Big Picture Science

With All Our Mites


Listen Later

ENCORE You are not alone. You can’t see ‘em, but your face is a festival of face mites. They’ve  evolved with us for millennia. And a new study finds that hundreds of different tiny spiders, beetles, and – our favorite - book lice make your home theirs. But before you go bonkers with the disinfectant, consider: eradicating these critters may do more harm than good. Some are such close evolutionary partners with humans that they keep us healthy and can even reveal something about our ancestry.

But then there are bed bugs. Pests without redemption. However, their newly-sequenced genome may help us end their nightly nuisances. And of course some microscopic critters are deadly. So when it comes to bugs: when do we accommodate and when do we attack?  

Guests:

  • Michelle Trautwein – Curator of entomology, California Academy of Sciences
  • Matt Bertone – Entomologist, North Carolina State University
  • Joshua Benoit -- Insect molecular biologist, University of Cincinnati 
  • Thomas McDade – Biological anthropologist, Northwestern University

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

    Big Picture ScienceBy Big Picture Science

    • 4.5
    • 4.5
    • 4.5
    • 4.5
    • 4.5

    4.5

    912 ratings


    More shows like Big Picture Science

    View all
    Radiolab by WNYC Studios

    Radiolab

    43,992 Listeners

    Dan Carlin's Hardcore History by Dan Carlin

    Dan Carlin's Hardcore History

    64,208 Listeners

    Common Sense with Dan Carlin by Dan Carlin

    Common Sense with Dan Carlin

    11,423 Listeners

    Scott Sigler Slices: MIX TAPE VOL. 1 by Scott Sigler

    Scott Sigler Slices: MIX TAPE VOL. 1

    1,078 Listeners

    The Deadpod by J.Henrikson

    The Deadpod

    1,223 Listeners

    Nature Podcast by Springer Nature Limited

    Nature Podcast

    767 Listeners

    Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science by The Planetary Society

    Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science

    1,351 Listeners

    SpaceTime with Stuart Gary by Stuart Gary

    SpaceTime with Stuart Gary

    324 Listeners

    Meditation Oasis by Mary and Richard Maddux

    Meditation Oasis

    3,869 Listeners

    Astronomy Cast by Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela Gay

    Astronomy Cast

    2,872 Listeners

    The Quanta Podcast by Quanta Magazine

    The Quanta Podcast

    540 Listeners

    Science Magazine Podcast by Science Magazine

    Science Magazine Podcast

    827 Listeners

    Science Friday by Science Friday and WNYC Studios

    Science Friday

    6,421 Listeners

    Philosophy Bites by Edmonds and Warburton

    Philosophy Bites

    1,544 Listeners

    Science In Action by BBC World Service

    Science In Action

    333 Listeners

    Unexpected Elements by BBC World Service

    Unexpected Elements

    359 Listeners

    Dan Carlin's Hardcore History: Addendum by Dan Carlin

    Dan Carlin's Hardcore History: Addendum

    8,350 Listeners

    Daniel and Kelly’s Extraordinary Universe by iHeartPodcasts

    Daniel and Kelly’s Extraordinary Universe

    2,355 Listeners

    Radio Detective Story Hour by Dennis Humphrey

    Radio Detective Story Hour

    407 Listeners

    Short Wave by NPR

    Short Wave

    6,563 Listeners

    Why This Universe? by Dan Hooper, Shalma Wegsman

    Why This Universe?

    390 Listeners

    Unexplainable by Vox

    Unexplainable

    2,306 Listeners

    The Joy of Why by Steven Strogatz, Janna Levin and Quanta Magazine

    The Joy of Why

    490 Listeners