Tiny Matters

In this episode of Tiny Show and Tell Us, we read an email from a listener who, as a kid, shared a fun fact with her classroom: polar bears have black skin. Her teacher not only told her she was wrong but embarrassed her in front of the other students. Well, it’s time to set the record straight. Polar bears do, in fact, have black skin and we do, in fact, love a grudge and are so glad to provide vindication. Then we talk a...

In today’s episode, we chat with author Sam Kean about his new book Dinner with King Tut and learn how researchers and citizen scientists are recreating ancient recipes, tools, and technologies — from wound remedies with pennies to inventive pottery glazed in blood — and how experimental archaeology is changing our understanding of the past. 

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In this episode of Tiny Show and Tell Us, we talk about different ways of turning pennies all of the colors of the rainbow. Then we discuss an ongoing NASA mission to touch the sun.

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 thi...

Most of us know the story of the Titanic. In 1912, the massive — supposedly indestructible — steamship sank after hitting an iceberg on its first and only journey across the Atlantic Ocean. Titanic remained undiscovered on the seafloor, somewhere in the North Atlantic Ocean, for 73 years, until it was found nearly two miles beneath the surface. But now the ship might be disappearing again, this time for good. And the culpr...

As we approach episode 100 of Tiny Matters, we wanted to talk about how it all got started nearly 4 years ago and where we are headed! How did Sam and Deboki become co-hosts? What have they learned about the types of stories and episodes they are drawn to? What happens if an interview goes poorly? What is the American Chemical Society (ACS)? How about Multitude? Will we get 100 MORE episodes of the show? And more...

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If you’re a female and you want to use a contraceptive pill, patch, injection, or device, you have over 250 options. But if you’re a male and you want a contraceptive, you have three options. You can get a vasectomy, you can use condoms, which can have up to a 18% failure rate, or you can use what sex researchers politely call “the withdrawal method,” which is highly unreliable. But there could be another male contraceptiv...

In this episode of Tiny Show and Tell Us, a listener writes in to tell us about being born 3 months premature likely due to their mom having HELLP syndrome, a variant of preeclampsia, and taking part in early trials for surfactants. Then we discuss why horseshoe crab blood is blue and the exciting generation of a one-electron bond between carbon atoms. 

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For thousands of years, the rise and fall of empires and the global economy were closely tied to something you might not expect: spices. The spice trade began around 1000 BCE, localized to southeast Asia and the Middle East. But by the beginning of the next millennia, it had rapidly expanded and nations vied to control it. Today it’s typically far less work to find and purchase spices you want, but just because they’re no ...

In this episode of Tiny Show and Tell Us, we get to the bottom of if glass is a liquid or a solid and why riboflavin makes milk fluorescent. Then we talk about the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) — the first space-based observatory that NASA scientists and their collaborators are sending up into space to detect and study gravitational waves, better known as “ripples in spacetime.” 

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In 1856, after yet another day of disappointing experiments, a chemist named William Henry Perkin was cleaning up his glassware when he made a discovery that would harken a new — and colorful — era of science and industry. Just 18 years old, Perkin was a promising young student in a prestigious lab at the Royal College of Chemistry in London and he was supposed to be figuring out a way to make a chemical compound called qu...

In this episode of Tiny Show and Tell Us, a listener on “team wasp” writes in with some interesting info on USDA wasps for pesticide-free pest control and we learn about some wasp versus beetle drama. Then we talk about how our red blood cells use and expel iron, and how a huge percentage of the iron we get is from broken down blood cells.

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Back in April, a company called Colossal Biosciences announced that they had brought dire wolves — ancient canines of Game of Thrones fame — back from extinction. The internet went wild. But while some media outlets proclaimed the return of a long-gone species, many scientists shot back on social media that these weren’t really dire wolves, they were just genetically engineered grey wolves. Suddenly everybody had an opinio...

In this episode of Tiny Show and Tell Us, we talk about cute woolly mammoth mice and debate whether research to bring back extinct species (or their genes) is ethical or a good use of money and time. Then we discuss the best way to remove microplastics from water.

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 o...

How did the early Earth, over four billion years ago, evolve into the planet we know and love today? It’s a big question, and an open question. To get answers, geologists turn to a surprising source — a tiny mineral no bigger than the diameter of a human hair, that has secrets about our planet locked away in its crystal structure. This miniscule mineral, with its big stories is called zircon.

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In this episode of Tiny Show and Tell Us, we talk about a new and exciting biodegradable polymer that seems to outperform commercial super glues. Then we discuss a compound called sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) that is used in high voltage equipment. Not only is SF6 a potent greenhouse gas, if you breathe it in it has the opposite effect of helium — it makes your voice deep. But it can also lead to asphyxiation so you should no...

An estimated 132 million babies were born across the globe last year — really just a drop in the bucket when you think about the over 100 billion babies born since modern humans first lived on Earth 200,000 years ago. And until very recently we had few tools to understand how they were doing in the womb, how they would fare in the days after birth, and how a pregnant person would change physically and mentally not just dur...

In this episode of Tiny Show and Tell Us, we talk about breathing in birds — how it takes two breath cycles for air to leave their bodies, and while it travels within their bodies, it's stored in various sacks, some of which are in their butts. Then we discuss how food waste contributes to approximately 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions every year, and what we can do to reduce it. 

We need your stories — they're wh...

3,500 years ago, cats started showing up in Egyptian paintings on tomb walls and in sculptures and carvings. Not only were they abundant in these representations, but it was very clear that they were domestic. They had collars around their necks and were eating out of food dishes underneath the dining room table. That scene is not so different from the life many cats lead today. So how did cats go from the wild to being im...

In this episode of Tiny Show and Tell Us, we tackle the debate surrounding whether or not it rains diamonds on Saturn. Then we talk about how UV degradation can break down some of the harmful residual dyes from plastic pollution, and what it means in the context of microplastics.

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 favorit...