Tiny Matters

In this special bonus episode, we join American Medieval with host Matthew Gabriele, a professor of medieval studies and who knows about a LOT of history that we don’t. We're there to chat with Matt about some new science research surrounding the Turin Shroud — a cloth that many Christians believe was used to wrap Jesus after he was killed. The debates over this artifact are fascinating and the science only adds to it! So if you like science, you like science history, you like a little controversy, you’re going to love this episode.
American Medieval is a podcast about the Middle Ages, but with an American twist. Each week, Professor Matthew Gabriele is joined by expert guests to explore either some fascinating part of the medieval world, or some way Americans have used this period to help them understand themselves.
Matthew Gabriele is a professor of Medieval History and an elected Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (UK). In addition to hosting the podcast "American Medieval," he’s the co-author of the books The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe (Harper Books, 2021), and Oathbreakers: The War of Brothers that Shattered an Empire and Made Medieval Europe (Harper Books, 2024). His new book, Violence: A Christian History, will be out with WW Norton in late 2027/ early 2028.
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We'd like to recommend a podcast called What Could Go Right, from the Progress Network. It's a refreshingly different perspective on the news and issues like sustainability, geopolitics or the future of work. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Single-celled marine organisms called foraminifera may be microscopic, but they've had a massive impact on life on Earth. They also leave behind intricate shells that have become part of a fossil record stretching back more than 500 million years. Today, they're one of the most powerful tools scientists have for reconstructing Earth's past climates, helping us put the current (alarming) state of our warming planet into context.
Check out Pale Blue pod here or wherever you listen to podcasts!
A transcript and references for this episode can be found at acs.org/tinymatters.
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In this episode of Tiny Show and Tell Us, we discuss new blood tests and research into blood biomarkers that could make diagnosing endometriosis faster and less invasive. Next, we unpack subsynchronous resonance, a phenomenon that can damage power infrastructure, and is gaining new attention with so many AI data centers being built across the country. Then we hear from guest Emily Schneider who shares some delicious (maybe? You be the judge!) new research where scientists have engineered yeast to convert plastic waste and agricultural leftovers into cookies.
We need your stories — they're what make these bonus episodes possible! Write in to tinymatters@acs.org 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.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Scientists spent decades searching for viruses by filtering out anything too large to be one. That strategy seemed to work well... until it didn't. When researchers discovered a microbe living inside an amoeba that looked like a bacterium but behaved like something else entirely, they uncovered a hidden world of giant viruses with massive genomes, unusual genes, and even their own viral parasites. In this episode, we dive into the discoveries that forced scientists to rethink what viruses are, how they evolve, and whether the rules historically used to define them still hold up.
Check out Dreaming Against the Machine here or wherever you listen to podcasts!
A transcript and references for this episode can be found at acs.org/tinymatters.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.