The ‘slimy, smelly, creepy world’ of Gross Science

For most people, the word “gross” is an insult. For Anna Rothschild, it’s a gateway to some of the planet’s most interesting phenomena.

Rothschild is the host of NOVA’s web series Gross Science, produced by WGBH for PBS Digital. Each week on YouTube, she explains something she describes as “from the slimy, smelly, creepy world of science.”

What Rothschild is referring to are things like the bacteria, fungi and mites that create the distinctive flavors of cheeses. Or how herpes can damage your brain. Or the fact that you (probably) have mites living on your face.

Rothschild has been interested in science since childhood, she says. Since her mother is a drama professor at MIT, Rothschild spent much of her childhood in the company of scientists and researchers.

“They would take me into a genetics lab, or a robotics lab, and just show me what they were working on,” Rothschild says of her mother’s colleagues. And so, she says, “from an early age, science was just something that was part of my life, and something that I thought was super cool.”

And Rothschild says, she has always loved science that is particularly gross. She remembers when, in her eighth grade biology class, she dissected owl pellets — little packets of mouse bones and food that owls cough up, undigested — and loved it.

Having mentors is especially important for women in science, and Rothschild remembers one of hers in particular: Susan Perkins, a parasitologist Rothschild worked with at the American Museum of Natural History. She says Perkins helped her to see “the story in science,” and inspired her to understand science as “a wonderful narrative” where scientists “help pick apart and put back together again.”

As a mentor for the next generation of female scientists, Rothschild has some advice of her own. She cites Maria Klawe, a mathematician and president of Harvey Mudd College, who warns young women about the dangers of “imposter syndrome.” Rothschild explains the syndrome as feeling like “no matter how successful you are, you still have this nagging feeling in your head that you somehow just got here by luck, and that you’re not good enough.”

It's something that Rothschild says even she feels sometimes. In fact, she says it’s something many people experience — but especially women, and even more so for those who work in male-dominated fields (like the STEM fields).

Her advice? Shun the imposter syndrome, and know that you’re not alone.

Check out the latest Gross Science video below. It features botflies and bacon and is a gross, must watch.