Tiny Matters

In this episode of Tiny Show and Tell Us, we cover why your body feels so ‘off’ at high altitudes and how we’ve evolved not to detect low oxygen levels but high amounts of carbon dioxide. Then we unpack the confusing world of molecule chirality — what it is, why it matters, and how we evolved to only have ‘left-handed’ amino acids but ‘right-handed’ DNA and RNA. We need your stories — they're what...

How often do you think about your teeth? In this episode of Tiny Matters, we talk about how the atoms trapped within teeth can reveal what an animal ate and where it lived, and how studying teeth has helped ecologists reconstruct prehistoric food webs of megatooth sharks and retrace the steps of woolly mammoths across the Arctic. And hopefully, we’ll give you a few new reasons to appreciate your o...

In this episode of Tiny Show and Tell Us, we explore the science behind a very catchy headline about a drug that makes mice look more youthful and increases their life expectancies. Then we shift gears to talk about a predatory unicellular organism with a swan-like neck that rapidly extends a great distance to capture prey. Researchers used origami to understand the mechanics behind this anatomica...

Halloween is right around the corner, so what better way to celebrate than a deep dive into the ‘science’ of ghost sightings? We touch on a bit of the psychology behind these experiences and then break down the equipment people use when searching for proof that spirits float among us, and how power lines and rats in walls muddy the specter detection waters. Then we switch to something a little mor...

In this episode of Tiny Show and Tell Us, we explore the unexpected ways algae (and the things that kill them) influence cloud formation. We also chat about the massive galaxy walls in our universe, including the South Pole Wall and the Sloan Great Wall, both of which are around 1.5 billion light-years long. We need your stories — they're what make these bonus episodes possible! Write in to tinyma...

On January 27, 1958, newspaper editor Olga Huckins sat down to write an angry letter to a friend. Olga and her husband owned a private two-acre bird sanctuary, and the previous summer the government had sprayed the pesticide DDT all over that two acres to control the mosquitos. She saw wildlife, particularly birds, getting sick and dying. The friend Olga sent the letter to was none other than Rach...

In this episode of Tiny Show and Tell Us, we talk about the ampullae of Lorenzini that allow sharks to detect the electrochemical signals coming from prey. We also cover the fascinating science behind cyanide-filled clovers. Did you know cyanide is actually a very popular poison in the plant kingdom? We need your stories — they're what make these bonus episodes possible! Write in to tinymatters@ac...

E-cigarettes, commonly referred to as “vapes,” were invented in the early 2000s with the explicit goal of helping people quit smoking by transitioning them to something safer.  But there are many people, particularly in the United States, who start vaping without ever having smoked a cigarette, leading to fears that vaping will be an on-ramp to smoking — a “gateway drug.” In fact, in the U.S. alon...

In this episode of Tiny Show and Tell Us, we break down the complicated science of tides and why some places have massive tidal swings while others do not. We also cover the role of ancient viral DNA in our genomes, and how it seems to be making us less responsive to cancer treatments like chemotherapy. We need your stories — they're what make these bonus episodes possible! Write in to tinymatters...

Around 8 million years ago, an underwater volcano just to the east of Madagascar formed the island of Mauritius. Pigeons on nearby islands set flight and settled on that island. There they continued to evolve, and the dodo bird eventually emerged as its own species: Raphus cucullatus . And tiny Mauritius, with an area of just 720 square miles, was the only place in the entire world where the dodo...

In this episode of Tiny Show and Tell Us, we cover work scientists have done to understand what’s going on in dog brains and how attached to us they really are. We also discuss a polymer called hemoglycin that hitches a ride on literal tons of space dust and may have played a big role in how life on Earth got started. We need your stories — they're what make these bonus episodes possible! Write in...

*A disclaimer that there will be discussions of self harm in this episode* In 2003, Chris Nowinski found himself in a WWE wrestling ring, concussed and not remembering where he was or how he was supposed to finish the match. This would be a pivotal moment not just in his life but for an entire field of research on a neurodegenerative disease long known to exist but poorly defined and even censored...

In this episode of Tiny Show and Tell Us, we cover neurogenesis in adulthood (yes! your brain can make new neurons even as you age), the link between exercise and increased neurogenesis in the hippocampus, and the implications that could have for neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's. We continue on our brain-focused episode with the role cerebrospinal fluid plays in cleaning out your brain...

In the early hours of January 7, 2022, David Bennett was out of options. At just 57 years old, he was bedridden, on life support, and in desperate need of a heart transplant for which he was ineligible. Yet Bennett would go on to live for two more months — not with a human heart, but with a heart from a pig. David Bennett was the first case of a pig heart being transplanted into a human, an exampl...

In this episode of Tiny Show and Tell Us, we cover the recent discovery of a new (relatively speaking, more like 100 million year old) organelle called a nitroplast that could revolutionize agriculture. Then we embark on a highly entertaining journey of 1930s chemistry poetry, sometimes written by inebriated chemists, and track down a rare and stunning Chemical Map of North America. Check out the...

You might be familiar with plant-based alternatives to animal products — things like the Impossible Burger or Beyond Meat. And maybe you’ve heard of places trying to grow fish or meat cells in a dish to make sushi or steak without a fish or cow. But in today’s episode we’ll cover an old technology that’s bringing us some new foods: precision fermentation. With precision fermentation, many everyday...

Could dark energy be more dynamic than we thought? In this episode of Tiny Show and Tell Us, we cover a recent dark energy discovery that has us contemplating what the end of the universe might look like, and then we delve into if hydrangeas can actually absorb water through their petals (ahem, sepals). We need your stories — they're what make these episodes possible! Write in to tinymatters@acs.o...

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...

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...

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. Tod...

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...

In this episode of Tiny Show and Tell Us, Sam and Deboki 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...

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 consu...

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 Mat...

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 wh...