I Was a Gross Kid

I Was A Gross Kid

Posted: May 5, 2016

Hey everyone! I have officially been making Gross Science for one whole year! So, to commemorate the anniversary, I wanted to answer two of my most frequently asked questions: Why did I start Gross Science? And what is my background? The nice thing is that those two questions really go together. But to answer them, we have to go all the way back to my childhood.

So, I first fell in love with science while doing kinda gross experiments as a kid. I remember loving a school activity where we dissected owl pellets, which are basically coughed up balls of undigested food, to see what an owl had eaten. And I was crazy about this slime chemistry set that my parents got me. I loved making and playing with slime. And as we all know, not a lot has changed. In fact, that slime chemistry set was so important to me that I made this timeline of my life at around the same age in which over the course of eight years I’d get my PhD in Chemistry from MIT, cure AIDS, and win the Nobel Prize. I’m a little bit behind schedule.

Anyway, that love of science and the grotesque stayed with me through adulthood. I got a summer fellowship in college working in a lab at the American Museum of Natural History studying malaria in lizards. In the end, I made that work my college thesis, and graduated with a degree in Biology.

After I graduated, I got a job as a research assistant in a lab at the American Museum of Natural History doing conservation genetics work. That basically means you look at organisms’ genes to help protect them and maintain their diversity. And, I loved that job. But after a couple years I realized that what I loved most about it was talking about the amazing work being done in the lab. So, I switched gears and went to graduate school for science journalism. I learned about crafting stories, interviewing scientists, fact-checking, and producing videos, which I especially loved.

When I graduated, I got a job at NOVA, which is the long running science show on PBS, and my role was to make their web videos. And when the opportunity arose to pitch my own original series, I knew exactly what I wanted it to be: you guessed it, Gross Science.

So, why Gross Science? Well, here are the reasons I think about most often, though there are definitely others.

First of all, gross stuff was what set me down the path of science in the first place. And, I know I’m not the only one with a love for the grotesque, even if for many people it’s more of a secret love. There is something inherently gross about just being alive. When you really think about it, we’re just bones, and tissues, and lots and lots of weird fluids. Part of being a socially acceptable human is trying to hide that side of ourselves. For example, we learn from an early age to try not to fart or drool in public. So, studying the gross side of nature, or medicine, or technology is almost this voyeuristic relief. It allows us to experience a side of life we don’t typically allow ourselves to engage with.

Secondly, I wanted to make the show to discuss gross or taboo issues that we don’t usually talk about publicly. Things like periods, or gastrointestinal health, or sex are all parts of the human condition. I’m not saying we should scream about them at the top of our lungs (though if you want to do so, that is your right.) But in order to be healthy we should at least feel comfortable asking questions about the more awkward parts of being alive—even if that conversation is one you only have with a doctor. And talking about gross stuff is important for another reason: Scientists can’t tackle a painful condition if they don’t even know it exists.

Finally, slime—did I mention how much I love slime? That’s probably the biggest reason I wanted to make Gross Science.

That said, this show grows and changes all the time, largely in response to your feedback. So, thank you all so much for the most wonderful year. I am deeply grateful for the fabulous episode ideas, and smart, insightful comments you write every week, and I’m so excited to begin year two with you. It’s gonna be weird. Ew.

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Host, Writer, Editor

Anna Rothschild

DP, General Production Help

Jeffrey Wood

Garden Party March

Delightful A
Music Provided by APM

Original Footage

©WGBH Educational Foundation 2016

IMAGES

Photos of me as a kid

Courtesy of lots of people who raised me. Thank you!

File: Pelotes réjection Asio Otus

Wikimedia Commons/BastienM

File:AMNHrearentrance

Wikimedia Commons/Fordmadoxfraud

PLos ONE Caviar Paper: http://bit.ly/1S5Ncmo

Conservation Genetics Humpback Whale Paper: http://stanford.io/1S5NlGr

File:A skeleton in a classical landscape. Drawing by A. Joron. Wellcome L0027182

Wikimedia Commons/Wellcome Trust

File:An écorché figure, lying supin on a slab. WEllcome W0008841

Wikimedia Commons/Wellcome Trust

File:Anatomical sketches, Valverde; blood-vessels, early 17th c. Wellcome L0011865

Wikimedia Commons/Wellcome Trust

SFX

Cockroaches

Freesound/StateAardvark­
(used with permission from author)

Squeak Pack/squeak_10

Freesound/Corsica_S

Kids Saying Yay! Sound Effect

Youtube/IMovieAndSoundEffect
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KVEe6UVpYw

Popcorn Dream

Freesound/Breyenkatz

Produced by WGBH for PBS Digital Studios draw my life