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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/news2509.html
B. New Neuroscience in the News
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/inthenews.html
C. Visit or follow my Instagram site with neuroscience facts and trivia:
https://www.instagram.com/ericchudler/
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The Neuroscience for Kids "Site of the Month" for October is "BioBus" at:
BioBus is a mobile science lab based in New York City that helps students explore science. The bus travels to schools where students climb into the lab and participate in hands-on science activities and work with real laboratory equipment. Since 2008, the BioBus has visited more than 800 schools and reached 300,000 students.
The brain has been a BioBus theme in the past and the BioBus website has many materials about neuroscience. For example, there are several "STEAM Challenges" with experiments about the senses and other neuroscience activities such as videos, a coloring book and research articles. BioBus also has an internship program that provides paid research training for high school students.
So, hop on the BioBus and learn about science and the brain!
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Exercise is great for the entire body. Regular physical activity strengthens muscles and bones and benefits the brain by promoting neurogenesis (new neurons), stimulating angiogenesis (new blood vessels) and releasing brain-derived neurotrophic factor (a chemical nutrient for brain cells). These are some reasons why I run four or five kilometers almost every day of the week, rain or shine.
However, it is not the health benefits of running I am writing about. Instead, I want to tell you about incident that happened during one of my runs last month. I was about halfway through my run when I tripped over a broken piece of concrete that had been pushed up by a tree root. I broke my fall with my left hand and went skidding along the sidewalk. As I crashed to the ground, I scraped my knee, elbow and shoulder. My fall to the pavement must have been quite spectacular because as I was on the ground checking for broken bones, I noticed a red car pull off the road and park a short distance from me. A woman then got out of the car, walked toward me, and asked if I was injured. I assured her that I just had some bumps and bruises. I thanked her for her concern and for taking the time to check on me.
As I jogged back home, I thought about compassion. What is compassion and how is it related to empathy? Would other people have checked on me? How do you measure compassion? What are the underlying brain circuits responsible for compassion?
Empathy is the ability to recognize and interpret the emotional state of other people and to attempt to understand how other people feel. In other words, empathy is the ability to "walk in another's person's shoes." Compassion is the emotional response to empathy and involves the desire to help others. You may have seen some hidden camera TV programs that show how people react when they see other people in distressing situations. Some people see the problem and attempt to help while other people ignore the situation. We all seem to be born with empathy, but it can change over time and be learned.
Laboratory research has demonstrated that seeing someone in an unpleasant or painful situation activates several brain areas, including the anterior insula, amygdala, cingulate cortex, frontal cortex and somatosensory cortex. These areas play important roles in attention, judgement, fear, sensation and emotion to provide meaning to the distressing event.
Bleeding from my knee, I jogged back home where I cleaned and treated by wounds. I'll continue to run, but I'll be much more careful where I step. I will also try to be more empathic and compassionate when I see other people who need help.
For more information about empathy, compassion and neuroscience, see:
https://health.ucsd.edu/news/topics/compassion/qas/Pages/neurobiology.aspx
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"Life of a Neuron" is a new exhibit that opened to the public in Washington, D.C. on September 27, 2021 (and closes on November 28, 2021). The show was created by ARTECHOUSE and the Society for Neuroscience to "explore how the brain shapes the universal human experience." Artists and scientists worked together to create this interactive exhibit including a walk-through neuron.
For more information about the "Life of a Neuron," see:
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A. "Can Birds Help Us Avoid Natural Disasters?" (HAKAI MAGAZINE, September, 2021).
B. "Scientists: When Talking to the Public, Please Speak Plainly" (SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, October 2021).
C. "Humans Can Develop a Sixth Sense, Study Proves" (POPULAR MECHANICS, September-October, 2021).
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A. There is a Guinness World Record for completing a marathon run while dressed as a brain.
B. In the early 1900s, Hans Berger developed the electroencephalogram (EEG) in an attempt to understand telepathy (Source: Sanders, L., How Hans Berger's quest for telepathy spurred modern brain science, ScienceNews, July 6, 2021).
C. The word "encephalogram" comes from the Latin words meaning "brain writing."
D. Sir Peter Mansfield, who won the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Paul Lauterbur for discoveries concerning magnetic resonance imaging, was born on October 9, 1933.
E. Wilhelm Konrad Rontgen (1845-1923), who discovered X-rays, was selected as one of LIFE magazine's 100 People Who Changed The World.
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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.