The Break Room

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic scattering members of the Bruin Review back to their homes all around the world, The Break Room is giving listeners an inside look into how life in quarantine compares and differs from city to city and country to country.

In this combo episode of The Break Room, host Keaton is joined by Eleanor Murphy, a UCLA freshman in Brooklyn, New York, and Brian Chang, a UCLA sophomore in Singapore. Keaton and Eleanor discuss the upsides of studying from home; the creative solutions Eleanor’s parents, who are both summer camp directors, are exploring for virtual camp; the challenges of living in a global COVID hotspot; and more. Keaton and Brian discuss the Singaporean government’s response to the outbreak, the challenges faced by migrant workers, and the shortcomings of UCLA’s accommodations for international students.

In this episode of the Break Room, host Shay is joined by Dr. Alex Korb, professor of psychology at UCLA and author of The Upward Spiral. Shay and Dr. Korb discuss different ways of staying active in quarantine, setting healthy expectations for productivity, and how to study efficiently while working from home.

In this episode of the Break Room, host Jonah talks to Jayesh Menon, a fourth year student  in the Microbiology, Immunology, & Molecular Genetics major at UCLA. Jayesh and Jonah discuss the mechanisms of respiratory viruses, the inner workings of the immune system, how to reduce risk of infection, and the effectiveness of potential treatment methods like antibodies and vaccines.

In this episode of The Break Room, host Larry is joined by John Chen M.D., Ph.D., a partner physician with Minnesota Gastroenterology. They discuss how the COVID-19 has affected medical professionals, the government and population's response to the pandemic, and its implications on society moving forward. 

In this episode of The Break Room, Alli is joined by Carl Hatch and Michael Pile of Shenanigans Comedy Club and UCLA Radio. They discuss “edgy” humor, cancel culture, the evolution of comedy, how soon is too soon, and the potential benefits of political correctness to comedy. Check out Carl and Michael on UCLA Radio every Tuesday at 9 pm, where they host a show about all things comedy.

In this episode of The Break Room, Alli is joined by Joe Rainey and Rushabh Nagori, co-founders of the Bruin Review, the student organization behind The Break Room. They discuss the reasons behind starting the Bruin Review, the importance of disagreement, and the line between contrarian and intentionally provocative arguments, among other topics. 

In this episode of The Break Room, the topic of interest is Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI is rapidly becoming a powerful and prevalent tool. However, to many people the mechanisms and implications of AI are still shrouded in mystery. To explain this exciting technology, host Alli is joined by Aaron Hui, president of the UCLA chapter of the AI Robotics Ethics Society (AIRES).  Alli and Aaron discuss some of the most pressing ethical questions in the field of artificial intelligence, such as: How will AI affect human creativity? Can AI become godlike? Will sentient AI one day be entitled to citizenship and voting rights? Could humans ever trust AI to help them make important medical decisions?

Welcome to The Break Room. In our inaugural episode, we talk about who we are, and what we do. Stick around the water cooler, our next episode on the ethics of AI will be uploaded soon.