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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 March including:
A. March Neuroscience for Kids Newsletter was archived
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/news2303.html
B. Neuroscience in the News
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/inthenews.html
C. 2019 University of Washington Brain Awareness Week Open House
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/baw19oh.html
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The Neuroscience for Kids "Site of the Month" for April is the "Concussions: A century of controversy and research" at:
http://www.scienceintheclassroom.org/collections/concussions-century-controversy-and-research
Sports-related concussions, especially those related to football, have received a good deal of attention in the press recently. Even back in 1905, newspapers reported that football was dangerous and that 19 high school and college football players died as a result of the injuries they suffered while playing. To help understand concussion research, the American Association for the Advancement of Science "Science in the Classroom" project has developed teaching materials with a collection of papers and an educator guide.
The collection of resources includes newspaper articles, government documents, original research papers and videos to investigate the science behind concussions. Use the "Educator Guide" to better understand each resource and for activities to extend each topic. The last two pages of the Educator Guide contain discussion questions to explore your understanding of each resource.
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Another Brain Awareness Week (BAW) was celebrated all over the world last month. This was the twenty-second year that I have participated in Brain Awareness Week at the University of Washington (UW)! Each year since 1998, I have held an open house for local students. When I first started the UW BAW Open House, I invited only 200 students. The open house has grown through the years such that this year 800 students attended the event. In fact, the Open House is so big that I have to rent the large ballrooms on the UW campus to hold all of the exhibits and people. Read more about the UW BAW Open House here:
In addition to the hosting the UW BAW Open House, I spoke with several classes who visited me at the Center for Neurotechnology. These classes included a group of second graders who are just starting to learn about science and another group of high school students who are considering coming to the University of Washington to pursue medical, dental and nursing degrees.
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"Worried? Science investigates some of life's common concerns" (W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2019) is a new book that I co-authored with Dr. Lise Johnson. The book takes a scientific approach as it explores things that often cause people to worry. We divided our short chapters into several categories including food, medicine, the environment, chemicals, animals and travel. Each worry is assigned a score based on A) how likely the event is to happen, B) the ability to prevent the event from happening and C) the severity of the event if it happens. We believe that you should worry only about things that are likely to happen, can be prevented and will cause harm. Can you guess what we think you should worry about?
Dr. Johnson and I gave three presentations about the book last month at two bookstores and at Google (Kirkland, WA). Our talk at Google was recorded and I'll provide a link to it when it is available online.
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The International Neuroethics Society (INS) is sponsoring an essay contest for high school students. The winner will be recognized at the 2019 INS meeting in Chicago, receive a free 1-year INS student membership, and a $250 travel stipend to attend the meeting in Chicago. High school essays (1,000 word limit) should discuss the intersection between ethics, neuroscience and society and written in language for the general public. The deadline for submissions is July 12, 2019. For more details about this essay contest, see:
https://www.neuroethicssociety.org/call-for-essays
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A. "Cheerful chimps: Are animals really happy when they smile?" by Frans de Waal (DISCOVER magazine, April, 2019).
B. "Machines that translate wants into actions" by Richard Andersen (SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, April, 2019). Also in this issue is "Shocking secrets of the electric eel" by Kenneth C. Catania.
C. "Trust and bias in robots" by Ayanna Howard and Jason Borenstein (AMERICAN SCIENTIST, March-April, 2019).
D. "Bad dreams are good" by Ben Healy (THE ATLANTIC, April, 2019).
E. "Neuroeconomics" by Sean O'Donnell (NATURAL HISTORY magazine, March, 2018).
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A. Scientists successfully recorded brain activity using EEG from a person who was just about to bungee jump. (Source: Nann, et al., To jump or not to jump - The Bereitschaftspotential required to jump into 192-meter abyss. Scientific Reports, 2019; 9 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-38447-w)
B. Actor Luke Perry ("90210" and "Riverdale" star) passed away last month after suffering a stroke; he was 52 years old.
C. In the United States, an average of 283,000 children (younger than 18 years old) visit emergency departments each year for sports- and recreation-related traumatic brain injuries. (Source: Sarmiento, K., Thomas, K.E., Daugherty, J., et al. Emergency Department Visits for Sports- and Recreation-Related Traumatic Brain Injuries Among Children - United States, 2010-2016. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2019;68:237-242. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6810a2)
D. In 1727, Edward Scarlett developed eyeglasses that are held by arms that hook over a person's ears.
E. An estimated 2.4 million people around the world are diagnosed with epilepsy each year. (Source: World Health Organization, Epilepsy, https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/epilepsy)
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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)