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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 April including:
A. April Neuroscience for Kids Newsletter was archived
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/news2604.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 May is "Dog Vision" at:
https://dog-vision.andraspeter.com/
Have you ever wondered how a dog sees the world? With "Dog Vision" you can see through the eyes of your canine friend. András Péter created "Dog Vision" with a web based image processing tool tool to show the differences in visual perception between humans and dogs. Start your exploration of Dog Vision by reading about color perception, brightness discrimination and visual acuity. Then try the Dog Vision Tool by uploading an image and modifying the factors involved with visual perception (click on the "click here! link).
András Péter also provides details about how the image processing tool works and even provides the source code. Using the source code, it may be interesting for someone to create an image processing tool to visualize how other animals see their environment.
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The winning poems of the 2022 Neuroscience for Kids Poetry Contest have been published in the Spring 2022 issue of CEREBRUM magazine. You can read all of the winning poems on the CEREBRUM web site at:
https://online.flippingbook.com/view/1024017629/38/
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A. The Museum of Illusions (https://moiphilly.com/) opened on March 12, 2022, in Philadelphia, PA.
B. "What Birds Really Listen for in Birdsong (It's Not What You Think)" in the May 2022 issue of SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN.
C. "Tracing Back Brains" in the May/June 2022 issue of DISCOVER magazine.
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A. Last month a fox that tested positive for the rabies virus bit several people including a congressman from California. The rabies virus attacks cells of the nervous system; an untreated rabies infection is almost always fatal.
B. Actor Bruce Willis has been diagnosed with aphasia. People with aphasia have difficulty speaking or understanding language. The disorder can be caused by stroke, damage or injury to the brain.
C. The estimated total economic burden of multiple sclerosis in the United States in 2019 was $85.4 billion (direct medical cost of $63.3 billion; indirect and non-medical costs of $22.1 billion) (Source: Bebo, B., et al., Economic Burden of Multiple Sclerosis in the United States: Estimate of Direct and Indirect Costs, Neurology, Apr 2022, 10.1212/WNL.0000000000200150; DOI: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000200150).
D. As environmental temperatures have warmed over the past 40 years, the body size of many migratory birds has shrunk. However, birds with big brains relative to their body size had smaller reductions in body size compared to birds with smaller brains (Source: Baldwin, J.W., et al., Phenotypic responses to climate change are significantly dampened in big-brained birds, Ecology Letters, 25: 939-947, 2022).
E. Amygdaloid Island is located within Isle Royale National Park in Michigan. The word "amygdala" comes from the Greek word for "almond." I thought Amygdaloid Island would be almond-shaped like the amygdala in the brain, but on the map, the island looks long and narrow. With a bit of further research, I learned that the island gets its name from almond-shaped agates found on the island.
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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.