Episodes

  • [BONUS] Bunny pregnancy tests and a dead salmon MRI: Tiny Show and Tell Us #37
    Dec 17 2025

    In this episode of Tiny Show and Tell Us, we read an email from “baby sis” aka Binky aka Sam’s younger sister Caroline who writes in about an alarming pregnancy test that predates today’s at-home tests. Then we talk about a fascinating study that found a dead salmon showed brain activity in an MRI machine. Spoiler: It wasn’t actually alive, scientists just really needed to rethink MRI analysis.

    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.

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

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    22 mins
  • How life keeps time: Zeitgebers, hidden clocks, and ugh daylight savings
    Dec 10 2025

    Not a fan of daylight savings? Beyond the depressingly early sunsets, that may be because it’s messing with your circadian clock. In this episode of Tiny Matters, we ask, “How do organisms — from bacteria to sea anemones to humans — keep track of time?” We talk about circadian clocks and how both internal molecular changes and environmental cues called “zeitgebers,” which include things like light and food, synchronize biological rhythms and help all of us survive.

    Send us your science facts, news, or other stories for a chance to be featured on an upcoming Tiny Show and Tell Us bonus episode. And, while you're at it, subscribe to our newsletter!

    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.

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    37 mins
  • [BONUS] Polar bear fact vindication and vibrating insects: Tiny Show and Tell Us #36
    Dec 3 2025

    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 about the hidden world of insect vibrational communication.

    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.

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

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    15 mins
  • Dinner with King Tut: How experimental archaeologists are recreating the past
    Nov 26 2025

    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.

    Send us your science facts, news, or other stories for a chance to be featured on an upcoming Tiny Show and Tell Us bonus episode. And, while you're at it, subscribe to our newsletter!

    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.

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    36 mins
  • [BONUS] Making magenta pennies and touching the sun: Tiny Show and Tell Us #35
    Nov 19 2025

    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 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.

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    15 mins
  • What's eating the Titanic?
    Nov 12 2025

    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 culprit is not another iceberg — it’s something much, much smaller.

    Send us your science facts, news, or other stories for a chance to be featured on an upcoming Tiny Show and Tell Us bonus episode. And, while you're at it, subscribe to our newsletter!

    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.

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    33 mins
  • [BONUS] 4 years of Tiny Matters?! How we started, what we've learned, and where we're headed!
    Nov 5 2025

    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...

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

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    34 mins
  • New male contraceptives could be here soon. What took so long?
    Oct 29 2025

    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 contraceptive very soon. So what took so long?

    Send us your science facts, news, or other stories for a chance to be featured on an upcoming Tiny Show and Tell Us bonus episode. And, while you're at it, subscribe to our newsletter!

    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.

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    30 mins