Tierah Ruins Things🦠🔬🇨🇦🌈
@tierahruinsthings.bsky.social
I am a scientist who looks at the portrayal of infectious diseases in pop culture. Also I have a cat and she's the best. Also on ⏰️ and 📷 apps with same name, and Substack. Find the podcast Tierah Ruins Things With Science on all platforms.
Booster Shot #2 coming up this weekend! Booster Shots is my exclusive bonus episode series for Substack and Patreon paid subscribers, they're quick little 10-15 min extra episodes that explore more science, and let me nerd out about some other aspects of the shows I watch.
December 16, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Booster Shot #2 coming up this weekend! Booster Shots is my exclusive bonus episode series for Substack and Patreon paid subscribers, they're quick little 10-15 min extra episodes that explore more science, and let me nerd out about some other aspects of the shows I watch.
Time to play the game Why Are You Wet with my cat.
Thankfully this time I think it's because she likes to walk around the bathtub after I take a shower.
Thankfully this time I think it's because she likes to walk around the bathtub after I take a shower.
December 16, 2025 at 3:56 AM
Time to play the game Why Are You Wet with my cat.
Thankfully this time I think it's because she likes to walk around the bathtub after I take a shower.
Thankfully this time I think it's because she likes to walk around the bathtub after I take a shower.
Reminder to myself as much as anyone, social media isn't real. What people choose to post online is generally a carefully curated vision of their life that they want you to see, not necessarily reality.
Ar least that's what I tell myself when I see something that I wish wasn't true.
Ar least that's what I tell myself when I see something that I wish wasn't true.
December 15, 2025 at 12:25 AM
Reminder to myself as much as anyone, social media isn't real. What people choose to post online is generally a carefully curated vision of their life that they want you to see, not necessarily reality.
Ar least that's what I tell myself when I see something that I wish wasn't true.
Ar least that's what I tell myself when I see something that I wish wasn't true.
Green potatoes contain a potent neurotoxin
Friday Science Fun Fact Dec 12
open.substack.com
December 12, 2025 at 3:59 PM
My new bonus series called Booster Shots premiers on Saturday for my paid Substack and Patreon subscribers. It's just $2 a month to join (Patreon, $2.50 substack) and get access to all upcoming bonus content. It's going to be a regular series in between full seasons, so sign up now!
December 5, 2025 at 3:09 AM
My new bonus series called Booster Shots premiers on Saturday for my paid Substack and Patreon subscribers. It's just $2 a month to join (Patreon, $2.50 substack) and get access to all upcoming bonus content. It's going to be a regular series in between full seasons, so sign up now!
Friday Science Fun Fact this week is about how Pott's Disease gave us A Christmas Carol
open.substack.com/pub/tierahru...
open.substack.com/pub/tierahru...
Tuberculosis gave us A Christmas Carol
Friday Science Fun Fact Nov 28
open.substack.com
November 28, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Friday Science Fun Fact this week is about how Pott's Disease gave us A Christmas Carol
open.substack.com/pub/tierahru...
open.substack.com/pub/tierahru...
This is it! Last episode of Season 2, it's on Tombstone and tuberculosis. Listen to the end for a rant about billionaires and governments choosing to not treat this curable disease that 25% of the planet is carrying.
tierahruinsthings.substack.com/p/s2e6-tombs...
tierahruinsthings.substack.com/p/s2e6-tombs...
S2E6 - Tombstone
This one's about tuberculosis, and I mention a few other movies, also
tierahruinsthings.substack.com
November 22, 2025 at 3:59 PM
This is it! Last episode of Season 2, it's on Tombstone and tuberculosis. Listen to the end for a rant about billionaires and governments choosing to not treat this curable disease that 25% of the planet is carrying.
tierahruinsthings.substack.com/p/s2e6-tombs...
tierahruinsthings.substack.com/p/s2e6-tombs...
Today I'm talking about Winterhawk... and also 3 other shows! Smallpox is a big one covered in a lot of shows and movies, just like tuberculosis (tomorrow's show). Streaming now everywhere, so go listen!
tierahruinsthings.substack.com/p/s2e5-winte...
tierahruinsthings.substack.com/p/s2e5-winte...
