Anna Rothschild: What staying up all night does to your brain
You’re just one history final away from a relaxing spring break. But you still have so much to study! You decide to follow in the footsteps of many students before you, and pull an all-nighter. So, what happens to your brain when you stay up all night? And does cramming like this actually help you prepare for a test? Anna Rothschild explores how...
Anna Rothschild: Why you should love gross science
What can we learn from the slimy, smelly side of life? In this playful talk, science journalist Anna Rothschild shows us the hidden wisdom of "gross stuff" and explains why avoiding the creepy underbelly of nature, medicine and technology closes us off to important sources of knowledge about our health and the world. "When we explore the gross s...
Anna Rothschild: How does an air conditioner actually work?
Typically, with any piece of technology, you pump one unit of energy in and you get about one out. That’s just the first law of thermodynamics: energy has to be conserved. But there’s a piece of technology called a heat pump, where for every bit of energy you put in, you get three to five times as much heat out. What wizardry is this? Anna Roths...
Anna Rothschild: Why did it take so long to find giant squids?
In 1873, fishermen glimpsed what they thought was a shipwreck. But when they probed the mass, it moved— and huge, serpentine appendages soon besieged their boat. One fisherman took an axe to the animal, and it disappeared in a cloud of ink, leaving behind definitive evidence that giant squids were more than mythical monsters. So, what do we know...