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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 July including:
A. July Neuroscience for Kids Newsletter was archived
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/news2407.html
B. New Neuroscience in the News
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/inthenews.html
C. New Brain Jokes
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/jokes.html
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The Neuroscience for Kids "Site of the Month" for August is "Brainbook" at:
Brainbook is a charitable organization established to help people understand neurological and neurosurgical diseases. The Brainbook website uses illustrations, videos and articles to explain disorders of the nervous system and neurosurgical procedures used to diagnose and treat neurological illnesses.
The website currently has articles about neurotrauma, becoming a neurosurgeon, ethics, hydrocephalus, neuro-oncology (glioblastoma), spine surgery and vascular problems (brain aneurysms). If you are interested in a career as a neurosurgeon, I suggest that you watch some of the videos in the "Brain Surgeon's Vlog" under the "Videos" tab.
Brainbook and all other health-related websites, especially those intended for patients, should be used for educational purposes only. People should always check with their own healthcare providers before beginning any new treatment.
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Speaking with students and teachers about brain research has been part of my career for more than 20 years. Recently, because of COVID-19 health and safety concerns and guidelines, I have been meeting with groups virtually instead of meeting with them in-person. These online presentations ("Zooming") have allowed me to continue to work with students and classes interested in learning about neuroscience. During my presentations, I always leave time for people to ask questions. Many people ask me how I became a neuroscientist and about my career pathway. Recently, a student asked me a question I had never been asked before. The question seemed simple, but it took me a little while to answer.
The student asked: "Knowing what you know now, would you still become a neuroscientist?"
I paused for a short time to think before I answered. When I started college at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), I knew that I wanted to do something in science, but I did know what specific field. I enjoyed going the beach and thought perhaps I could become a marine biologist or oceanographer. This plan changed in my later years as an undergraduate student. Although I took biology, math, chemistry and physics classes during my first two years at UCLA, I did not have a major. It was in my junior year at UCLA when I enrolled in a psychology class that I decided that the brain was what I wanted to study. After that class, I never looked back.
In answer to the student's question: Yes, knowing what I know now, I would follow the same career path and become a neuroscientist. I have no regrets. Being a neuroscientist has been very rewarding. I've been able to work on some interesting research projects related to how the brain processes information from the senses and I am now studying how drugs and chemicals affect the development of the nervous system. I have also worked with brilliant scientists who have mentored and taught me about the field of neuroscience. I really would not change anything.
However, I do think about other careers that I could have pursued. For example, I wonder what it would be like to be a botanist or an entomologist studying plant/insect interactions. Or maybe I would be a marine biologist: I still enjoy the ocean and I would work to protect the oceans and its animals. I have always enjoyed teaching so maybe a job as a science teacher is something I would like. Perhaps I would turn my hobby as a photographer into a job. Being a neuroscientist is great, but there are many other careers that interest me even now. I suppose it is never too late to think about new opportunities.
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A. The summer 2020 issue of CEREBRUM magazine from the Dana Foundation is now available.
B. "Anatomy of a Laugh" in the summer 2020 issue of POPULAR SCIENCE magazine.
C. "A Life Just Out of Reach" in WIRED magazine (July/August 2020).
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A. Grant Imahara, a cast member of the "MythBusters" TV show, died last month after suffering from a brain aneurysm.
B. Andrew V. Schally, who won the 1977 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discoveries about the production of peptides in the brain, has more than 2,200 publications. (Source: Nobel Prize web site)
C. Rough-skinned newts (Taricha granulosa) have bacteria on their skin that can contain the neurotoxin called tetrodotoxin. (Source: Vaelli, P.M., Theis, K.R., Williams, J.E., O'Connell, L.A., Foster, J.A., and Eisthen, H.L., The skin microbiome facilitates adaptive tetrodotoxin production in poisonous newts, eLife 2020;9:e53898 doi: 10.7554/eLife.53898)
D. August is Pain Awareness Month.
E. William Shakespeare, in King Henry VI, part II Act III, scene I,
wrote:
"My brain more busy than the labouring spider
Weaves tedious snares to trap mine enemies."
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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.