NEUROSCIENCE FOR KIDS NEWSLETTER
Volume 30, Issue 5 (May, 2026)

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Welcome to the Neuroscience for Kids Newsletter.

In this issue:

  1. What's New at Neuroscience for Kids
  2. Neuroscience for Kids Site of the Month
  3. Brain Awareness Video Contest
  4. Media Alert
  5. Treasure Trove of Brain Trivia
  6. Support Neuroscience for Kids
  7. How to Stop Your Subscription

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1. WHAT'S NEW AT NEUROSCIENCE FOR KIDS

Neuroscience for Kids had several new additions in April including:

A. April Neuroscience for Kids Newsletter was archived
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/news3004.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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2. NEUROSCIENCE FOR KIDS "SITE OF THE MONTH"

The Neuroscience for Kids "Site of the Month" for May is the "Hengen Lab" at:

https://hengenlab.org/landing

The Hengen Lab web site is run by Dr. Keith Hengen, an associate professor in the Department of Biology at Washington University (St. Louis, MO). This web site was selected as a "Site of the Month" because of its very unusual design. The site uses brightly colored, detailed, comic-style illustrations to explain what the lab does. Click on "GO DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE" to learn what goes on in the Hengen Lab. Then "TAKE THE NEXT STEP" to work with a simulation that models neuronal activity. If you want to go deeper, visit the "PAPERS ETC" link to find more information about the people and work in the lab.

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3. BRAIN AWARENESS VIDEO CONTEST

The Society for Neuroscience is now accepting entries for its annual Brain Awareness Video Contest. If you have a good video idea to highlight neuroscience, I encourage you to participate. The first place winner receives $4,000 and free registration to the 2026 Neuroscience Meeting in Washington, DC. There are also cash prizes for second and third place and the People's Choice video. The contest is accepting entries until June 25. For rules and entry information, see:

https://www.brainfacts.org/for-educators/programs-and-events/brain-awareness-video-contest

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4. MEDIA ALERT

A. In SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN (May, 2026): "Elephants' peculiar whiskers help them sense the world around them," "AI and human intelligence are drastically different - here's how," and "Inside the labs where chemists engineer luxury perfumes."

B. "Secrets of the Bees" is the cover story in NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC (May, 2026).

C. "The Mind and the Mirror" (AMERICAN SCIENTIST, May-June, 2026).

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5. THE TREASURE TROVE OF BRAIN TRIVIA

A. May is Mental Health Awareness Month, Better Sleep Month, ALS Awareness Month, Brain Cancer Awareness Month and National Stroke Awareness Month.

B. "BrainFood" is the name of a catering company in Memphis, TN.

C. Like a finger, a tongue has unique prints that could be used as a way to identify someone. Even identical twins have different tongue prints (Source: Radhika, T., et al., Tongue prints: A novel biometric and potential forensic tool, J. Forensic Dent. Sci., 8:117-119, 2016).

D. Crocodiles appear to sleep with one hemisphere of their brain at a time. This is similar to how some birds and dolphins sleep (Source: Kelly, M.L., et al., Unihemispheric sleep in crocodilians? J. Exp. Biol., 218:3175-3178, 2015).

E. The first annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience was held in 1971 in Washington, D.C.

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6. SUPPORT NEUROSCIENCE FOR KIDS

To ensure that Neuroscience for Kids stays available, we need your help. All contributions to Neuroscience for Kids are tax deductible (subject to IRS regulations). If you would like to donate to Neuroscience for Kids, please visit:

Help Neuroscience for Kids

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7. HOW TO STOP RECEIVING THIS NEWSLETTER

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

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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.
(e-mail: chudler@u.washington.edu)
(URL: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/neurok.html)