Tiny Matters – Details, episodes & analysis

In the summer of 2011, paleontologist and science writer Riley Black was on a mission. Walking through the Montana desert, she was on the lookout for a Tyrannosaurus rex. But that day, she wasn’t having any luck. Sitting atop a rock, she pulled out a geological hammer, sometimes called a rock pick, to dislodge a little piece and try to discern its composition. What she saw was a leaf, but upon closer inspection realized it was in fact the fossil of a leaf. As it turned out, finding it likely provided so much more information than if she had come across the dinosaur. In this episode of Tiny Matters, we explore the complex and essential relationship between plants and animals across evolution and some of the pivotal moments that allowed humans to exist and that led to the world we live in today. 

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In this episode of Tiny Show and Tell Us, we consider if bacteriophages could become our biggest allies in the fight against antibiotic resistance. Then we cover the historical role of "night soil men" and how some sewage treatment systems today are setting the standard for sustainable management of human excrement while also making sure we don't get sick. 

We need your stories — they're what make these bonus episodes possible! Write in to tinymatters@acs.org *or fill out this form* with your favorite science fact or science news story for a chance to be featured.

A transcript and references for this episode can be found at acs.org/tinymatters.

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Dominique Jean Larrey lived quite a life. He was born in 1766, and at the age of 13, had to walk from his home in a French village to study in the city of Toulouse. That journey was 70 miles, and yes, he walked it. That would be important much later in his life, when he found himself walking through the bitter cold in Russia as the Chief Surgeon of Napoleon's army. During that time, Napoleon's troops had to contend with the reality of Russian cold and temperatures that got as low as -37 degrees Celsius, which is about -35 Fahrenheit.

Larrey attributed his ability to withstand the cold to his walking. But many of the soldiers around him wound up with frostbite, and to treat them, Larrey suggested slowly rewarming the affected area and rubbing it with snow. Frostbite treatment has been on quite the journey since then, and it was just earlier this year that the FDA approved the first drug to treat frostbite in the US, which is exciting news for the doctors who see cases of frostbite and for patients who are often left with the horrific reality of amputation.

Send us your science stories/factoids/news for a chance to be featured on an upcoming Tiny Show and Tell Us bonus episode and to be entered to win a Tiny Matters coffee mug! And, while you're at it, subscribe to our newsletter at bit.ly/tinymattersnewsletter.

Links to the Tiny Show and Tell stories are here and here. All Tiny Matters transcripts and references 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, bonus! This week on Tiny Matters, get ready to learn a bit about hosts Sam and Deboki. Who are they? Why do they love talking about science so much? Who are their science writing idols? Are they self-conscious about what their voices sound like? Answers to those need-to-know/certainly do-not-need-to-know questions are coming your way! Episode transcripts at acs.org/tinymatters

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Typhoid fever is a disease that, in the United States, is synonymous with Mary Mallon—a woman better known as Typhoid Mary, who infected New Yorkers with typhoid in the early 1900s. But typhoid is not just a thing of the past. Across the globe every single year, it kills over 100,000 people. And over the last few years, even in countries like the US where typhoid hasn’t been a concern for generations, the number of reported cases is climbing. So why is typhoid making a comeback? And what are scientists doing to stop it? Episode transcripts at acs.org/tinymatters 

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Pollution, disease, and climate change are pushing the limits of what coral reefs can withstand. But, despite those harsh conditions, some corals are thriving. Scientists are trying to understand how that's possible, and what they're learning could save these incredible ecosystems from extinction. Episode transcripts at acs.org/tinymatters

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We had a vaccine for COVID-19 within a year of identifying the virus that causes it, yet still don’t have one for HIV after 40 years of research. Why is that? On this week’s episode, Sam and Deboki cover HIV’s history and spread, how it causes AIDS, and the tiny things it does that have allowed it to evade potential vaccines for decades. Episode transcripts at acs.org/tinymatters

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This week on Tiny Matters, we’re talking about dinosaurs: the ancient beasts that died off 65 million years ago but whose remains still captivate us today. Fossils are helping scientists piece together how dinos and other extinct creatures looked and behaved. That info isn’t just inspiring movies like Jurassic Park—it’s helping researchers predict Earth’s future and could even lead to more sustainable tech. Episode transcripts at acs.org/tinymatters

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Tiny Matters is a science podcast about things small in size but big in impact. 

Every other Wednesday, join hosts Sam Jones and Deboki Chakravarti as they unpack the little stuff that makes the big stuff in our world — both good and bad — possible, tackling questions like, “What is a memory?” "Is sugar actually addictive?" and "Why don't we have an HIV vaccine?"

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In this episode of Tiny Show and Tell Us, we cover exciting new 'living robots' called xenobots — made from frog cells with the help of a supercomputer — and what they might be used for down the road. Then we challenge how much "junk" really makes up "junk DNA" and discuss the regulatory sequences and other things our DNA codes for that aren't functional proteins.

We need your stories — they're what make these bonus episodes possible! Write in to tinymatters@acs.org *or fill out this form* with your favorite science fact or science news story for a chance to be featured in a future episode and win a Tiny Matters mug!

A transcript and references for this episode can be found at acs.org/tinymatters.

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