S2E5 - Winterhawk
And a bunch of other things, all about smallpox
tierahruinsthings.substack.com
November 21, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Today I'm talking about Winterhawk... and also 3 other shows! Smallpox is a big one covered in a lot of shows and movies, just like tuberculosis (tomorrow's show). Streaming now everywhere, so go listen!
tierahruinsthings.substack.com/p/s2e5-winte...
tierahruinsthings.substack.com/p/s2e5-winte...
Today's episode is about polio as shown in Warm Springs, starring Kenneth Branagh and Cynthia Nixon. Polio was almost eliminated, we got down to 6 cases across the entire planet in 2021, but it's been hovering around 20-25 cases per year since then.
tierahruinsthings.substack.com/p/s2e4-warm-...
tierahruinsthings.substack.com/p/s2e4-warm-...
S2E4 - Warm Springs
A discussion of polio, yet another poop-transmitted disease
tierahruinsthings.substack.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Today's episode is about polio as shown in Warm Springs, starring Kenneth Branagh and Cynthia Nixon. Polio was almost eliminated, we got down to 6 cases across the entire planet in 2021, but it's been hovering around 20-25 cases per year since then.
tierahruinsthings.substack.com/p/s2e4-warm-...
tierahruinsthings.substack.com/p/s2e4-warm-...
Today on the podcast, the movie Philadelphia and how it depicts HIV and AIDS. This is an intense one, as this virus has a fraught history. I tried to do it justice, so let me know what you think. Listen everywhere you get podcasts.
tierahruinsthings.substack.com/p/s3e3-phila...
tierahruinsthings.substack.com/p/s3e3-phila...
S3E3 - Philadelphia
The story of how the HIV pandemic was portrayed
tierahruinsthings.substack.com
November 19, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Today on the podcast, the movie Philadelphia and how it depicts HIV and AIDS. This is an intense one, as this virus has a fraught history. I tried to do it justice, so let me know what you think. Listen everywhere you get podcasts.
tierahruinsthings.substack.com/p/s3e3-phila...
tierahruinsthings.substack.com/p/s3e3-phila...
Episode 2 is out today, featuring the 1918 influenza as shown on Downton Abbey. The 1918 influenza was so incredibly deadly, but why? We have H1N1 still today, and it was an H1N1, so what gives? Full details in the episode, available on all podcast platforms!
open.substack.com/pub/tierahru...
open.substack.com/pub/tierahru...
S2E2 - Downton Abbey S2E8
In which the Spanish Influenza strikes
open.substack.com
November 18, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Episode 2 is out today, featuring the 1918 influenza as shown on Downton Abbey. The 1918 influenza was so incredibly deadly, but why? We have H1N1 still today, and it was an H1N1, so what gives? Full details in the episode, available on all podcast platforms!
open.substack.com/pub/tierahru...
open.substack.com/pub/tierahru...
Season 2 starts today with episode 1 about typhus and typhoid fever, as depicted on screen in Little House on the Prairie and Outlander.
Listen on all podcast platforms now!
substack.com/@tierahruins...
Listen on all podcast platforms now!
substack.com/@tierahruins...
S2E1 - Little House on the Prairie and Outlander
Typhus and Typhoid, two illnesses that are preventable with access to good hygiene
substack.com
November 17, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Season 2 starts today with episode 1 about typhus and typhoid fever, as depicted on screen in Little House on the Prairie and Outlander.
Listen on all podcast platforms now!
substack.com/@tierahruins...
Listen on all podcast platforms now!
substack.com/@tierahruins...
Oh yeah, by the way, Season 2 of the podcast starts on Monday! This season is all about world-changing diseases.
November 14, 2025 at 1:56 AM
Oh yeah, by the way, Season 2 of the podcast starts on Monday! This season is all about world-changing diseases.
This is more terrifying than the measles outbreak. Why? Bc there's an effective vaccine for measles, but the TB one does not work in adults. Also as few as 1-10 bacterial cells can transmit TB & you may not show symptoms for 2-10 *years*. Treatment involves up to 2 yrs of antibiotics.
