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Happy New Year from Neuroscience for Kids!
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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 December including:
A. December Neuroscience for Kids Newsletter was archived
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/news2612.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/
D. New NeuroCalendars
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/neurocal.html
E. Brainy Word Search Puzzles
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/chgames.html#ws
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The Neuroscience for Kids "Site of the Month" for January is "Brain Health" from the World Health Organization at:
https://www.who.int/health-topics/brain-health The World Health Organization (WHO) was founded in 1948 to "keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable -- so everyone, everywhere can attain the highest level of health." The WHO has devoted a special place on their web site about brain health information about neurological diseases and their efforts to reduce the burden of neurological disorders. For basic information about nervous system diseases, read through the fact sheets on the site. The site also keeps you up to date with news from around the globe discussing the efforts of WHO to improve the lives of people impacted by neurological disease.
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You have one more month to enter the 2023 NEUROSCIENCE FOR KIDS DRAWING CONTEST. Use your imagination to draw a picture about the nervous system and you might win a prize. The complete set of rules and the official entry form for the contest are available at:
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/contest23.html
The deadline for the contest is February 1, 2023. Good luck to everyone!__________________________________________________________
International Brain Awareness Week will take place during March, 2023. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, with the necessity for many health and safety precautions, makes it impossible to plan and host large groups of people for Brain Awareness Week (BAW) events at the University of Washington. For 2023 BAW, we will host a Speakers Bureau with neuroscientists interested in sharing their passion for brain research with others in smaller groups. Presenters in the Speakers Bureau will be matched with teachers for virtual or possibly in-person classroom presentations.
Here is the way the Speakers Bureau works:
A. Teachers visit the Speakers Bureau web site: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/bawspeakers.html
B. Teachers complete the online application form available on the Speakers Bureau web site.
C. I connect teachers with a potential speaker. Speakers are responsible for developing their own presentations, but I'll help them if they need it.
D. Arrangements (e.g., date, time, virtual/in-person, place) are made between the presenter and teacher.
If there is a high demand for speakers, I may not be able to match all teachers/classes with a presenter, but I'll try my best. Please let me know if you have any questions about the UW BAW Speakers Bureau.
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For the past several years, I have directed a summer program for high school students interested in neurotechnology and neuroscience. I will continue this program in 2023 and if you are a high school student, I encourage you to apply to the Young Scholars Program-REACH at the Center for Neurotechnology (University of Washington, Seattle, WA). The program will take place in-person and virtually July 10-14, 2023.
During the YSP-REACH program, students will receive an introduction to neuroscience and neural engineering, neuroethics, and the latest developments in brain-computer interfaces. The program is well suited for students interested in a science, math, technology and engineering, with a specific interest in neural engineering and neuroscience.
The deadline for summer 2023 YSP-REACH program applications is March 15, 2023. For more information and an application form, see:
https://centerforneurotech.uw.edu/content/young-scholars-program
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How do your eyes work? What does an ophthalmologist do? Do you really need your eyes to see? Join me (and Kavi and Jeanette) as we answer these questions in a new episode of the BrainWorks show! Watch BrainWorks at:
https://www.washington.edu/video/brainworks/
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"Big Brain Book. How it Works and All its Quirks" by Leanne Boucher Gill (Washington, D.C.: Magination Press, 2021)
Dr. Leanne Boucher Gill, a professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Nova Southeastern University (Fort Lauderdale, FL), has written a fantastic book about the nervous system for upper elementary school and middle school students. In the 224 pages of Big Brain Book, Dr. Boucher Gill organized material into three sections -- a) Brain Anatomy, b) Brain and Body and c) When Things Go Wrong -- each with multiple questions. The book covers not only the basics of the brain and neurons, but unlike many books for young readers, Dr. Boucher Gill includes a discussion of the brain of different animals and methods used to study the brain. She also answers thought-provoking questions about sleep, pain, the senses, memory and learning.
The book also has many simple experiments that readers can do to investigate concepts. Together with bright illustrations and boxes with extra factoids, Big Brain Book is a highly engaging introduction to neuroscience. And critics agree: Big Brain Book won a Publishers Weekly 2022 Kids' Book Choice Award!
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A. "Pain" is the cover story in NEW SCIENTIST magazine (November 19-25, 2022).
B. "Polar Vision" (about vision in reindeer) in NEW SCIENTIST magazine (January 3, 2023).
C. Download the World Health Organization position paper "Optimizing brain health across the life course" (2022) at: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240054561.
D. Read my new Princeton University Press IDEAS article titled "What Hollywood gets wrong (and right) about neuroscience" at: https://press.princeton.edu/ideas/what-hollywood-gets-wrong-and-right-about-neuroscience.
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A. The brains of stranded dolphins show signs of Alzheimer's disease (Source: Vacher, M. C., et al., Alzheimer's disease-like neuropathology in three species of oceanic dolphin. European Journal of Neuroscience. 2022, https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.15900).
B. Neurons in a dish have learned how to play the game Pong (Source: Kagan, B.J., et al., In vitro neurons learn and exhibit sentience when embodied in a simulated game-world, Neuron, 110: 3952-3969, 2022).
C. Elephants have more facial nucleus neurons (about 54,000 in Asian elephants and 63,000 in African elephants) than any other land mammal (Source: Kaufmann, L.V., et al., Elephant facial motor control, Sci. Adv.8, eabq2789, 2022).
D. News agencies reported that more than 100 people in Australia suffered from hallucinations, dilated pupils, rapid heartbeat, and blurred vision after eating spinach that may have been contaminated with plants from the nightshade family. These plants contain chemicals that interfere with the acetylcholine neurotransmitter system.
E. Dikembe Mutombo, a National Basketball Association Hall of Famer, recently started treatment for a brain tumor.
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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.