug here! All Tiny Matters transcripts are available here.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

From volcanoes and Swiftquakes to buzzing bees: How scientists use sound to understand our environment Jun 12, 2024

Show notes

At the end of 2016, a pilot reported that a volcano in Alaska called Bogoslof was erupting. Bogoslof had been quiet for 24 years, and there wasn’t any equipment on it that scientists could use to track its eruptions. But over the next 8 months, scientists were able to track at least 70 eruptions from Bogoslof, and they did so using something you might not expect: sound.

In this episode of Tiny Matters, we’ll cover what sound can tell us about events as big as volcanoes and ‘Swiftquakes’ and as small as the insect world, where researchers are using AI to track different insect species, leading to important discoveries that could help not just public health but agriculture and climate policy.

Email us your science stories/factoids/news that you want to share at tinymatters@acs.org for a chance to be featured on Tiny Show and Tell Us! Tiny Matters has a YouTube channel! Full-length audio episodes can be found here. And to see video of Sam, Deboki, and episode guests, check out Tiny Matters YouTube shorts here. Links to the Tiny Show & Tell stories are here and here. Pick up a Tiny Matters mug here! All Tiny Matters transcripts are available here.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Long COVID: What we’re learning about pathogens and chronic illness goes beyond COVID-19 May 29, 2024

Show notes

On March 11, 2020, after over 118,000 cases of COVID-19 had been reported in 114 countries, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. The term Long COVID began popping up across the globe shortly after. People with Long COVID experience any combination of a huge number of symptoms that range from gastrointestinal issues to brain fog to extreme exhaustion and an inability to do what were once pretty simple tasks like getting dressed, preparing meals, or even getting out of bed.

Although we have a ways to go before we understand a disease as complex as Long COVID, over the last few years scientists have made significant research strides and the millions of people suffering from Long COVID have brought light to health conditions including ME/CFS, that many people didn’t previously realize existed. In this episode, you’ll hear from an ME/CFS researcher, a Long COVID patient about her difficult and winding experience to understand what was happening in her body following a COVID infection, and a journalist and author who recently wrote a book on Long COVID.

Here's a link to Ryan Prior's book, The Long Haul: How Long Covid Survivors Are Revolutionizing Health Care. And here's a list of Long COVID resources:

https://www.covid.gov/be-informed/longcovid

https://solvecfs.org/solve-long-covid/long-covid-resources/

https://www.bu.edu/ceid/training-education/long-covid-resources/

https://longcovidalliance.org/

Links to the Tiny Show & Tell stories are here and here. Want to watch Sam talk about the (proposed) connection between lead and the fall of the Roman Empire? Watch that video here. Pick up a Tiny Matters mug here! All Tiny Matters transcripts are available here.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Mysteries in the museum: How textile conservators investigate and preserve historic clothing May 15, 2024

Show notes

A week ago, the Metropolitan Museum of Art held its 2024 Met Gala — a yearly event to raise money for the Costume Institute. The gala also marks the opening of the Costume Institute's annual show, which this year is called "Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion." The idea behind this exhibit is to showcase pieces from the museum's collection that are too delicate to show on mannequins. Instead, the exhibit will feature recreations of the pieces using AI and 3-D techniques, along with sound and smell. But what about textiles that museums choose to display — how is science used to maintain these incredible, often fragile, pieces of the past?
In this episode of Tiny Matters, Sam and Deboki cover the fascinating textile landscape, from plant-based fibers to the evolution of modern synthetic materials and the investigative approaches used to preserve not just these fabrics but also the stories they tell and the cultural significance they hold.
We have a YouTube channel! Full-length audio episodes can be found here. And to see video of Sam, Deboki, and episode guests, check out Tiny Matters YouTube shorts here!
Links to the Tiny Show & Tell stories are here and here. Pick up a Tiny Matters mug here! All Tiny Matters transcripts are available here.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The curable disease that kills someone every 20 seconds: Tuberculosis (ft. John Green) May 01, 2024

Show notes

Every year, tuberculosis claims over a million lives despite being curable. Tuberculosis or TB is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. About 5–10% of people infected with TB will eventually get symptoms. In the early stages a TB infection might cause chest pain, a cough, night sweats, and loss of appetite. But eventually it could create holes in the lungs and cause you to cough up blood. And of course, TB can be deadly. In this episode of Tiny Matters, we talk with TB researcher Uzma Khan as well as John Green, the author of books including The Anthropocene Reviewed, Paper Towns, The Fault in Our Stars, and Turtles All the Way Down. John is also the co-creator of Crash Course and one half of the vlogbrothers — the other half being his brother Hank Green, who we chatted with on the show last year. Although he's best known as an author and YouTuber, last summer John made headlines for something else: fighting for more equitable access to tuberculosis treatments, particularly bedaquiline, an incredibly effective and essential medicine for patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis.

In this episode, Sam and Deboki cover the science and history of this devastating yet treatable disease, the recent public pressure on companies that is leading to increased treatment and testing access, and clinical trials that make John and Uzma hopeful that one day this humanity-plaguing disease could be gone. If you’d like to learn more, go to tbfighters.org. You can also subscribe to John’s newsletter: tbfighters.org/newsletter.

Links to the Tiny Show & Tell stories are here and here. Pick up a Tiny Matters mug here! All Tiny Matters transcripts are available here.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected