Why does your brain sometimes react to a stressful meeting or traffic jam like you’re being hunted by a lion on the savannah? In this episode of Tiny Show and Tell Us, we explore the evolutionary roots of anxiety, why our internal alarm system sometimes misfires, and how treatments can help some people. Then paleontologist and author Riley Black joins the show to talk about her new book Tyrant Lizard Queen: The Love, Life, and Terror of Earth’s Greatest Carnivore. She shares why T. rex is a much more complicated dinosaur than the movie monster we’re used to seeing. We hear about how T. rex grew, hunted, weathered dramatic environmental changes, and fit into her ecosystem.

Related episodes you may enjoy:

• Decoding dinosaur colors and the failure of postpartum care: Tiny Show and Tell Us #57
• Treating Depression: Then versus now and the SSRI debate

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In this episode of Tiny Show and Tell Us, a listener asks why maternal mortality rates in countries like the U.S. and Canada have risen while many other wealthy nations have seen them plateau or even decrease. We talk about postpartum health, racial disparities, access to care, and why support after birth can be just as important as care during pregnancy and delivery. Then we switch gears and discuss how we know the colors of some dinosaurs. The answer lies in tiny fossilized structures called melanosomes, which allowed researchers to reconstruct some of the colors of dinosaurs.

Related episodes you may enjoy:

• The Mothers of Gynecology: The centuries that led to today’s Black maternal mortality crisis
• Dinosaur Fossils: Inspiring Jurassic Park and helping us predict Earth's future

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Cheetahs carry the genetic scars of an Ice Age bottleneck, red wolves are so rare that every egg matters, and harlequin frogs need their natural toxins restored before they can thrive in the wild again. But avoiding extinction requires far more than protecting habitat alone. In this episode, we talk with scientists at Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute to explore cutting-edge science helping these animals not just survive but thrive, including innovative reproductive technologies like ‘ovary-on-a-chip.’

Similar episodes you may enjoy:

• Extinction: Rethinking the dodo's demise, and could a supervolcano threaten humanity's future?
• What is de-extinction, really? Conservation, genetics, and lessons from 'dire wolves'

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In this episode of Tiny Show and Tell Us, we first discuss funnel-web spiders, who are among the most venomous spiders on Earth. Maybe somewhat paradoxically, their toxins are being studied to treat human disease and chronic pain. Then we talk with historian Claire Aubin about J. Willard Gibbs’ grave at Yale, where she’s a professor. Gibbs was a quiet scientific genius whose work transformed chemistry. He was also seemingly a very cool dude, and today his gravesite is decorated by students seeking good luck before exams.

Check out This Guy Sucked wherever you get podcasts!

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.

Biofilms are everywhere: your teeth, your kitchen sponge, and even medical implants. Scientists are uncovering how these highly organized microbial communities protect bacteria from antibiotics and the immune system, and how understanding their hidden lives could help us fight some of the scariest infections, particularly those that disproportionately impact people with cystic fibrosis.

Learn more about CALM here.

Check out Wow If True 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.

In this episode of Tiny Show and Tell Us, we explore the fascinating history of embalming, from ancient mummies to arsenic-laced funeral practices (that weren’t all that long ago!). Then we chat about cadaver dissection, the importance of Leonardo da Vinci's anatomical drawings, and whether virtual reality could someday replace anatomy labs. Plus, what's the real story behind those creepy iron cages found above burial plots in old cemeteries?

Learn more about CALM here.

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.

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, history, and 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.

Learn more about CALM here.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.