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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 January including:
A. January Neuroscience for Kids Newsletter was archived
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/news2501.html
B. New Neuroscience in the News
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/inthenews.html
C. 2021 Neurocalendars
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/neurocal.html
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The Neuroscience for Kids "Site of the Month" for February is "BRAIN Explorer" at:
https://braininitiative.nih.gov/brainexplorer
BRAIN Explorer is a resource created by the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies® (BRAIN) Initiative at the National Institutes of Health. This interactive web site answers five questions about how we talk, remember, see, make decisions and find our way around in the world.
Each question is answered by describing different experimental methods that can be used to investigate the topic. For example, to answer the question "How do we remember?," you can learn about how memory is studied by measuring human brain signals, studying memory in animals or using computers and building new technology. The explanations are kept short and simple. The many colorful images and videos also help make sense of some complicated research studies. If you want a more detailed explanation, you can track down the original research paper with the reference that is listed.
It seems to me that the web site was designed to make a few research papers easy for everyone to understand. I hope that the BRAIN Initiative will add more questions and answers to its Brain Explorer because there is still so much more to learn.
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2021 NEUROSCIENCE FOR KIDS DRAWING CONTEST drawings must be received by February 1, 2021 and judging will start soon. Winners will be announced by March 1, 2021.
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Brain Awareness Week (BAW), the yearly event to promote the public and personal benefits of brain research, is next month (March 15-21, 2021). Find a BAW event in your city by searching the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives calendar:
https://www.brainawareness.org/calendar/ In my opinion, anytime is a good time to celebrate the brain. So, if you cannot get to a BAW event during the official BAW, then plan an activity for another date. Because of COVID-19 health and safety concerns, many activities will be held online this year.
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One job of the US Consumer Product and Safety Commission (CPSC) is to issue a recall for products it determines to be dangerous to consumers. For many years, the CPSC has tested products for the presence of lead. Lead is a heavy metal that is toxic to many organs of the body and can damage the brain and peripheral nerves. Children are especially at risk for problems associated with lead exposure because they are still growing rapidly.
To determine the number of recalls the CPSP issued for lead in 2020, I went to the CPSC recall database at: https://cpsc.gov/Recalls. Using this database, I found that in 2020, the CPSC issued recalls for 10 products contaminated by high levels of lead. The products included sippy cups, toys, pillows, children's boots, tricycles and furniture. Of the 10 recalled products, 7 were manufactured in China, 1 in Indonesia, 1 in India and 1 in Vietnam.
The CPSC recommends that these products should not be handled or used. Adults should return the items to the retailer for a refund or replacement.
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A. Several interesting articles in SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN (February, 2021) including "The Epic, Absurdly Complex Battle between a Zombie Maker and Its Victim," "Mysteries of COVID Smell Loss Finally Yield Some Answers," "Spider Legs Build Webs without the Brain's Help," "Snakes' Flexible, Heat-Sensing Organs Explained" and "Printing a Brain Aneurysm in a Dish.
B. "Dangers of Divided Attention" and "Could Infections Make Us Vulnerable to Alzheimer's Disease?" (AMERICAN SCIENTIST, January-February, 2021).
C. "Psilocybin Treatment for Mental Health Gets Legal Framework" (SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN HEALTH & MEDICINE, February 2021).
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A. Each eye of a tarsier (Tarsius wallacei), a small primate found in Indonesia, is as big as its brain. (Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19738-zoologger-a-primate-with-eyes-bigger-than-its-brains/)
B. Miami Heat basketball fans entering the arena for a game will be screened by dogs that will use their excellent sense of smell to detect COVID-19.
C. Last month, Brown University (Providence, RI) announced that it received an anonymous gift of $25 million to support brain research (Source: https://www.brown.edu/news/2021-01-26/brain-science ).
D. Francis Crick, who won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine with James Watson for discoveries about DNA, wrote in his book "What Mad Pursuit" (1988): "It is essential to understand our brains in some detail if we are to assess correctly our place in this vast and complicated universe we see all around us."
E. Normal cerebrospinal fluid is clear and colorless.
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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.