NEUROSCIENCE FOR KIDS NEWSLETTER
Volume 19, Issue 4 (April, 2015)

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Welcome to the Neuroscience for Kids Newsletter.

In this issue:

1. What's New at Neuroscience for Kids
2. Neuroscience for Kids Site of the Month
3. Brain Awareness Week
4. Early Retirement for Football Player
5. Media Alert
6. Treasure Trove of Brain Trivia
7. Support Neuroscience for Kids
8. How to Stop Your Subscription

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1. WHAT'S NEW AT NEUROSCIENCE FOR KIDS

Neuroscience for Kids had several new additions in March including:

A. March Neuroscience for Kids Newsletter was archived
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/news193.html
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2. NEUROSCIENCE FOR KIDS "SITE OF THE MONTH"

The Neuroscience for Kids "Site of the Month" for April is the "Closer to Truth" at:

http://www.closertotruth.com/

"Closer To Truth" is a PBS television program that focuses on the cosmos, consciousness and meaning. The program web site provides video interviews with well-known scientists, researchers and scholars who discuss their work and opinions. Many of the interviews in the consciousness theme deal with neuroscience such as mind-body problems, brain/mind, brain function, mental activities, subconscious, altered states of consciousness, parapsychology. You can navigate to these interviews by scrolling over the "TOPICS" button and then making a selection from the consciousness menu.

As a side note to this month's "Site of the Month," I discovered that "Neuroscience for Kids" was reviewed for a recent journal article. You can read this review in the Journal of Undergraduate Neuroscience:

http://www.funjournal.org/images/stories/downloads/2015_Volume_13_Issue_2/june-13-r14.pdf
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3. BRAIN AWARENESS WEEK

I hope you had a great Brain Awareness Week last month. It was a busy month for me. Here in Seattle the festivities got started on March 3 when 650 students from local schools came to the University of Washington for the Brain Awareness Week Open House. The Open House started with an interactive assembly where I challenged the students with a comparative neuroanatomy quiz and some visual illusions. The student then moved into the hands-on exhibit area where they tried out various demonstrations and activities set up by graduate and undergraduate students, faculty, and staff. Students from several classes who came to the open house sent me thank you notes to say that they enjoyed the event. You can see some photos from the 2015 UW Brain Awareness Week Open House here:

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/baw15oh.html

In mid-March, I visited Mill Creek Middle School for their Brain Symposium. At the symposium, I gave one presentation to area teachers and another to the general public. The school was filled student presentations about the brain and activities set up by outside organizations such as the Pacific Science Center and the Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering.

School visits have always been part of my Brain Awareness Week and 2015 was no exception because I was able to visit one high school and two elementary schools. It's great to know so many students and teachers are interested in learning about the brain.

If you would like to know about Brain Awareness Week activities around the world, visit the Brain Awareness Week Facebook site or the Dana Foundation web site:

https://www.facebook.com/BrainAwarenessWeek

http://www.dana.org/BAW/
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4. EARLY RETIREMENT FOR FOOTBALL PLAYER

Chris Borland is only 24 years old. Last year, Chris was a star professional football player for the San Francisco 49ers. Although Chris was scheduled to make several million dollars to play football, he decided to retire. Why? He concluded that the millions of dollars were not worth the risk of suffering permanent brain damage if he continued to play.

Some people say that the big pay day that comes with playing professional football is worth the risk. Few football players ever get the chance to compete in the National Football League. Maybe he could play for just a few more years and then get out. Other people say that no amount of money is worth the risk of the neurological consequences that come with concussions and brain injuries.

What do you think? Did Chris make the right decision?
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5. MEDIA ALERT

A. "Probing Einstein's Brain for Clues to His Genius" by Jenny Blair (DISCOVER magazine, April, 2015).

B. "Getting Enough Sleep Can Be a Matter of Life and Death" by Kenneth Miller (DISCOVER magazine, April, 2015).

C. "Unlocking the Secrets of PTSD" by Mark Thompson (TIME magazine, April 6, 2015)
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6. THE TREASURE TROVE OF BRAIN TRIVIA

A. "Brain of Britain" is the title of a general knowledge game show produced by BBC Radio.

B. Horseshoe crabs have the largest rods and cones (photoreceptors) in the animal kingdom.

C. 350 million people are affected by depression. (Ledford, H., If depression were cancer, Nature, 515:182-184, 2014.)

D. Falls result in the greatest number of traumatic brain injury-related emergency department visits (523,043) and hospitalizations (62,334). (Source: http://www.cdc.gov/traumaticbraininjury/pdf/blue_book.pdf)

E. "Excerebrose" is a word that means "brainless."
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7. SUPPORT NEUROSCIENCE FOR KIDS

To ensure that Neuroscience for Kids stays available, we need your help. All contributions to Neuroscience for Kids are tax deductible (subject to IRS regulations). If you would like to donate to Neuroscience for Kids, please visit:

Help Neuroscience for Kids
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8. HOW TO STOP RECEIVING THIS NEWSLETTER

To remove yourself from this mailing list and stop your subscription to the Neuroscience for Kids Newsletter, send e-mail to Dr. Eric H. Chudler at: chudler@u.washington.edu
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Your comments and suggestions about this newsletter and the "Neuroscience for Kids" web site are always welcome. If there are any special topics that you would like to see on the web site, just let me know.

Eric

Eric H. Chudler, Ph.D.
(e-mail: chudler@u.washington.edu)
(URL: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/neurok.html)