NEUROSCIENCE FOR KIDS NEWSLETTER
Volume 9, Issue 12 (December, 2005)

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Welcome to the Neuroscience for Kids Newsletter.

Here is what you will find in this issue:

1. What's New at Neuroscience for Kids
2. Neuroscience for Kids Site of the Month
3. Neuroscience for Kids Writing Contest - Now Open
4. UW Brain Awareness Week Open House
5. Only at Neuroscience for Kids
6. End of the Year
7. Media Alert
8. Treasure Trove of Brain Trivia
9. Support Neuroscience for Kids
10. 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 November including:

A. November Neuroscience for Kids Newsletter was archived
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/news911.html
B. Wearing BLUE Increases Judo Wins
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/seeblue.html
C. Brain Surgery Through the Nose
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/bnose.html
D. Supreme Court Hears Case About Hoasca Tea
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/hoas.html
E. Spanish Version of Neuro-Jeopardy
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/jeopardy.html
F. Does Fidel Castro Have Parkinson's Disease?
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/cpark.html

In November, 34 new figures were added and 11 pages were modified.
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2. NEUROSCIENCE FOR KIDS "SITE OF THE MONTH"

The Neuroscience for Kids "Site of the Month" for December is the "Classics in the History of Psychology" at:

http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/topic.htm

Dr. Christopher D. Green, a professor of psychology at York University (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), has collected more than 100 of the most important papers in the field of psychology. These papers, some translated from their original language into English, are available on the Classics in the History of Psychology web site.

The collection is sorted by topic (for example, Ancient Thought, Neuropsychology, Perception, Personality, Social Psychology) and by author. Read the works of great thinkers such as Aristotle, Sigmund Freud and William James or the famous colored word test (the "Stroop Effect") by J. Ridley Stroop.

Regardless of the paper you choose to read at the web site, you are sure to find a classic.
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3. NEUROSCIENCE FOR KIDS WRITING CONTEST - NOW OPEN

The NEUROSCIENCE FOR KIDS WRITING CONTEST is now open to students in kindergarten through high school. Use your imagination to create a poem, limerick or haiku about the brain 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/writing6.html
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4. UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON BRAIN AWARENESS WEEK OPEN HOUSE

Do you want to bring your students (grades 4-12) to the 2006 Brain Awareness Week Open House at the University of Washington on Wednesday, March 22, 2006? We are now accepting applications. Please complete and return the application form (in either PDF format or WORD format):

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/pdf/teachinv.pdf

or

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/pdf/teachinv.doc

To read about Brain Awareness Week, please see:

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/baw.html

If you cannot download the application form for the Open House, contact Dr. Chudler by e-mail: chudler@u.washington.edu
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5. ONLY AT NEUROSCIENCE FOR KIDS

There are thousands of web sites with information about the brain. Some sites help people learn about disorders of the nervous system, others teach about the anatomy and physiology of the brain, and others report on recent neuroscience research. Neuroscience for Kids covers these areas and offers much more. The site has many unique features that you will not find anywhere else on the Internet. Here are a few of my favorite, unique sections of the Neuroscience for Kids web site:

A. Electronic postcards with neuroscience themes:
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/post/postcard.html

B. The Brain Alphabet
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/alpha.html

C. Brainy Hieroglyphics
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/hiro.html

D. Neuroscience on Stamps
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/stamps/stamps.html

E. Brain Jokes
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/jokes.html

F. Sam's Brainy Adventure
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/flash/comic.html
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6. END OF THE YEAR

Some people change e-mail addresses at the end of the year. If you change your e-mail address and would like to continue to receive the Neuroscience for Kids newsletter, please let me know. If the newsletter bounces back to me because an e-mail address is incorrect or a mailbox is full, then that e-mail address is removed automatically from the mailing list.

The end of the year is also a good time to think about charitable donations. Neuroscience for Kids could certainly use your help. Funding for Neuroscience for Kids ran out on July 1, 2005 and it is unclear how much longer we can keep going. If you would like to contribute to the funding of Neuroscience for Kids, please visit:

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/help.html

All contributions are tax deductible (subject to IRS regulations).
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7. MEDIA ALERT

A. "Skin Deep" by Bernadine Healy is the cover story in of the November 14, 2005 issue of US News & World Report. This article discusses the important of the body's largest organ: the skin.

B. "Music and the Mind" by Christine Gorman (Time magazine, November 14, 2005) discusses how music is being used by patients with Alzheimer's disease.

C. "Wired to Win," a new IMAX movie about the brain will be opening in many IMAX theaters around the country. The film uses the experiences of Tour de France cyclists to explain the amazing abilities of the brain. Check you local IMAX theatre for show times.

D. "A Warning To Snorers" by Helen Fields (US News and World Report, November 21, 2005) discusses the risks of sleep apnea.

E. "The Down Dilemma" by Claudia Wallis (Time magazine, November 21, 2005) discusses the controversy over early testing for Down Syndrome.

F. The new issue of Scientific American MIND (December 2005) is now available. This issue discusses topics such as fear, anger, brain damage, handedness and drugs that may erase specific memories.

G. "Young Brains, Beware" by Bernadine Healy (US News and World Report, December 5, 2005) discusses the signs of Alzheimer's disease.

H. "Inside the Mind of a Savant" by Darold A. Treffert and Daniel D. Christensen (Scientific American, December, 2005) describes the amazing mental feats of Kim Peek (the "Rain Man").
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8. THE TREASURE TROVE OF BRAIN TRIVIA

A. The giant axon of the squid can be 100 to 1000 times larger than a mammalian axon. The giant axon connects to the squid's mantle muscle. This muscle is used to propel the squid through the water.

B. Mice, cats, dogs, horses, whales, humans and most other mammals have only seven neck bones (cervical vertebrae), but there are exceptions to this rule. Manatees and two-toed sloths have only SIX cervical vertebrae and three-toed sloths have NINE cervical vertebrae.

C. Giulio Cesare Aranzi coined the term "hippocampus" in 1564.

D. The first Ph.D. with "Psychology" in its title was given to Granville Stanley Hall at Harvard University in 1878.

E. When Santiago Ramon y Cajal was 11-years-old, he destroyed a neighbor's gate with a homemade cannon and spent three days in jail. Cajal went on to become a neuroscientist and won the Nobel Prize in 1906 for his work on the structure of the neuron. (Reference: Rapport, R., Nerve Endings. The Discovery of the Synapse, New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2005.)
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9. SUPPORT NEUROSCIENCE FOR KIDS

To insure that Neuroscience for Kids stays available, we need your help. If you would like to contribute to the funding of Neuroscience for Kids, please visit:

Help Neuroscience for Kids
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10. 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)