You Mite Want To Shower After This
Short Wave
NPR
4.7 • 6.5K Ratings
🗓️ 31 August 2021
⏱️ 12 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We look at the tiny mites that live on your skin — including your face. They come out at night and mate. And we're not totally sure what they eat. See? Don't you feel better already?
Researcher Megan Thoemmes tells us about the lives of these eight-legged creatures — and what they can tell us about ourselves.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey everybody, we are bidding Maddie Bon Voyage and celebrating her last week on shortwave |
| 0:05.6 | with some of her favorite episodes. What have you chosen to play for us today my friend? |
| 0:11.4 | So I wanted to share an episode we made with producer Brent Bachman. Now, |
| 0:15.6 | Baby left us to go work on other NPR projects, but he really helped shape this show and |
| 0:21.7 | pushed me to follow my weird little heart wherever it took me. It took us to many weird places |
| 0:26.7 | and we all followed you. Well, this episode represents a long-standing tradition between us, Emily. |
| 0:33.9 | Oh boy. Okay. Me bringing you critterfacts that initially gross you out and then start to intrigue you |
| 0:41.9 | and eventually I think bring you to a state of weird critter appreciation. I call it critter surrender. |
| 0:49.5 | Just letting the science wash over me. And on our one-year anniversary episode, |
| 0:55.5 | very special. The pitch that you decided to bring us was, quote, things that live on your face. |
| 1:02.7 | And then you said, shh, shh, shh, just trust. It's going to be incredible. |
| 1:06.8 | And I mean, wasn't it? A little bit? I've certainly never forgotten about it since it happened, so |
| 1:13.3 | here we go. We're back tomorrow with another trip down memory lane and then a brand new episode on Thursday. |
| 1:20.6 | Okay, here's the show. Hey, yo, Maddie Sify here with shortwave reporter Emily Kwong. Hey, |
| 1:31.6 | Kwong. Hey, yo. So first things first, big day. We are celebrating shortwave's one-year anniversary. |
| 1:43.3 | Happy anniversary, Maddie. Happy anniversary, Kwong. I'm so excited about this. It's been a whole |
| 1:48.8 | year since we launched shortwave. Nothing really happened in science this past year, but we made it |
| 1:53.9 | work. Right. It's been, it's been a wild ride. Let's say that. Let's say that. And you promised me |
| 2:00.6 | for our anniversary episode that I could talk about whatever I wanted. Well, all great relationships |
| 2:06.8 | involved compromise. So here we are. Here we are indeed, ma'am. I thought we could celebrate with a |
| 2:12.9 | microwave episode about how you're never truly alone. Oh, okay. That sounds nice. You're definitely |
| 2:21.6 | still going to feel that way when I tell you why. Okay. I knew there was a catch. Don't make me regret |
... |
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