Tiny Vampires

Tiny Vampires

By Raven Forrest FruscalzoSociety & CultureSciencePlaces & TravelNatural Sciences
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Tiny Vampires episodes

  • Episode 40: The emergence of a new kind of childhood paralysis
    The African continent was declared polio-free just a couple of days ago, which means that we are, once again, coming close to eradicating it from the globe. Yet, in 2014 children started to go limp, losing control over their arms and legs over the course of weeks, this polio-like condition is called Acute Flaccid Myelitis. Since then, there has been a larger and larger outbreak of the condition every other year, and that’s not the only strange thing about it.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    20 min
  • Episode 39: The world of obscure mosquito-borne viruses
    The CDC has a catalog of 537 viruses that are transmitted by insects or their relatives around the world. This number can be overwhelming and scary but the more we learn about the world of obscure viruses the better we’re equipped to fight them.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    15 min
  • Episode 38: Guinea Worms and Human Nature
    The symbol for medicine, a serpent wrapped around a staff, is displayed on everything from the World Health Organization logo to your doctor’s name tag, depicts the treatment of a single disease, the removal of a Guinea Worm from the patient by slowly wrapping it around a stick over the course of days. This disease is famous for another reason, it is about to be the second disease eradicated from the face of the earth.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    18 min
  • Episode 37: What are those fog trucks spraying?
    A truck slowly drives by your house at night with a cloud of fog coming out from behind it. It might seem creepy but that fog is effectively synthetic chrysanthemums water that is engineered to target mosquitoes based on their flight patterns.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    22 min
  • Episode 36: How could one tiny tick paralyze a person?
    Bloodsuckers can be hijacked by viruses and parasites, but some ticks are lethal all on their own. The Australian Paralysis tick paralyzes 10 thousand dogs and cats a year. We didn’t know how their venom worked until some researchers squirted some mouthwash on some ticks and made a discovery.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    25 min
  • Episode 33: Blood-Sucking Insects You Have Never Heard of
    You may have heard of mosquitoes, ticks, fleas, and lice but there are other blood suckers out there, like tsetse flies, floor maggots, toe fleas, and kissing bugs. The race of the victims may have everything to do with the reason you have never heard of them. 

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    24 min
  • Episode 32: Chagas disease in the United States
    After a little girl was bit by a new, exotic, and dangerous insect in Delaware the media began to speculate, but after a closer look we find there is a much mundane story, that has a lot to do with insect feces.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    17 min
  • Episode 31: Connecting Deforestation and Disease
    The lives of organisms in an ecosystem are intimately intertwined. When an entire tropical forest is chopped down the ripple from that destruction can end with new diseases being introduced into humanity. 

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    18 min

About Tiny Vampires

From the publisher's feed

Ever wonder how we genetically modify mosquitoes? Curious about the parasites? Have questions about how tick bites cause meat allergies? Tiny Vampires is a show about insects that transmit disease and…