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. 

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.

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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.

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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.

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...

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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?

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In this episode of Tiny Show and Tell Us, a listener writes in to tell us about being born 3 months premature likely due to their mom having HELLP syndrome, a variant of preeclampsia, and taking part in early trials for surfactants. Then we discuss why horseshoe crab blood is blue and the exciting generation of a one-electron bond between carbon atoms. 

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A transcript and references for this episode can be found at acs.org/tinymatters.

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For thousands of years, the rise and fall of empires and the global economy were closely tied to something you might not expect: spices. The spice trade began around 1000 BCE, localized to southeast Asia and the Middle East. But by the beginning of the next millennia, it had rapidly expanded and nations vied to control it. Today it’s typically far less work to find and purchase spices you want, but just because they’re no longer starting wars that upend nations doesn’t mean they’re any less important. Because while you might think spices are mostly about making your food taste good, science — and particularly chemistry — is finding they can do a whole lot more.

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In this episode of Tiny Show and Tell Us, we get to the bottom of if glass is a liquid or a solid and why riboflavin makes milk fluorescent. Then we talk about the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) — the first space-based observatory that NASA scientists and their collaborators are sending up into space to detect and study gravitational waves, better known as “ripples in spacetime.” 

We need your stories — they're what make these bonus episodes possible! Write in to [email protected] *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.

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In 1856, after yet another day of disappointing experiments, a chemist named William Henry Perkin was cleaning up his glassware when he made a discovery that would harken a new — and colorful — era of science and industry. Just 18 years old, Perkin was a promising young student in a prestigious lab at the Royal College of Chemistry in London and he was supposed to be figuring out a way to make a chemical compound called quinine. Despite his best efforts, Perkin was coming up empty — or rather — producing a lot of dirty dishes with little to show for it. But he did notice that there was a curious goop in one of his flasks, and it turned a brilliant shade of purple in the wash. Intrigued, Perkin decided to try dyeing a swatch of silk with his serendipitous solution. Although he had failed yet again to produce quinine, Perkin had created the very first synthetic dye and launched a scientific industry that is still bringing new drugs and dyes to market today.

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