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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/news2812.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 January is "Common Misconceptions about the Brain" at:
http://www.educationalneuroscience.org.uk/resources/neuromyth-or-neurofact//p>
This month's Site of the Month is a subsection of the Centre for Educational Neuroscience website, a resource developed by researchers at Birkbeck University of London, UCL Institute of Education, and University College London. One goal of the Centre is to create a connection between researchers and educators to improve education. Correcting misconceptions about the brain is a great place to start!
The website currently has 17 essays that dispel different "neuromyths" by looking at the scientific evidence that supports or refutes a statement. Some of the neuromyths may be familiar to you including "Left brain versus right brain thinkers" and "We only use 10% of our brains." The writers discuss other topics such as "Fish oils improve learning, "Different children have different learning styles," "You can train your brain with digital media," and "Children do better in school if they were born in the autumn."
Most of the essays have an extensive list of references, but unfortunately they are not linked electronically so you will have to search for them yourself if you want to read the original research. Nevertheless, this collection of essays goes a long way in clearing up many of the myths associated with the brain and learning.
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Get out your pencils, pens and markers! The 2025 NEUROSCIENCE FOR KIDS DRAWING CONTEST is now open to students in kindergarten through high school, teachers and parents. 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/contest25.html Entries must be received by February 1, 2025.
Good luck to everyone!
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This summer I will again direct the Young Scholars Program-REACH at the Center for Neurotechnology (University of Washington, Seattle, WA). This program is for high school students interested in neurotechnology and neuroscience. The one-week program will run in-person and virtually from July 14 to 18, 2025.
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 application deadline for the summer 2025 YSP-REACH program is March 15, 2025. For more information and an application form, visit:
https://centerforneurotech.uw.edu/education/k-12/young-scholars-program-reach/
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The National Science Foundation (NSF) is now accepting entries from students in grades K-12 in its game design competition. The competition encourages students to create a game about life in the year 2100 and how science and technology will shape the future. Perhaps your game could be about how our understanding of the brain or neurotechnology will change society. Entries are due on January 31, 2025. For details about the competition, see:
https://new.nsf.gov/75years/game-maker-awards
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A. "Engineering Our Dreams" and "The Vagus Nerve's Mysterious Role in Mental Health Untangled" (SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, January, 2025).
B. "The Science of Hi-Fi Audio," "Kicking Cocaine," and "Brain Surgery Without a Knife" (AMERICAN SCIENTIST, January-February, 2025).
C. "The Hybrid Mind," "Making Senses," and "The Mind-Reading Cure" are articles in a special issue of POPULAR SCIENCE ROBOTS + CYBORGS (2024).
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A. Actor/comedian Jamie Foxx and NBA San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovic both revealed last month that they suffered from a stroke.
B. "Brain rot" is the 2024 Oxford Word of the Year (Source: https://corp.oup.com/news/brain-rot-named-oxford-word-of-the-year-2024/).
C. A mummified woolly mammoth brain, estimated to be 39,000 years old, was discovered in Northern Yakutia, Russia (Source: Kharlamova, A. et al., Preserved brain of the Woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius (Blumenbach 1799)) from the Yakutian permafrost, Quat. Intern., 406 (B): 86-93, 2016).
D. The fastest time to solve a Rubik's cube blindfolded is 12 seconds. This feat requires that people memorize the colors of the cube before they are blindfolded (Source: https://tinyurl.com/yunddhm2).
E. "Brain terrain" is the name scientists have given to areas on the surface of the planet Mars that look like the outside of the brain (Source: https://tinyurl.com/4jzazwnx).
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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.