Tiny Matters

The Shroud of Turin: American Medieval x Tiny Matters crossover episode

In 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. W

Introducing What Could Go Right?

We'd like to recommend a podcast called What Could Go Right, from the Progress Network. It's a refreshingly different perspective on the news and issues like sustainabili

Foraminifera: The one-celled predators that shaped our planet (and kept the receipts)

Single-celled marine organisms called foraminifera may be microscopic, but they've had a massive impact on life on Earth. They also leave behind intricate shells that hav

[BONUS] Dangerously tiny frequencies, endometriosis tests, and cookies made from ... plastic?: Tiny Show and Tell Us #54

In this episode of Tiny Show and Tell Us, we discuss new blood tests and research into blood biomarkers that could make diagnosing endometriosis faster and less invasive.

Giant viruses: How these amoeba-infecting behemoths are rewriting the rules of virology

Scientists spent decades searching for viruses by filtering out anything too large to be one. That strategy seemed to work well... until it didn't. When researchers disco

[BONUS] Fairy tale evolution and the 400(ish) year old elusive Greenland shark: Tiny Show and Tell Us #53

In this episode of Tiny Show and Tell Us, we explore how scientists are using evolutionary methods to reconstruct the history of folktales like Little Red Riding Hood, Be

From cow’s milk to blood banks: The surprising evolution of blood transfusions

Before modern blood transfusions, doctors tried some odd alternatives, including cow's milk. In this episode, we trace the fascinating history of blood transfusions, from

[BONUS] Bread clip taxonomy and power poles on fire: Tiny Show and Tell Us #52

In this episode of Tiny Show and Tell Us, we dive into the surprisingly elaborate world of occlupanids: the humble plastic bread bag clips that have inspired an entire ta

Placebo: Why ‘fake’ treatments can have real power

A sugar pill shouldn't work as well as a real drug ... except sometimes it does. In this episode, we explore the fascinating science of the placebo effect and how expecta

[BONUS] A pathology lab, a sausage duel, and the fascinating lives of yeast: Tiny Show and Tell Us #51

In this episode of Tiny Matters, a listener who works in a pathology lab explains how even the ickiest specimens become ho-hum with time, sending Sam and Deboki down a ra

Fireworks over millennia: From battlefields and royal displays to sustainable spectacles

In 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 crea

Introducing What Could Go Right?

We'd like to recommend a podcast called What Could Go Right, from the Progress Network. It's a refreshingly different perspective on the news and issues like sustainabili

[BONUS] The ‘elite neutralizers’ immune to HIV and why galaxies ‘FART’: Tiny Show and Tell Us #50

This week on Tiny Show and Tell Us, a listener introduces us to "FARTs" — a silly acronym for galactic gas outflows — and sends us down a rabbit hole of dying stars and r

Collisions in space: Satellites, space debris, and the quest to clean up Earth's orbit

We tend to think of space as vast and mostly empty, yet the region just above Earth is far from it. In this episode, we explore the surprising congestion of low Earth orb

[BONUS] A nitrogen asphyxiation disaster and why ears are incredible: Tiny Show and Tell Us #49

In this episode of Tiny Show and Tell Us, we unpack a tragic NASA accident in 1981 when technicians, preparing for the maiden voyage of Space Shuttle Columbia, were accid

The Challenger disaster: How a NASA tragedy led to a safer Artemis II

When Artemis II lifted off this past April, marking humanity’s return to the Moon, people across the world were captivated. It was a triumph decades in the making, but al

[BONUS] The ‘Plankton Manifesto’ and the birth of MRI: Tiny Show and Tell Us #48

In this episode of Tiny Show and Tell Us, we dive into the Plankton Manifesto and why these drifting, diverse organisms are so essential to life on Earth. Then we trace t

When movies caught fire: The history and science of nitrocellulose film

Did you know that over 75% of silent films have disappeared? The culprit: highly flammable film! We open this episode of Tiny Matters with a poker bet, a decades long gru

[BONUS] Von Willebrand disease and how old is the air in your lungs?: Tiny Show and Tell Us #47

In this episode of Tiny Show and Tell Us, a listener asks: Could we still be carrying air from our very first breath? Deboki unpacks residual lung volume, gas exchange, a

‘Clean beauty’: Cosmetics, chemophobia and the anti-vax pipeline

In the early 1930s, a “new and improved” eyelash dye called Lash Lure blinded more than a dozen women, ultimately forcing the FDA to pass new regulations on cosmetics. Ne