Tiny Matters

Could most of our food, medication, and clothing come from...bacteria?


Listen Later

You might be familiar with plant-based alternatives to animal products — things like the Impossible Burger or Beyond Meat. And maybe you’ve heard of places trying to grow fish or meat cells in a dish to make sushi or steak without a fish or cow. But in today’s episode we’ll cover an old technology that’s bringing us some new foods: precision fermentation. With precision fermentation, many everyday products including dairy-free milk, insulin, and the collagen in lotions are now being made by microbes. How did we turn microbes into teeny tiny production factories for so many different products, and where’s the limit when it comes to what we can use them to create?

In this episode we’ll demystify the science behind this technology and its history. We’ll also dive into how public perception influences the success of new food technologies and how framing can change minds and reduce both misinformation and skepticism.

Send us your science stories/factoids/news here for a chance to be featured on an upcoming Tiny Show and Tell Us episode and to be entered to win a Tiny Matters coffee mug!

Subscribe to our newsletter at bit.ly/tinymattersnewsletter

Links to the Tiny Show & Tell stories are here and here. Pick up a Tiny Matters mug here! All Tiny Matters transcripts 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.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Tiny MattersBy Multitude

  • 5
  • 5
  • 5
  • 5
  • 5

5

81 ratings


More shows like Tiny Matters

View all
Sawbones: A Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine by Justin McElroy, Dr. Sydnee McElroy

Sawbones: A Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine

14,761 Listeners

The Allusionist by Helen Zaltzman

The Allusionist

3,014 Listeners

Dear Hank & John by Complexly

Dear Hank & John

7,590 Listeners

Science Vs by Spotify Studios

Science Vs

12,021 Listeners

Outside/In by NHPR

Outside/In

1,460 Listeners

Spirits: Mythology, Legends, & Folklore by Multitude

Spirits: Mythology, Legends, & Folklore

1,709 Listeners

Join the Party by Multitude

Join the Party

1,249 Listeners

In Defense of Plants Podcast by In Defense of Plants

In Defense of Plants Podcast

1,221 Listeners

Ologies with Alie Ward by Alie Ward

Ologies with Alie Ward

23,629 Listeners

Waystation: A Lost Girl Fancast by Multitude

Waystation: A Lost Girl Fancast

89 Listeners

The Anthropocene Reviewed by Complexly, John Green

The Anthropocene Reviewed

9,297 Listeners

The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week by Popular Science

The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week

2,154 Listeners

SciShow Tangents by Complexly

SciShow Tangents

1,505 Listeners

NEXT STOP by Multitude

NEXT STOP

267 Listeners

The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast with Sam Kean by Sam Kean, Bleav

The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast with Sam Kean

1,308 Listeners

Exolore: facts-based fictional worldbuilding by Multitude

Exolore: facts-based fictional worldbuilding

96 Listeners

Secretly Incredibly Fascinating by Alex Schmidt

Secretly Incredibly Fascinating

708 Listeners

Wow If True by Multitude

Wow If True

50 Listeners

Unexplainable by Vox

Unexplainable

2,176 Listeners

Let's Learn Everything! by Maximum Fun

Let's Learn Everything!

398 Listeners

Eons: Surviving Deep Time by PBS

Eons: Surviving Deep Time

824 Listeners

Games and Feelings by Multitude

Games and Feelings

28 Listeners

Head Heart Gut Sample Episodes by Multitude

Head Heart Gut Sample Episodes

5 Listeners

Pale Blue Pod by Multitude

Pale Blue Pod

165 Listeners

Tell Me About It by Multitude

Tell Me About It

79 Listeners

Big Game Hunger by Multitude

Big Game Hunger

31 Listeners

Attach Your Résumé by Multitude

Attach Your Résumé

115 Listeners

This Guy Sucked by Multitude

This Guy Sucked

120 Listeners