Tiny Matters is a science podcast about things small in size but big in impact.
Every other Wednesday, join hosts Sam Jones and Deboki Chakravarti as they unpack the little things that make the big things in our world (both good and bad) possible, answering questions like, “how does our brain form memories?” and “why haven’t we terraformed Mars yet?" and “how are dinosaur fossils helping scientists predict our planet’s future?”
The first full episode drops on Wednesday, January 26, 2022.
Transcript of this Episode
Sam Jones: Hi, I’m Sam Jones.
Deboki Chakravarti: And I’m Deboki Chakravarti.
Sam: And we’re the co-hosts of Tiny Matters, a new science podcast about things small in size but big in impact.
Deboki: We’ll be uncovering the little stuff that makes the big stuff possible, so we can answer questions like “how does our brain form memories?”
Sam: And “why haven’t we terraformed Mars yet?”
Deboki: And “how are dinosaur fossils helping us predict our planet’s future?”
Emma Dunne: I don't think a week goes by when there's not a new discovery of a new fossil for a dinosaur. So we're learning more about what they looked like, where they lived, how old they were—we still don't even know what the first dinosaur was. Every new discovery tells us a little bit more. It’s like creating this never ending puzzle and it’s literally changing and advancing every week.
Caitlin Colleary: One of the things that actually got me into molecular studies really is like these tiny things that nobody noticed for a really long time—you can look at a fossil and you wouldn't know that they were there. I think that it's just going to progress more as technology improves and who knows what this field is going to be in 50 years.
Deboki: And as Sam and I dive deep into these questions, we’ll be talking to scientists about what inspired the research they do today.
Blake Ushijima: I was born and raised in Hawaii. I've actually seen reefs disappear within my childhood. I remember a very specific beach there because it had a very beautiful coral reef and organisms I could look at. By the time, from age of six to 10, it disappeared just from development and runoff, and now it's just a mudflat. One of the driving things that, you know, gets me out of bed every day is like, well, I don't want to see that anymore. I want us to do something to stop that.
Sam: We’ll be dissecting the history of different discoveries and the things scientists are still trying to figure out. Things like HIV.
Deboki: In one of our first episodes, we’re asking, “how did we get a COVID-19 vaccine in less than a year but still don’t have one for HIV, a virus that’s been with us for decades?”
Stosh Ozog: All HIV researchers feel like it a little bit has a personality that it's like, it's insidious. Like it's just got so many tricks for defeating us. I think as a layperson, I would definitely look at it and go, ‘Hey, scientists have failed at this.’ But I can point you to a dozen different discoveries and even to this day I would say the COVID vaccines would absolutely not have been possible if we hadn't done this much research and spent this much time on trying to fix this one virus.
Sam: The first episode of Tiny Matters drops on Wednesday, January 26, and then every other Wednesday after that.
Deboki: So come learn something new while you’re drinking your morning coffee or taking your dog on a walk or heading in to work.
Sam: And to support our exploration into the tiny things that matter, please follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Audible, or wherever else you listen.
Sam: Tiny Matters is a production of the American Chemical Society, a non-profit scientific organization based in Washington, DC.
Deboki: Our executive producer and audio editor is Sam Jones, who is also my co-host. The Tiny Matters theme was composed by Michael Simonelli…
Sam: …who also does sound design for the episodes. Our artwork was created by Derek Bressler.
Deboki: We can’t wait to share what we've been working on.
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