Tiny Matters

Latest Episodes:

Introducing 'Tiny show and tell us' (send us your stories!) May 01, 2024

Show notes

Deboki and Sam put out a survey last month asking Tiny Matters listeners for feedback and were overwhelmed by the number of people who asked for more Tiny Matters episodes! At Tiny Matters, we like to give the people what they want, so we're going to begin releasing bonus episodes soon. But to do that, we need your help. If you're a regular Tiny Matters listener you are well aware of something called the Tiny Show and Tell. At the end of every episode, Deboki and Sam each take a few minutes to share a science discovery or piece of news or maybe a science article they came across and found fascinating. Now they want YOU to share something!

Email tinymatters@acs.org with some science news you’re itching to share, a cool science factoid you love telling friends about, or maybe even a personal science story. In these new “Tiny Show & Tell Us” bonus episodes, Deboki and Sam will read your emails out loud and then go a bit deeper into the tiny science of it all.

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

Arsenic, radium, and a locked room cyanide mystery: Poisons and the rise of forensic toxicology in early 1900s United States Apr 17, 2024

Show notes

At the beginning of the 1900s, New York City was in turmoil. Prohibition loomed, outbreaks of typhoid and an influenza pandemic had people on edge, and the city was steeped in corruption. One of the many consequences of that corruption was a completely inept coroners office. Instead of having trained medical examiners work out the causes of sudden and suspicious deaths, New York City coroners were politically appointed. And they didn’t have the slightest idea of how to do a thorough autopsy. They were sign painters and milkmen and funeral home operators and people who had done favors for the party. They bungled the cause of death so consistently and so dramatically that the police and the district attorney's office told coroners to stay away from their crime scenes.

This was a horrific situation, unless you were a poisoner. In January, 1915, New York City’s government released a report saying that murderers were easily escaping justice and that “skillful poisoning can be carried on almost with impunity.” In this episode of Tiny Matters, we chat with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Deborah Blum, the author of The Poisoner’s Handbook, about the rise of forensic toxicology in the United States. Listeners will be taken on a journey through some of the disturbing poisoning cases of the time that helped lay the groundwork for the field — with a focus on arsenic, radium and cyanide — and the pivot role medical examiner Charles Norris and chemist Alexander Gettler played in restoring public safety and finally stopping poisoners in their tracks.

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! We love our listeners and we want to bring you more of what you like! Head to bit.ly/tinypodsurvey to give us feedback and help us make Tiny Matters even better. The survey should take no more than 5-10 minutes to fill out. Your motivation? Filling out the survey will enter you into a Tiny Matters mug raffle!

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.

IVF: The history, science and struggle that gave rise to a life-changing technology Apr 03, 2024

Show notes

On July 25th, 1978, in the northwest of England, a baby was born. On its surface, that’s not a big statement — babies are born every single day. But this birth attracted media attention from around the world. The baby’s name was Louise Brown, and she was the first baby born from in vitro fertilization, or IVF. In this episode of Tiny Matters, we answer a question that came from a listener who asked, “How on earth did they come up with IVF?” They cover the science behind IVF, the research and people — both scientists and patients — that made it possible, how it has improved over the years, and both the historical and current challenges it faces.

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!

We love our listeners and we want to bring you more of what you like! Head to bit.ly/tinypodsurvey to give us feedback and help us make Tiny Matters even better. The survey should take no more than 5-10 minutes to fill out. Your motivation? Filling out the survey will enter you into a Tiny Matters mug raffle!

Check out Strange By Nature 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.

Win a Tiny Matters mug by filling out this survey! Mar 26, 2024

Show notes

Tiny Matters listeners are THE BEST and we want to bring you more of what you like! Head to bit.ly/tinypodsurvey to give us feedback and help us make Tiny Matters even better.
The survey should take no more than 5-10 minutes to fill out. Your motivation? Filling out the survey will enter you into a Tiny Matters mug raffle!
Thank you in advance <air hug>

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

Who invented lawns? From Cretaceous grass to modern turf with That's Absurd Please Elaborate Mar 20, 2024

Show notes

This week, we are joined by Trace Dominguez and Julian Huguet, the hosts of That’s Absurd Please Elaborate, a podcast where they do serious research to answer silly questions like, "What if the world had more sheep than people?" and "What would happen if you filled a volcano with concrete?" In this episode of Tiny Matters, Trace and Julian answer the question, "Who invented the lawn?" It may sound like a question with a simple answer, but that is not the case! (Not even close). Their story begins in the Cretaceous period and ends with the lawns we know — and waste a whole lot of water on — today. This episode brings the perfect Tiny Matters mix of interesting science, fascinating history, important societal context and a sprinkle of goofiness. Learn more about That's Absurd Please Elaborate here. Support the show by picking 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.

