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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/news2801.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
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The Neuroscience for Kids "Site of the Month" for February is "Knowable Magazine. The Mind" at:
https://knowablemagazine.org/content/mind
Knowable Magazine is a collection of review articles from Annual Reviews. The web site covers a wide range of topics and "The Mind" section explores neuroscience, psychology and brain research. Many of the articles have been translated into Spanish.
One of my favorite articles, written by Carolyn Wilke titled "Do spiders dream? What about cuttlefish? Bearded dragons?," discusses sleep in a variety of animals. Also, don't miss the series of videos and articles about how the brain changes over our lifetime in "Inside the brain: A lifetime of change" at:
https://knowablemagazine.org/inside-brain-lifetime-change-series
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The 2024 Neuroscience for Kids Poetry Contest is now closed and judging has begun. Winners will be announced in this newsletter next month and posted on the Neuroscience for Kids web site at:
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/contest24.html
__________________________________________________________The DO-IT Center and Center for Neurotechnology at the University of Washington is sponsoring a free summer program (August 5-9, 2024). The program is open to high school students who are citizens and permanent residents of the United States and its possessions who identify as neurodiverse learners. I will serve as the education director of this camp. Students will learn about neuroscience, neural engineering, and neuroethics. The goal is to expose students to the field of neuroscience and provide basic preparation for college studies in STEM subjects and future STEM careers. For more information about this summer program, see:
https://www.washington.edu/doit/programs/nnl/summer-program
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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 2024. 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 15-19, 2024.
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 2024 YSP-REACH program applications is March 15, 2024. For more information and an application form, see:
https://centerforneurotech.uw.edu/content/young-scholars-program
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STEM educators are invited to join the Allen Institute for a two-part virtual professional development workshop all about open neuroscience concepts and science careers. You will have an opportunity to ask neuroscientists questions you and your students wonder about in class! The workshop takes place across two required sessions on February 27, 2024 and March 5, 2024, 4:00-5:30 pm PST. Learn more and apply at:
https://alleninstitute.org/events/neuro_fundamentals_teacher_academy/
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The World Cup Tasters Championship was held last year (June 22-24, 2023) in Athens, Greece. The championship is awarded to a professional coffee cupper (taster) who is best at tasting the differences between specialty coffees. The ability to discriminate between the different coffees requires that cuppers pay attention to the smell, taste and perhaps the feel of each coffee. Competitors are presented with eight sets of three cups of coffee. In each set, two of the cups have the same coffee and one cup contains a different coffee. Cuppers must identify the coffee that is different from the other two coffees as fast as possible. The winner of the 2023 World Cup Tasters Championship was Young Baek who correctly identified the different coffee in 7 of the 8 sets in a time of 4 minutes, 8 seconds.
A similar activity you might try is a tasters championship with sugar water, colas or juice. For example, you might mix water with slightly different amounts of sugar. Don't use too much sugar; a little sugar goes a long way! Then pour two cups with one sugar water solution and one cup with the other sugar water solution. People would need to identify the one cup unlike the other two cups. You might also try different types of cola: maybe try Coke in two cups and Pepsi in the one cup for one set and then Pepsi in two cups and Coke in one cup. People would need to select which drink is unlike the other two in each set.
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A. Brains Are Not Required When It Comes to Thinking and Solving Problems -- Simple Cells Can Do It" (SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, February, 2024).
B. "The Tyrannosaurus Rex May Have Had More Brains Than You Think," "FDA Approves Controversial Alzheimer's Drug," and "The Neurodiversity Movement Has A Moment This Year" (DISCOVER magazine, January-February 2024).
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A. Reindeer may be able to sleep and eat at the same time (Source: Furrer, M., et al., Reindeer in the Arctic reduce sleep need during rumination, Current Biology, 2023, https://doi.org/1 0.1016/j.cub.2023.12.01).
B. Focused ultrasound may open the blood-brain barrier and allow more efficient delivery of drugs to treat Alzheimer's disease (Source: Rezai, A.R., et al., Ultrasound blood-brain barrier opening and Aducanumab in Alzheimer's disease, N. Engl. J. Med. 390:55-62, 2024).
C. A diet that includes Kiwi fruit may be able to improve mood in as little as four days (Source: Fletcher, B.D., et al., Smartphone survey data reveals the timecourse of changes in mood outcomes following vitamin C or kiwifruit intervention in adults with low vitamin C, British J. Nutrition, 2023; 1 DOI: 10.1017/S0007114523002787).
D. Proteins make up about 60% of the total mass of the lens of the eye (Source: Wistow, G.J. and, Piatigorsky J. Lens crystallins: the evolution and expression of proteins for a highly specialized tissue, Annu. Rev. Biochem., 57:479-504, 1988).
E. A Nile crocodile with a body mass of 90 kg has only 83 million neurons in its brain (Source: Kverková, K., et al., The evolution of brain neuron numbers in amniotes. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U S A., Mar 15;119(11):e2121624119, 2022).
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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.