NEUROSCIENCE FOR KIDS NEWSLETTER
Volume 11, Issue 12 (December, 2007)

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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. UW Brain Awareness Week Open House
4. Neuroscience for Kids Writing Contest - Now Open
5. Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting
6. Summer Internship for High School Students at NIH
7. APA TOPSS Awards
8. Media Alert
9. Treasure Trove of Brain Trivia
10. Support Neuroscience for Kids
11. 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/news1111.html
B. Toxic Toy Recalled
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/toyr.html
C. 2007 Society for Neuroscience Meeting
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/sfn07.html
D. Cockroaches Don't Learn in the Morning
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/rmorn.html

In October, 18 new figures were added and 40 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 "Curious" at:

http://www.thirteen.org/curious/

"Curious" is a series of two one-hour documentaries from Thirteen/WNET New York. The Curious Web site offers many excerpts from the shows and a few Web-only interviews. Both episodes discuss the nervous system. In the first episode, "Survival," there are interviews with researchers who are creating an artificial retina and a patient who has received the new device. The second episode, "Mind/Brain/Machine," discusses how the brain makes decisions (neuroeconomics), split-brain research and robotics. This episode also has a fascinating interview with Tony Grobmeier, a 20-year-old man who was born without the major connection (the corpus callosum) between the right and left hemispheres of his brain.

The shows premiered on public television several weeks ago, and the full episodes will be available on the Curious Web site in January, 2008.
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3. UW BRAIN AWARENESS WEEK OPEN HOUSE

Do you want to bring your students (grades 4-12) to the 2008 Brain Awareness Week Open House at the University of Washington in Seattle on Monday, March 3, 2008? Applications are now being accepted. Please complete and return the application form (in PDF format or WORD format):

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/baw/2008ti.pdf

or

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/baw/2008ti.doc

To read about last year's BAW Open House at the University of Washington, please see:

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/baw07oh.html

If you cannot download the application form for the Open House, contact me by e-mail (chudler@u.washington.edu).
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4. NEUROSCIENCE FOR KIDS WRITING CONTEST - NOW OPEN

The 2007-2008 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/contest8.html

A few people have asked if the contest is open to students outside the United States. The answer is "YES!" Entries are accepted from students in all countries. If you are entering the contest from outside the United States, make sure that you mail your entry with enough time so that it arrives on or before the contest deadline (February 1, 2008).
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5. SOCIETY FOR NEUROSCIENCE ANNUAL MEETING

Last month, more than 31,000 neuroscientists attended the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) annual meeting in San Diego, CA. Presentations were divided into eight main themes: 1) Development; 2) Neural Excitability, Synapses, and Glia: Cellular Mechanisms; 3) Disorders of the Nervous System; 4) Sensory and Motor Systems; 5) Homeostatic and Neuroendocrine Systems; 6) Cognition and Behavior; 7) Techniques in Neuroscience and 8) History and Teaching of Neuroscience. In addition to the scientific sessions, approximately 200 people met to discuss Brain Awareness Week and plan for next year's events. Several teachers who worked with neuroscientists during the year received travel awards to attend the meeting. For more information about the SfN Neuroscientist-Teacher Partner Travel Awards, see:

http://www.sfn.org/index.cfm?pagename=NTP_Travel_Awards

I've posted a few photos from the SfN meeting at:

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/sfn07.html

The SfN meeting will be held next year (November 15-19, 2008) in Washington, D.C.
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6. SUMMER INTERNSHIP PROGRAM FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS AT NIH

What are you doing next summer? Why not work in a research lab at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for eight weeks? NIH is now accepting applications from students who are at least 16 years old and enrolled at least half-time in high school, have finished high school or are attending an accredited U.S. college or university. You would receive a monthly stipend, but housing costs are not paid. For more details about the NIH Summer Internship Program and an application, see:

http://www.training.nih.gov/student/sip/index.asp
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7. APA TOPSS AWARDS

The American Psychological Association (APA) Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools (TOPSS) Excellence in Teaching Awards recognize outstanding teachers in psychology. Applications and all supporting materials must be postmarked by March 14, 2008. For more information about these awards, see:

http://www.apa.org/ed/topss/excel_teach08.html

APA TOPSS also announced the 2008 APA TOPSS Scholars Competition for high school students. Each of three winners will receive a $500 award. Submissions must be postmarked by March 3, 2008. Students must write an essay about how psychological disorders in are portrayed in movies.
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8. MEDIA ALERT

A. "Mind", a new exhibit at the Exploratorium in San Francisco (CA) runs through December 31, 2008.

B. "Schizophrenia: The Curse That's Almost a Blessing" (Discover Magazine, December, 2007) by Orli Van Mourik.

C. "ADHD Riddle Solved" by Julie Rawe (Time Magazine, November 26, 2007).

D. "What Makes Us Moral" by Jeffrey Kluger is the cover story of Time Magazine (December 3, 2007).

E. "The Brain Fitness Program" is a new PBS television program about the brain's ability to change and adapt. The show will air in December, 2007, and feature University of California San Francisco neuroscientist Dr. Michael Merzenich and other researchers as they discuss the field of "neuroplasticity." Actor Peter Coyote narrates the program.

F. The December 2007 issue of Scientific American Mind is now available with stories about 1) boredom; 2) animals and empathy; 3) raising smart kids; 4) gender in math and science achievement; 5) phantom limbs and 6) using psychedelic drugs to treat mental illness.
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9. THE TREASURE TROVE OF BRAIN TRIVIA

A. Hammerhead sharks have one of the largest olfactory bulb to brain ratios of any animal. This shark's olfactory bulb is 7% of its total brain mass. (Source: Schwab, I.R. and McComb, D.M., Keeping a cool head, British Journal of Ophthalmology, 91:138, 2007.)

B. When fur seals sleep on land, they show the same slow-wave sleep activity on both sides of their brain (symmetrical slow wave sleep). However, when fur seals sleep in the water, one side of their brain shows slow-wave sleep activity while the other side does not (asymmetrical slow wave sleep). (Source: Lapierre, J.L., et al., Cortical acetylcholine release is lateralized during asymmetrical slow-wave sleep in northern fur seals, J. Neuroscience, 27:11999-12006, 2007.)

C. 30% of high school seniors reported driving after drinking heavily or using drugs, or riding in a car whose driver had been drinking heavily or using drugs, at least once two weeks prior to a survey conducted researcher at the University of Michigan. (Source: O'Malley, P.M. and Johnson, L.D., Drugs and driving by American high school seniors, 2001-2006, J. Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 68:834-842, 2007.)

D. The retina of the eye is 4 mm thick. (Source: Goldstein, E.B., Sensation and Perception, 7th edition, Belmont (CA): Thomson Wadsworth, 2007.)

E. The pygmy-possum (Cercartetus nanus) is the longest "sleeping" animal. One of these animals hibernated for 367 days. (Source: Geiser, F., Yearlong hibernation in a marsupial mammal, Naturwissenschaften, 94:941-944, 2007.)
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10. 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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11. 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)