NEUROSCIENCE FOR KIDS NEWSLETTER
Volume 10, Issue 1 (January, 2006)

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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. More Contests
5. Brain Awareness Week 2006
6. 100 Year Anniversary of Nobel Prize Award to Cajal and Golgi
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 December including:

A. December Neuroscience for Kids Newsletter was archived
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/news911.html
B. Dolphins Treat Depression
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/tdol.html
C. Lack of Sleep Affects Schoolwork
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/sleept.html
D. Cases of Alzheimer's Disease Predicted to Rise
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/worldaz.html
E. Bee Sting Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/bsting.html

In December, 14 new figures were added and 71 pages were modified.
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2. NEUROSCIENCE FOR KIDS "SITE OF THE MONTH"

The Neuroscience for Kids "Site of the Month" for January is "Wired to Win" at:

http://www.wiredtowinthemovie.com

The new IMAX movie "Wired to Win" is now playing in several theatres. The movie uses the experiences of Tour de France cyclists to show the amazing abilities of the brain. The film's web site is useful even if you do not see the movie.

The "Wired to Win" web site is divided into four sections:

A. "The Brain" section takes you to three interactive activities:

i. "Mind Trip" explores the anatomy and physiology of the brain.

ii. "Century Tour" displays an interactive map of world events, discoveries in brain research, technological inventions and cycling dates since the 1903, the year of the first Tour de France.

iii. "Brain Force" takes you on a bike ride to see how the nervous system responds to information from your senses.

B. The "People" section of the web site has autobiographies of scientists, athletes, doctors, educators and filmmakers to show how they became interested in the brain or how they were involved with the film.

C. The "Resources" section has print materials (posters, pamphlets) associated with the film.

D. The "Film" section has a short description of the movie, some behind-the-scenes information and images, credits, and a listing of the cities and theatres where you can watch the movie. I plan to watch the film at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle where it opened last month.

[Note: I am listed in the "Wired to Win" credits because I helped the producers by reviewing the information on the film's web site and in the print materials.]
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3. NEUROSCIENCE FOR KIDS WRITING CONTEST - NOW OPEN

The NEUROSCIENCE FOR KIDS WRITING CONTEST is open for ONE MORE MONTH 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

All entries must be received by February 1, 2006.
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4. MORE CONTESTS

The American Psychological Foundation and American Psychological Association have two contests for high school students. The first is an award to "recognize outstanding research projects conducted by high school students" and the second is an essay writing competition. For details about these programs, see:

http://www.apa.org/ed/topss/excelhsaward.html

and

http://www.apa.org/ed/topss/apftopsscholar.html
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5. BRAIN AWARENESS WEEK 2006

International Brain Awareness Week (BAW) is scheduled for March 13-19, 2006! I hope you have plans to celebrate. It's not too late to find a neuroscientist to visit your class or plan an event. Visit the Society for Neuroscience web site to locate a neuroscientist near you who might like to speak to your class:

http://www.sfn.org/

Here at the University of Washington, 300 students will attend the 9th annual BAW Open House. The Open House will feature hands-on, interactive exhibits sponsored by researchers and staff from various university departments and organizations.

Even if you cannot organize a brain fair or a classroom visit by a neuroscientist, you can still participate in BAW with some lessons about the brain and nervous system. Neuroscience for Kids has some "brainy" ideas for a day, a week or a whole month:

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

If you would like to share what you did during BAW, send me (e-mail: chudler@u.washington.edu) a summary of your activities and I will try to include it in a future issue of the Neuroscience for Kids newsletter.
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6. 100 YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF NOBEL PRIZE AWARD TO CAJAL AND GOLGI

One hundred years ago, Santiago Ramon y Cajal and Camillo Golgi received the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work concerning the structure of the neuron. Cajal and Golgi had very different ideas about how the nervous system was built. Cajal believed that neurons were separated from each other by a small space; Golgi believed that neurons were physically connected to each other. We now know that Cajal was correct: there is a small space (a "synapse") between neurons.

Read more about Cajal and Golgi at the Nobel Foundation web site (http://nobelprize.org/medicine/laureates/1906/index.html) or read the book by Richard Rapport titled "Nerve Endings. The Discovery of the Synapse" (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2005).
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7. MEDIA ALERT

A. The Untitled Theater Co. #61 presents "NEUROfest," a series of plays inspired by different neurological conditions (e.g., amnesia, aphasia, autism, Capgras Syndrome, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, dementia, Meniere’s Disease, synesthesia, and Tourette Syndrome . The festival will be held from January 5 to January 29, 2006 in New York City. For more information about NEUROfest, see:

http://www.untitledtheater.com/NEUROfest.html

B. The DANA Press has announced that their publication titled "Cerebrum" will be available for FREE on the web. For details, see:

http://www.dana.org/books/press/cerebrum/

C. "The Pet Prescription" by Josh Fischman (US News and World Report, December 12, 2005) describes how having a pet may benefit human health.

D. "The Hidden Taste of Power and Smell" in Reader's Digest (December, 2005).

E. "The Maternal Brain" by Craig Howard Kinsley and Kelly G. Lambert (Scientific American, January, 2006) discusses how motherhood changes the female brain.

F. The January 2006 issue of Discover magazine lists its top 100 science stories of 2005. Among these stories are several related to neuroscience:

Brain Scans Show How Placebos Stop Pain
Laser Lights Up Fruit-Fly Brains
Brain Scientists Find Single Cells That Can Think
Inhaled 'Cuddle' Hormone Promotes Trust
Why Some Stroke Victims Don't Make Smarter Decisions
Blinking Flips An Off Switch in Brain
At Last: We Find Out Why Stupid People Usually Die Young
Can Memory Manipulation Change The Way You Eat?
Malaria Parasite Makes Humans Smell More Attractive to Mosquitoes
Nasal Spray Halts Alzheimer's in Mice
'Bird Brain' No Longer Means 'Stupid'

G. "How to Break the Chain" by Michael Craig (Newsweek magazine, December 12, 2005) describes new research and treatments for drug addiction.
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8. THE TREASURE TROVE OF BRAIN TRIVIA

A. Approximately 7,000 visually impaired and blind people in the United States use dog guides to get around. (Reference: American Foundation for the Blind, http://www.afb.org/section.asp?SectionID=15)

B. In the United States, there are approximately 11,000 new cases of spinal cord injury each year. (Reference: Spinal Cord Injury Information Network; http://www.spinalcord.uab.edu)

C. Combat injuries during the US Civil War caused 50,000 veterans to become dependent on morphine. (Reference: Epstein et al., in Clinical Manual of Addiction Psychopharmacology, edited by H.R. Kranzler and D.A. Ciraulo, Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc., 2005)

D. Moses Maimonides (born 1135, died 1204) was the first person to consider the irreversible absence of brain function to be equivalent to death. (Reference: Steven Laureys, Death, unconsciousness and the brain, Nature Rev. Neuroscience, 6:899-909, 2005.)

E. Allan MacLeod Cormack, who won the 1979 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology for the invention of computer-assisted tomography, never received a PhD or MD.
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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)