November 14, 2025 at 1:43 AM
This is more terrifying than the measles outbreak. Why? Bc there's an effective vaccine for measles, but the TB one does not work in adults. Also as few as 1-10 bacterial cells can transmit TB & you may not show symptoms for 2-10 *years*. Treatment involves up to 2 yrs of antibiotics.
Hey Alberta, you have until Dec 15, 2025 to book your covid and flu shots for NEXT year (2026). You can do this through the Alberta Vaccine Booking System.
Please share. If you don't book next year's vaccines by this Dec, you may not get them.
Please share. If you don't book next year's vaccines by this Dec, you may not get them.
October 19, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Hey Alberta, you have until Dec 15, 2025 to book your covid and flu shots for NEXT year (2026). You can do this through the Alberta Vaccine Booking System.
Please share. If you don't book next year's vaccines by this Dec, you may not get them.
Please share. If you don't book next year's vaccines by this Dec, you may not get them.
Tea is useless in the kettle, it'll just get cold.
October 18, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Tea is useless in the kettle, it'll just get cold.
Headache cure: pinching my eyebrows, strong coffee, eating pickled asparagus, and acetaminophen.
Don't worry, I already have autism, so nothing will change.
Don't worry, I already have autism, so nothing will change.
September 27, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Headache cure: pinching my eyebrows, strong coffee, eating pickled asparagus, and acetaminophen.
Don't worry, I already have autism, so nothing will change.
Don't worry, I already have autism, so nothing will change.
Today's Friday Science Fun Fact ia about how antivaccine sentiments have existed since before the word vaccine was coined. Surprise surpruse, they're rooted in religious retribution.
September 27, 2025 at 12:59 AM
Today's Friday Science Fun Fact ia about how antivaccine sentiments have existed since before the word vaccine was coined. Surprise surpruse, they're rooted in religious retribution.
I forgot that editing my podcast is 95% cutting out pauses while I breathe and clipping the little sounds of me opening my mouth before I speak. Can you get misophonia against your pwn mouth noises?
September 24, 2025 at 2:52 AM
I forgot that editing my podcast is 95% cutting out pauses while I breathe and clipping the little sounds of me opening my mouth before I speak. Can you get misophonia against your pwn mouth noises?
Why can't you have grapefruit while on some meds? Is it all meds? All classes of meds? It's actually random, drug by drug, so ask your doctor or pharmacist if grapefruit juice is right for you.
September 19, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Why can't you have grapefruit while on some meds? Is it all meds? All classes of meds? It's actually random, drug by drug, so ask your doctor or pharmacist if grapefruit juice is right for you.
The worst part of doing a literature search is finding yourself in a reference wormhole, ie when papers use a reference for a fact that is not the original claim, but another paper making the same claim & also referencing something else.
September 12, 2025 at 8:53 PM
The worst part of doing a literature search is finding yourself in a reference wormhole, ie when papers use a reference for a fact that is not the original claim, but another paper making the same claim & also referencing something else.
Friday science fun fact this week comes from more podcast prepping, it's about smallpox
September 12, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Friday science fun fact this week comes from more podcast prepping, it's about smallpox
While watching For All Mankind, I watched S1, S2, & then started S4 by accident. Took me 3 eps to realize & go back to 3.
I did the same thing with Kate Quinn's Empress of Rome books: 1, 2, 4, then 3.
Clearly I need to double check series I'm into before starting the 4th part.
I did the same thing with Kate Quinn's Empress of Rome books: 1, 2, 4, then 3.
Clearly I need to double check series I'm into before starting the 4th part.
September 12, 2025 at 3:26 AM
While watching For All Mankind, I watched S1, S2, & then started S4 by accident. Took me 3 eps to realize & go back to 3.
I did the same thing with Kate Quinn's Empress of Rome books: 1, 2, 4, then 3.
Clearly I need to double check series I'm into before starting the 4th part.
I did the same thing with Kate Quinn's Empress of Rome books: 1, 2, 4, then 3.
Clearly I need to double check series I'm into before starting the 4th part.
Reposted by Tierah Ruins Things🦠🔬🇨🇦🌈
Maybe infinite content was a bad idea.
September 10, 2025 at 12:35 AM
Maybe infinite content was a bad idea.