How much of our brain do we really utilize? Does of any of our gray matter go unused, just taking up space in our noggins? A fifth grader recently contacted MIT to find out. She asked, "Why don't we use all our brain cells, and what do we do with the ones we don't use?" 

Her video, and the response from Hannah Iaccarino PhD '16, then a graduate student in the MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and a researcher at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, is part of the Ask MIT Q&A series produced by MIT+K12 Videos, an educational outreach media program in the Office of Digital Learning. Ask MIT invites kindergarten through 12th-grade students from all over the world to ask any question related to STEM (science, technology, engineering, or mathematics), and to submit it as a video via Facebook, Twitter, or email. Then, an MIT chemist, geneticist, nuclear engineer, roboticist, or rocket scientist provides the answer in a video online.

Starting in February, Ask MIT teamed up with Curiosity.com to produce a biweekly series. While Curiosity has been sharing MIT-produced videos to its site and Facebook page for the past few years, the new collaboration will bring new audiences to the series. "Collaborating with MIT was a logical step for us, enabling our audience to ask questions and receive real answers from thought leaders in science, engineering, technology, and math fields," says Michael Burke, head of strategy and partnerships at Curiosity. "We're excited to be working with the brilliant minds at MIT and look forward to inspiring our audience to get smarter about the world around them."

Do you or a young person you know have a question for MIT? Ask a teacher or parent to post your video on Facebook or Twitter with #askMIT, or email it to askmit@curiosity.com. Then, watch and explore #askMIT on Curiosity. Undergrads interested in producing the #askMIT series are also welcome to apply by emailing mitk12videos@mit.edu.

Submitted by: Office of Digital Learning | Video by: MIT+K12 Videos | 2 min, 56 sec