NEUROSCIENCE FOR KIDS NEWSLETTER
Volume 9, Issue 3 (March, 2005)

____________________________________________________________

Welcome to the Neuroscience for Kids Newsletter.

Here is what you will find in this issue:

1. What's New on the Neuroscience for Kids Web Site
2. Neuroscience for Kids Site of the Month
3. Neuroscience for Kids Drawing Contest Results
4. Brain Awarenesss Week 2005
5. SfN at the National Science Teachers Association Meeting
6. TV Movie "Saving Milly" to Air in March
7. Media Alert
8. Treasure Trove of Brain Trivia
9. Support Neuroscience for Kids
10. How to Stop Your Subscription
____________________________________________________________

1. WHAT'S NEW ON THE NEUROSCIENCE FOR KIDS SITE

Neuroscience for Kids had several new additions in February. Here are some of them:

A. February Neuroscience for Kids Newsletter was archived
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/news92.html
B. Butterbur Extract Reduces Migraine
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/burmi.html
C. 2005 Neuroscience for Kids Drawing Contest Results
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/contest45.html
D. Kid's Hurt Too!
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/kidpain.html

In February, 14 new figures were added and 47 pages were modified.
__________________________________________________________

2. NEUROSCIENCE FOR KIDS "SITE OF THE MONTH"

The Neuroscience for Kids "Site of the Month" for March is "53 Optical Illusions & Visual Phenomena" at:

http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/

If you love a good visual illusion, then the web site of Dr. Michael Bach (University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany) won't disappoint you. Dr. Bach displays 53 different visual illusions of seven different types: 1) Motion and Time, 2) Luminance and Contrast, 3) Color, 4) Geometric and Angle, 5) Size Constancy, 6) Cognitive and Gestalt and 7) Faces. Instructions and a brief explanation of each illusion are provided. The web site is interactive, so take your time and play with the demonstration settings to explore how each illusion works.
__________________________________________________________

3. NEUROSCIENCE FOR KIDS DRAWING CONTEST RESULTS

Judging of the 2005 NEUROSCIENCE FOR KIDS DRAWING CONTEST is finished and winners have been mailed their prizes. A total of 409 students from 25 states and five countries sent in poems. From the United States, poems arrived from Alabama, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Washington, D.C. From outside the United States, students sent poems from Guatemala, the Netherlands, Canada and India.

Examples from winning artists can be seen at:
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/contest45.html

The following companies and organizations generously donated prize books to allow multiple winners in each age group:

American Academy of Neurology for "101 Questions Your Brain Has Asked About Itself but Couldn't Answer ... Until Now" by Faith Hickman Brynie and "The Brain Explained" by Daniel Drubach.

Capstone Press for "Your Senses" by Helen Frost.

Capstone Press/Bridgestone Books for "Your Brain" by Terri DeGezelle.

Compass Point Books for "Sound" by Darlene R. Stille.

Picture Window Books for "Sound: Loud, Soft, High, and Low" by Natalie M. Rosinsky.

The Dana Press for "States of Mind" edited by Roberta Conlan.
__________________________________________________________

4. BRAIN AWARENESS WEEK 2005

Brain Awareness Week (BAW) is this month! There may still be time for you to plan an event or attend one in your city. Check the BAW event calendar for a program near you:

http://www.dana.org/

If you would like to share what you did during BAW, send me (e-mail: chudler@u.washington.edu) a summary and I will try to include it in a future issue of the Neuroscience for Kids Newsletter.
__________________________________________________________

5. SfN AT THE NATIONAL SCIENCE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION MEETING

Are you a teacher who will attend the National Science Teachers Association meeting in Dallas, TX (March 31-April 3, 2005)? If so, stop by the Society for Neuroscience exhibit booth and pick up materials about the brain and nervous system.
__________________________________________________________

6. TV MOVIE "SAVING MILLY" TO AIR IN MARCH

In 2001, journalist Morton Kondracke published his book titled "Saving Milly: Love, Politics, and Parkinson's Disease." The book describes his wife's battle with Parkinson's disease. This story has been made into a TV movie that will air on CBS on March 13, 2005. The movie stars Bruce Greenwood and Madeleine Stowe.

"Saving Milly: Love, Politics, and Parkinson's Disease" by Morton Kondracke, New York: Public Affairs, 2001, ISBN: 1586480375.
__________________________________________________________

7. MEDIA ALERT

A. "Building a Better Grapefruit" by Mary Duenwald (Discover magazine, March, 2005) discusses taste receptors.

B. "Our Preferred Poison" by Karen Wright (Discover magazine, March, 2005) discusses the health risks associated with mercury.

C. "Broken Heart" by Christine Gorman (Time magazine, February 21, 2005) discusses how emotional stress can affect the heart.

D. "The Biology of...Bitterness" by Mary Duenwald (Scientific American, March, 2005) discusses how researchers are manipulating taste receptors to turn bitter tastes into sweet tastes.

E. "Beyond the Brain" is the cover story of National Geographic magazine (March, 2005).

F. "The Right (and Wrong) Way to Treat Pain" is the cover story of Time magazine (February 28, 2005).

G. "Babies and Autism" is the cover story of Newsweek magazine (February 28, 2005).

H. "The Secret Mind" is the cover story of US News and World Report (February 28, 2005).

I. "Hidden Motives," part of the Scientific American Frontiers series, debuts on your local PBS station on March 2, 2005. This show discusses how neuroscience is combining with marketing to explain how unconscious decisions influence behavior.

J. "The Math Myth," is the cover of Time magazine (March 7, 2005) and contains the article "Who Says a Woman Can't be Einstein?" by Amanda Ripley about men's and women's brains. "His Brain, Her Brain" in US News and World Report (March 7, 2005) also discusses brain differences between the genders.
_________________________________________________________

8. THE TREASURE TROVE OF BRAIN TRIVIA

A. Swordfish have special tissue (a "brain heater") behind their eyes that warms their brains as much as 14 degrees centigrade above the temperature of the water they live in. (Source: Carey, F.G., A brain heater in the swordfish, Science, 216:1327-1329, 1982.)

B. Although stroke is the third most common cause of death in the US, its death rate has declined 65% since 1950. (Source: National Center for Health Statistics, 2004, http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/hus.htm)

C. Depression occurs in 2% of elementary school-aged children and 4-8% of adolescents. (Source: National Center for Health Statistics, 2004, http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/hus.htm)

D. A staff or wand with either one or two snakes wound around it is often used as a symbol of medicine. The single snake staff is attributed to the ancient Greek God Asclepius (Aesculapius or Asklepios); the two snake wand, called a caduceus, is attributed to the mythological character Hermes (Mercury). The logo of the American Medical Association uses a staff of Asclepius while that of the US Public Health Service uses a caduceus. (Source: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/greek/greek_asclepius.html)

E. A "Mickey Finn" is a drink made with alcohol and chloral hydrate. This drink was developed in the 1870s by a group of tavern owners to make customers unconscious. Customers were robbed after they became unconscious. (Source: Bethard, W., Lotions, Potions, Deadly Elixirs. Frontier Medicine in America, Lanham: Taylor Trade Publishing, 2004.)
_________________________________________________________

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
_________________________________________________________

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
_________________________________________________________

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)

"Neuroscience for Kids" is supported by a Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) from the National Center of Research Resources.