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Welcome to the Neuroscience for Kids Newsletter.
In this issue:
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Neuroscience for Kids had several new additions in February including:
A. February Neuroscience for Kids Newsletter was archived
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/news2102.html
The Neuroscience for Kids "Site of the Month" for March is "Neuroangio" at:
Dr. Maksim Shapiro (New York University Langone Medical Center) created Neuroangio to help patients and clinicians learn about the blood supply to the nervous system. If you are interested in the anatomy of the blood supply, start with the links Anatomy and Variants, Venous Brain Anatomy, or Spinal Vascular Anatomy. If you want to learn about disorders and diseases that affect the blood supply, go to Patient Information or Instructive Cases. The site also describes methods to diagnose and treatment these problems. Of course, like any web site, the information on Neuroangio is for educational purposes only, and should not be used to diagnose or treat anyone.
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Judging of the 2017 Neuroscience for Kids Drawing Contest has been completed and winners have been selected. A total of 292 drawings from 24 states and 5 countries (USA, Luxembourg, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Canada) were received this year. You can see the winning artwork at:
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/contest17.html
__________________________________________________________If you are in the Seattle area this month, join me and my co-author Lise Johnson as we discuss our new book Brain Bytes: Quick Answers to Quirky Questions about the Brain. We will be at Third Place Books in the Lake Forest Park Mall on March 16, 2017, 7-8 pm. For details, see:
More about Brain Bytes:
http://books.wwnorton.com/books/detail.aspx?ID=4294992717
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Registration is still open to middle school students for the 2017 Bloomin' Brains Summer Camp. The camp will be held on the University of Washington campus in Seattle from July 10 to July 14, 2017. Applications are due on April 3, 2017. This will be the fifth year of the summer camp and I am sure students will enjoy the experience.
For more information about the camp and online registration, see:
http://www.neuroseeds.org/bloomin-brains-summer-camp
This camp is sponsored by my Sowing the Seeds of Neuroscience program.
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A. The March 2017 issue of SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN MIND is on newsstands now with articles about counting neurons, prekindergarten education, consciousness and anesthesia.
B. What Inequality Does to the Brain by Kimberly G. Nobel (SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, March, 2017).
C. The Search for a New Test of Artificial Intelligence by Gary Marcus (SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, March, 2017).
D. Spidey Senses by Lacy Schley (DISCOVER magazine, March, 2017).
E. The Sleep Cure by Alice Park (TIME magazine, February 27-March 6, 2017).
F. My Love Affair with the Brain: The Life and Science of Dr. Marian Diamond is a new PBS documentary narrated by actress Mayim Bialik. For broadcast dates and times, see: http://lunaproductions.com/pbs-broadcasts-my-love-affair-with-the-brain/
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A. The most common motor disability in children is cerebral palsy. (Source: CDC, https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/cp/data.html).
B. Worldwide, about 65 million people have epilepsy. (Source: Ambry Genetics, http://patients.ambrygen.com/neurology/about-neurological-disorders/epilepsy/statistics)
C. Spaceflight causes anatomical changes in the brains of astronauts; some brain areas increase in size, other areas decrease in size. (Source: Koppelmans, et al., Brain structural plasticity with spaceflight, NPJ Microgravity, 2 (2016), doi:10.1038/s41526-016-0001-9; http://www.nature.com/articles/s41526-016-0001-9)
D. Natural opioid chemicals in the brain are important for experiencing emotions associated with listening to music. (Source: Mallik et al., Anhedonia to music and mu-opioids: Evidence from the administration of naltrexone, Scientific Reports 7, 41952 (2017), doi:10.1038/srep41952; http://www.nature.com/articles/srep41952.)
E. International Brain Awareness Week is this month, March 13-19, 2017.
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Help Neuroscience for Kids
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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)