Tiny Matters

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.

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, Sam and Deboki 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 Deboki and Sam 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. 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.

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.

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, Sam and Deboki 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.

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, Sam and Deboki 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.

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

This week, Sam and Deboki 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.

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.

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.

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, Sam and Deboki 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.

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.

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.

Today, Sam and Deboki are taking a look back at a handful of their favorite episode moments from the second year of Tiny Matters. And it just so happens to also be episode 50! Asteroid updates, atom-sized transistors, a world without photosynthesis, and more! Have suggestions for topics for 2024? Email us! tinymatters@acs.org. Pick up a Tiny Matters mug here! All Tiny Matters transcripts are available here.

A warning to listeners — this episode contains sensitive material surrounding homicide and assault. On November 29th, 2012, a group of men broke into the Silicon Valley mansion of 66 year old investor Raveesh Kumra. The men attacked and tied up both Raveesh and his ex-wife who was living there, and then ransacked the home for cash and jewelry. By the time the paramedics arrived, Raveesh — who had also been gagged with tape — had died of suffocation. A few weeks later, the police arrested 26 year old Lukis Anderson. Anderson, whose DNA had been found on Raveesh's fingernails, was charged with murder. But the night of the homicide, Anderson had actually been at a hospital many miles away, being carefully monitored. So how did his DNA get on Raveesh’s fingernails? In this episode of Tiny Matters, Sam and Deboki unpack the history and evolution of DNA profiling and how new, more sensitive, technologies can be both incredible tools for picking up trace amounts of DNA to home in on suspects and a huge liability that can lead to wrong convictions. 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.

The FDA drug approval process is known to be a lengthy and rigorous one. But the FDA-approved ingredient phenylephrine — found in common cold medicines like Sudafed, Mucinex, and NyQuil — was recently found to be no better than a placebo. Phenylephrine has been on store shelves for nearly 90 years. How could that happen? In this episode of Tiny Matters, Sam and Deboki are joined by none other than Deboki's dad, Deb Chakravarti. Deb is a professor with years of industry experience and the current director of the York College FDA Partnership. He helps dissect the FDA's recent findings and how its history and ever-evolving role in the pharmaceutical industry contributed to phenylephrine being used in oral cold medicines for so long. Deb, Deboki and Sam also unpack pharmaceutical ethics cases, like thalidomide in the 1950s and 60s, and the case of Vioxx in the early 2000s, which led to tens of thousands of deaths. Sam and Deboki cap off the episode with tiny show and tells about how the nose is really 2 noses (!) and the story of a new, ingestible, vitamin-sized capsule that could protect people from dying of an opioid overdose, sleep apnea, or other conditions that depress breathing. Check out PNAS Science Sessions here and wherever you listen to podcasts. 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.

In 2021, 80,411 people in the United States died of an overdose involving opioids, making up 75% of all drug overdose deaths that year. That’s also 10 times as many opioid overdose deaths as in 1999. How did we get here? In this episode, Sam and Deboki trace the origins of opioids, from opium and morphine to fentanyl, and scrutinize the significant role pharmaceutical companies played in kick starting the opioid crisis in the 1990s. Today, the highly potent opioid fentanyl has become the street supply of opioids, which has led to a steep incline in overdose deaths. On top of that, it can be adulterated with dangerous substances like xylazine or "tranq." Now more than ever, facilities focused on harm reduction are crucial. These facilities allow for safe needle exchange, which reduces the risk of transmitting diseases like HIV and hepatitis C, and also provide opioid users with treatment and access to other healthcare testing. Although the opioid crisis is a tragic reality in this country, harm reduction, increased opioid research funding, and hefty pharmaceutical company payouts are providing glimmers of hope. In the US, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has a National Helpline for individuals and family members facing mental and/or substance use disorders. It can be reached at 1-800-662-HELP (1-800-662-4357). It is confidential, free, in both English and Spanish, and open 24/7, 365 days a year. The helpline provides referrals to local treatment facilities, support groups, and community-based organizations. 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.

We often hear that dogs help lower our blood pressure, decrease our allergy risk, and even alert us to disease. But is there science behind those claims? In this episode of Tiny Matters, Sam and Deboki unpack some dog domestication history and fascinating research with Jen Golbeck and Stacey Colino, authors of the new book, The Purest Bond: Understanding the Human-Canine Connection. 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.

Happy spooky season, Tiny Matters listeners! In today’s episode, Sam and Deboki tackle two Halloween themed topics: The Salem witch trials and mummies. In 1692 and 1693 a series of hearings and trials took place in Salem, Massachusetts, leading to 19 people being executed, marking the last executions for witchcraft in the United States. Sam and Deboki speak with a researcher who has spent over a decade piecing together what did and probably did not happen during this time, helping unpack a popular (and highly flawed) theory that LSD from a fungus caused the Salem witch trials. She also offers up the more likely forces behind the hysteria. Sam and Deboki then travel back thousands of years to ancient Egypt and delve into the science behind mummification — from the 'grand experimentation' of the Old Kingdom mummies to the 'ideal' mummies of the 18th and 21st dynasties that look like they could wake up at any moment. Mummies were an integral part of the ancient Egyptian belief in divine transformation after death, but today there’s contention surrounding how they should be treated and if they should even be displayed for viewing. 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.

A couple weeks ago, NASA did something they’d never done before: they collected material from an asteroid and brought it back to Earth. These samples — harvested as part of the OSIRIS-REx mission — could tell us more about our planet's beginnings and even reveal information about the origins of life. But collecting samples from space doesn't come without risk. In this episode, we delve into the heated debates among geologists and biologists during the construction of the Lunar Receiving Laboratory (LRL) in the 1960s, in preparation for the Apollo 11 mission in 1969 — the first to put a human on the moon. We didn't bring back anything harmful, which is fortunate because flaws in protocols and the LRL design would not have prevented a moon microbial crisis here on Earth. But we can learn from those mistakes and apply what we now know to other fields such as artificial intelligence and climate change. 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.

Why do we need an influenza vaccine every year when there are many vaccines we only need to get once every few decades? In this episode, Deboki and Sam kick things off by covering the different strains of influenza that are most likely to cause, or already caused, pandemics. They also chat with experts about the new, more deadly strain of avian influenza — H5N1 — that has been making its rounds in the United States since January 2022, leading to the deaths of over 58 million birds, not just impacting farms and egg prices but wild bird populations. Sam and Deboki also delve into flu strain predictions each year — which dictate what’s in the vaccine, and aren’t always accurate — and the promise of a universal vaccine for not just flu but all pathogens, which could be crucial for saving lives early in a future pandemic. 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.