What hibernating bears and 'couch potato' cavefish are teaching us about blood clots and fatty liver disease Mar 06, 2024

Show notes

Although we look very different from many of the other creatures on this planet, we’re more connected than you might think. Our evolutionary history means we share many of the same genes and physiology, and that’s not just cool to think about — it’s useful. Because it means that, to learn about the things we lack or wish we could do better, we can study the exceptional abilities of other animals.
In today's episode, Sam and Deboki cover two species with extreme lifestyles— brown bears and Mexican cave fish — and what they are teaching us about avoiding blood clots and fatty liver disease, and how that could unlock the potential for new treatments. In this week’s Tiny Show and Tell, Sam asks "What is a species?" and Deboki ponders how a mushroom could grow out of a living frog.
Links to the Tiny Show & Tell stories are here and here. Support the show by picking 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.

Listener Q&A: Methanol poisoning, quantum entanglement, biomimicry, sea foam snakes, tiny discoveries in 2023, and more! Feb 21, 2024

Show notes

It's happening again! A Tiny Matters Q&A and mug giveaway! Sam and Deboki answer listener questions about science, like, ‘Is it true that when we think of a memory we are actually remembering the last time we thought of the memory?,’ ‘Why do differently colored cats have such differing personalities,’ and ‘What is quantum entanglement?,’ plus questions about methanol poisoning, sea foam, science podcasting, and what Sam and Deboki would ask Bill Nye if given the chance. They wrap up the episode with a drawing where five lucky listeners win a Tiny Matters coffee mug!

To support Tiny Matters, pick up a 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.

Let's talk about love: Is oxytocin really the 'love drug'? How do we stay in love? And how do our brains adapt to the deaths of people we love? Feb 07, 2024

Show notes

Love is everywhere: In friendships, in romance, in the songs we listen to, books we read, and movies we see. So whether you love love, hate love, or are somewhere in between, you’re still hearing about it all the time. And that means you’ve probably learned about a molecule called oxytocin, aka the ‘love hormone’ or ‘love drug.’ Oxytocin was at first considered a hormone strictly for childbirth and nursing. But, starting around 50 years ago, research began to shed light on the vastness of its importance, in part with the help of cute little animals called prairie voles, one of very few species in the animal kingdom who form monogamous bonds. In this episode, we unpack what we've learned oxytocin can and can't do, why you can't reduce love down to a single molecule, what happens when we not only fall in love but stay in love, and how our brains adapt to the loss of a loved one.

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.

Did mating with Neanderthals make us morning people?: What ancient DNA tells us about the messiness of human evolution Jan 24, 2024

Show notes

In the winter of 1829, Dutch-Belgian anthropologist Philippe-Charles Schmerling discovered a fossil in a cave in Engis, Belgium — what looked like the partial skull of a small child. Schmerling is often called the father of paleontology, but even he had no idea what he had stumbled upon. Decades later, as other similar fossils came to light, the significance of Schmerling’s finding became clear: it was the skull of a child Neanderthal. It was not only the first Neanderthal fossil ever uncovered — it was the first fossil to be recognized as early human. Although Neanderthals died out around 40,000 years ago, advances in genetic sequencing have revealed that their DNA lives on in all of us today — in our immune systems, vulnerability to certain diseases and, as more recent work has found, the likelihood of being an early riser or "morning person."

In this episode, Sam and Deboki unpack the ancient human journey and the complicated web of relationships between ancient human species. Although Homo Sapiens are the only surviving humans today, for hundreds of thousands of years we were not alone.

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.

Win a Tiny Matters coffee mug ROUND TWO! Submit your questions! Jan 02, 2024

Show notes

Last fall Sam and Deboki did a Q&A/mug giveaway episode and it was a hit. Round 2 it is! Anyone living within the U.S. is eligible.
Entering the raffle is easy. Just send your question(s) to tinymatters@acs.org.

Questions can be about a previous episode, some science thing you're dying to know the answer to, a question about podcasting, a question about science communication (scicomm) more broadly ... the sky’s the limit!
Just sending in a question enters you into a raffle to win a Tiny Matters mug, and if Sam and Deboki answer your question during the Q&A episode your name will be entered into the raffle twice. At the end of the episode, Sam and Deboki will draw 5 names out of a hat and send each of those people their very own snazzy Tiny Matters mug.
Submit questions to tinymatters@acs.org through the end of the day on Friday, January 19th, 2024.

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

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