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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 September including:
A. September Neuroscience for Kids Newsletter was archived
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/news2409.html
B. New Neuroscience in the News
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/inthenews.html
C. More Neuroscience Jokes
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/jokes.html
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The Neuroscience for Kids "Site of the Month" for October is "British Neuroscience Association Resources for Learning, Teaching and Sharing Neuroscience" at:
https://www.bna.org.uk/resources/
The British Neuroscience Association has devoted a special section of their web site to resources for teachers, children and neuroscientists interested in learning, teaching and sharing neuroscience. The materials are divided into two main categories. The first category, Educational Resources, has a library of webinars for children, neuroscience lessons with PowerPoint and information sheets. This section also has lists of neuroscience websites, written resources, and YouTube channels about the brain. The second category, Other Resources, contains materials related to neurological disorders and substance abuse. You can access these materials by clicking on the photos for each category or the text menu on the left side of the site.
I highly recommend the "Home Learning and Teaching" page with lessons, PowerPoint slides and information sheets. These materials can be used immediately and the slides can be modified to best suit your needs.
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With COVID-19 causing health and safety concerns, the new school year has started with many students learning from home instead of inside schools. Many universities have also started with classes being taught virtually and if laboratory research is allowed, it is being done carefully with social distancing guidelines in place. Instead of thinking about this situation as a problem to talk with a neuroscientist, why not think of it as an opportunity?
Scientists still want to work with students and teachers interested in learning about the brain. Sure, it will not be possible to visit a lab and speak with neuroscientists in person, but there are ways to connect virtually. Perhaps you can find a neuroscientist to “visit” with you remotely. Here are a few programs that help scientists connect with schools:
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The National Institutes of Health Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies Initiative is sponsoring an essay/video competition for U.S. high school students. Entries should describe "the ethics, limitations, and implications of emerging technology to study and treat disorders of the human brain." There are cash prizes ($1,000 for first place, for example) for winners.
There is a long list of submission requirements and rules, so if you plan to enter the challenge, read the challenge web site carefully:
https://ninds.ideascalegov.com/a/campaign-home/1110Important Challenge Dates:
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A. "The COVID-19 Pandemic Is Changing Our Dreams" and "Moving in Sync Creates Surprising Social Bonds among People" (SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, October 2020).
B. "Visions in the Night," (POPULAR SCIENCE, Fall 2020)
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A. Swans (Cygnus olor; the mute swan) have 23 cervical vertebrae (neck bones); humans have only 7 cervical vertebrae (Source: Böhmer et al., Correlated evolution of neck length and leg length in birds, R. Soc. Open Sci.6181588, http://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.181588, 2019).
B. Cafe Synapse is a small restaurant on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
C. The box jellyfish (Tripedalia cystophorauses) has 24 eyes grouped into four clusters called rhopalia. (Source: NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC magazine, February, 2016.)
D. J.Z. Young wrote in Doubt and Certainty in Science. A Biologist's Reflections on the Brain (1960): "The principles now being discovered at work in the brain may provide, in the future, machines even more powerful than those we can at present foresee."
E. Some interesting statistics about bird brains: the grey parrot brain has a mass of 8.8 gm and contains 1.565 billion neurons; the barn owl brain has a mass of 5.6 gm and contains 689.5 million neurons; the emu brain has a mass of 21.8 gm and contains 1.335 billion neurons. (Source: Olkowicza, S., et al., Birds have primate-like numbers of neurons in the forebrain, PNAS, 113: 7255-7260, 2016.)
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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.