Tiny Vampires

Tiny Vampires

Ever wonder how we genetically modify mosquitoes? Curious about the parasites? Have questions about how tick bites cause meat allergies? Tiny Vampires is a show about insects that transmit disease and the scientists that are fighting them. Each episode is guided by questions sent in by listeners. The question is answered with background information and the story of how scientists were able to shine a light on that particular mystery. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episodes

Agoraphobia 5

October 31, 2021 • 19 mins
Happy Halloween everyone!! And welcome to the Tiny Vampires Agoraphobia special. Every year I put together a story written from an insect’s perspective. This year is a horror story from the deadliest war in history and even though it is obviously a work of fiction, the facts are true. So even though we’re just having a little festive fun, you’ll still get your dose of insect science you come to count on from Tiny Vampires.

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Episode 45: Our shared history with leeches

October 1, 2021 • 18 mins
For thousands of years Egypt, India, China, the Middle East, Europe, and the US, one after another all saw leeches as the answer to their problems. They were exercisers of demons, relievers of pain, bringers of balance, and a source of income.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Episode 44: Poison of the Past

August 25, 2021 • 25 mins
Anyone growing up in the United States during the 1950s or 60s has memories of chasing trucks down the road as they doused the neighborhood in a mosquito-killing fog. The story of that fog is part of the broader epic of the insecticide DDT. With a cast ranging from Dr. Suess, the entire population of Naples, peregrine falcons, to a trendy shade of green.

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Episode 43: Unexpected Vampires

March 27, 2021 • 23 mins
Blood is vital, transporting hormones, nutrients, and oxygen, and removing waste products but for all its complexity some animals see it simply as food. While we grow up learning to protect our precious fluid from blood-suckers like vampire bats, leeches, and bed bugs they don’t have a monopoly on their gory craving. Unexpected animals from snails to birds to moths have come to join the feast.

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Invitation: Intelligent Speech Conference -online-

March 10, 2021 • 1 min
Join me and more than 40 of your other favorite independent podcasters at the Intelligent Speech Conference. Get 10% off your ticket price when you use the offer code

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Episode 42: Malaria Islands

January 1, 2021 • 35 mins
When we call mosquitoes “the deadliest animals on earth” we aren’t just talking about human deaths. Mosquitoes have played a major role in Hawaii’s infamous designation as the endangered species capital of the world.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Halloween Special: Gutted

October 31, 2020 • 21 mins
We all believe that we have the capacity to completely change ourselves, but at what cost?

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Halloween Special: Yersinia pestis

October 15, 2020 • 23 mins
An entirely new perspective on the infamous black death.

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Halloween Special: The Passenger

October 9, 2020 • 16 mins
We’ll kick-off this Halloween special with “The Passenger” a tale of control, desire, and the monster within.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Episode 41: So Much Worse The Second Time Around

September 25, 2020 • 21 mins
Most of the time when we get sick we expect to suffer through it and end up rewarded with immunity to disease, or at least the knowledge that it won’t hit so hard if you get it a second time. A bout with the Dengue virus, also known as break-bone fever, is very different. It can actually increase the chance that a second encounter with the virus will end in hemorrhagic fever.

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Episode 40: The emergence of a new kind of childhood paralysis

August 30, 2020 • 19 mins
The African continent was declared polio-free just a couple of days ago, which means that we are, once again, coming close to eradicating it from the globe. Yet, in 2014 children started to go limp, losing control over their arms and legs over the course of weeks, this polio-like condition is called Acute Flaccid Myelitis. Since then, there has been a larger and larger outbreak of the condition every other year, and that’s not...

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Episode 39: The world of obscure mosquito-borne viruses

July 31, 2020 • 14 mins
The CDC has a catalog of 537 viruses that are transmitted by insects or their relatives around the world. This number can be overwhelming and scary but the more we learn about the world of obscure viruses the better we’re equipped to fight them.

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Episode 38: Guinea Worms and Human Nature

April 30, 2020 • 17 mins
The symbol for medicine, a serpent wrapped around a staff, is displayed on everything from the World Health Organization logo to your doctor’s name tag, depicts the treatment of a single disease, the removal of a Guinea Worm from the patient by slowly wrapping it around a stick over the course of days. This disease is famous for another reason, it is about to be the second disease eradicated from the face of the earth.

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Episode 37: What are those fog trucks spraying?

March 16, 2020 • 21 mins
A truck slowly drives by your house at night with a cloud of fog coming out from behind it. It might seem creepy but that fog is effectively synthetic chrysanthemums water that is engineered to target mosquitoes based on their flight patterns.

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Episode 36: How could one tiny tick paralyze a person?

January 31, 2020 • 24 mins
Bloodsuckers can be hijacked by viruses and parasites, but some ticks are lethal all on their own. The Australian Paralysis tick paralyzes 10 thousand dogs and cats a year. We didn’t know how their venom worked until some researchers squirted some mouthwash on some ticks and made a discovery.

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Episode 35: Busting Myths about Flies

January 10, 2020 • 45 mins
Author and fly researcher Dr. Erica McAlister helps bust myths about mosquitoes and other flies

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Episode 34: How do mosquito control devices work? Wait, do they work?!

December 5, 2019 • 16 mins
Who needs bug spray when you have phone apps, bug zappers, barbecue grill sized rigs to keep the mosquitoes away? Mosquito control devices might hurt your bank account but their worth it...right?

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Episode 33: Blood-Sucking Insects You Have Never Heard of

October 30, 2019 • 23 mins
You may have heard of mosquitoes, ticks, fleas, and lice but there are other blood suckers out there, like tsetse flies, floor maggots, toe fleas, and kissing bugs. The race of the victims may have everything to do with the reason you have never heard of them. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Episode 32: Chagas disease in the United States

October 1, 2019 • 16 mins
After a little girl was bit by a new, exotic, and dangerous insect in Delaware the media began to speculate, but after a closer look we find there is a much mundane story, that has a lot to do with insect feces.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Episode 31: Connecting Deforestation and Disease

May 30, 2019 • 17 mins
The lives of organisms in an ecosystem are intimately intertwined. When an entire tropical forest is chopped down the ripple from that destruction can end with new diseases being introduced into humanity. 

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