____________________________________________________________
Happy New Year from Neuroscience for Kids!
__________________________________________________________________
Welcome to the Neuroscience for Kids Newsletter.
In this issue:
____________________________________________________________
Neuroscience for Kids had several new additions in December including:
A. December Neuroscience for Kids Newsletter was archived
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/news2912.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/
__________________________________________________________
The Neuroscience for Kids "Site of the Month" for January is "Get Excited About Mental Health Research!" at:
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/get-excited-about-mental-health-research
When I was at a neuroscience outreach event last month, one of the popular items we gave away was a coloring book. We also printed copies of the Neuroscience for Kids coloring pages that you can find at: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/colorbook.html. This month's "Site of the Month" is also a coloring book. In "Get Excited About Mental Health Research!," the National Institute of Mental Health has created a PDF coloring book/activity book for kids. The pages provide information about mental health, mental health research, clinical trials and the scientific method.
__________________________________________________________
You may have noticed that this is the first issue of the 30th volume of the Neuroscience for Kids Newsletter. That's right - the newsletter is going into its 30th year! Much has changed in neuroscience (and around the world) since the first newsletter was published in December, 1997.
Believe it or not, many Neuroscience for Kids Newsletter readers have been on the newsletter mailing list since 1997. Some newsletter readers are now adults who signed up for the newsletter when they were kids; other readers are teachers interested in providing their students with information and activities about neuroscience and brain research; some readers just find learning about the brain fascinating.
Although the Neuroscience for Kids website launched in 1996 with a Science Education Partnership Award from the National Center for Research Resources at the National Institutes of Health, the first newsletter was not published until a year later. I thought that a monthly newsletter would be another way to reach people interested in learning about the brain and a place to provide additional information that did not fit nicely on the website.
All newsletters are archived on the Neuroscience for Kids website and available to you at:
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/arch.html
__________________________________________________________
Are you ready for Brain Awareness Week (BAW) 2026? This year, the official week for BAW is March 16-22, 2026. If you do not have plans for BAW, here some ideas for you to consider:
A. Invite a neuroscientist to visit your class. Use the "Find a Neuroscientist" website to locate a speaker near you: https://www.brainfacts.org/fan.
B. Set up a brain display of books and artwork in your school or public library. The librarian may have book suggestions for your display or you can search your library book catalog.
C. Decorate your classroom or school hallways with projects and posters related to the nervous system.
D. Set up a table of brain-related books, models, and puzzles in front of your school to welcome students during BAW.
E. Write a letter for your school newspaper about the importance of brain research.
F. Visit your local science museum. Many museums have special exhibits during BAW.
G. Paint a BAW "Brain Rock" and post it here: https://padlet.com/chudler/the-brain-rocks-2026-7wz5qzmj36kz1vvz
__________________________________________________________
A. "A Distorted Mind-Body Connection May Explain Common Mental Illnesses" (SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, January, 2026).
B. "There's Your Problem" (AMERICAN SCIENTIST, January-February, 2026).
_________________________________________________________
A. Goats have horizontal pupils in their eyes.
B. Some birds including great frigatebirds (Fregata minor) and common swifts (Apus apus) can sleep while they fly (Source: Rattenborg, N.C., Sleeping on the wing, Interface Focus. 2017 Feb 6;7(1):20160082. doi: 10.1098/rsfs.2016.0082).
C. A German shepherd named "Buddy" is credited with being the first seeing-eye dog in the United States. Buddy arrived in New York from Switzerland in 1928.
D. Last month, Christie's auctioned a rare first edition of James Parkinson's "An Essay on the Shaking Palsy" (1817). Estimated cost: GBP 50,000 to GBP 70,000 (about $66,000 to $92,000).
E. The use of "Zzz" (the sound of snoring) to represent sleep was popularize in a 1903 Katzenjammer Kids comic strip.
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
To remove yourself from this mailing list and stop your subscription
to the Neuroscience for Kids Newsletter, send e-mail to Dr. Eric H.
Chudler at: chudler@u.washington.edu
_________________________________________________________
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.