Tiny Matters
Science shapes every part of our lives, but so much of its influence is overlooked or buried in the past. Tiny Matters is an award-winning podcast about tiny things — from molecules to microbes — that have a big and often surprising impact on society. From deadly diseases to forensic toxicology to the search for extraterrestrial life, hosts and former scientists Sam Jones and Deboki Chakravarti embrace the awe and messiness of science and its place in history and today, and how it could impact our world’s future. New episodes every Wednesday.
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Latest Episode
In 1599, a family in a small French town claimed that their daughter was possessed by a demon called Beelzebub and, despite daily exorcisms, the demon possessing this woman was staying put. So France’s Henri IV set up a royal commission that would try something a little different. The woman would still receive exorcisms, complete with the normal exorcism accoutrements, but with a catch. The priest wouldn’t actually be Catholic, the water in the vessel would be ordinary water, and the Latin used wouldn’t be religious — it would be from Virgil’s famous poem Aeneid. That's because this wasn't actually an exorcism. It was an experiment built on a deceptively simple tool that scientists and doctors still use today to study new medical treatments: a placebo.
In this episode, we explore the surprising origins and evolution of one of modern medicine’s most important tools: the clinical trial. We follow the development of experimental design across centuries to modern day randomized control trials and the debates about their limitations, trying to answer the question, “How do we know whether a treatment truly works?”
Recent
- The history of clinical trials: From fake exorcisms to testing today
- [BONUS] Bat periods and toxins from fungi: Tiny Show and Tell Us #39
- The iron lung: How a hulking metal tube became the first machine to keep humans alive
- The woman who mapped the Milky Way and a toxic evolutionary showdown: Tiny Show and Tell Us #38
Hosts
Sam Jones, PhD
Science Writer & Exec Producer
Deboki Chakravarti, PhD
Science Writer & Co-Host
Access ACS’ Past Podcast
After years of producing quality episodes, Orbitals has bid farewell to our followers at the end of 2021.
But rest assured, all of the Orbitals episodes will remain up on Apple Podcasts, Spotify & Audible.
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