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Welcome to the Neuroscience for Kids Newsletter.
In this issue:
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Neuroscience for Kids had several new additions in November including:
A. November Neuroscience for Kids Newsletter was archived
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/news2811.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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The Neuroscience for Kids "Site of the Month" for December is the "What's So Special about the Human Brain?" at:
https://www.nature.com/immersive/d41586-024-03425-y/index.html"What’s So Special about the Human Brain?" was written by Kerri Smith for Springer Nature publications. The web site compares the brain of us humans to the brains of other animals. The journey starts with a discussion about brain size and the differences in specific areas of the brain. The trip continues with descriptions of different types of neurons and connections found in animal brains. Finally, Kerri Smith discusses how the brains of different animals develop.
The illustrations by Nik Spencer certainly will help readers better understand comparative neuroanatomy. Some users may not like how they must navigate through the site by scrolling through the entire site to bring up new information. However, I found this way of moving through the material acceptable.
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Get out your pencils, pens and markers! The 2025 NEUROSCIENCE FOR KIDS DRAWING CONTEST is now open to students in kindergarten through high school, teachers and parents. Use your imagination to draw a picture about the nervous system 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/contest25.html
Good luck to everyone!
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The Neuroscience for Kids website has been around for many years and has undergone many changes. Sometimes when additions and changes are made to the website, material gets buried or hidden under layers of pages and links. For this reason, I wanted to bring to your attention to some of my favorite pages at Neuroscience for Kids that you may have missed:
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With cooler temperatures arriving in the Northern Hemisphere, perhaps it is time to head indoors to a museum. Some museums now have sensory exhibits to engage your senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste. Here is a small sampling of these exhibits from around the world:
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A. From the December 2024 issue of SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN magazine: i) Anyone Can Learn Echolocation in Just 10 Weeks - And It Remodels Your Brain, ii) Concussions Are Remarkably Common and Can Cause Long-Term Problems, iii) Hitting the Curiosity Sweet Spot Speeds Up Learning and iv) Hypochondria Is a Real and Dangerous Illness, New Research Shows.
B. Discover more about the brain's hidden wonders, December 7, 2024, 10am-5pm at Congress Centre, London (https://www.newscientist.com/science-events/uncovering-minds-mysteries/).
C. "Baby Talk" (AMERICAN SCIENTIST, November-December, 2024).
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A. 76% of Americans say that they have "a great deal or fair amount of confidence in scientists to act in the public's best interests." (Source: Pew Research Center, November 15, 2024; https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2024/11/14/public-trust-in-scientists-and-views-on-their-role-in-policymaking/).
B. Stem-cell transplants into the corneal have restored some vision in a small group of people who had impaired vision (Source: Soma, T., et al., Induced pluripotent stem-cell-derived corneal epithelium for transplant surgery: a single-arm, open-label, first-in-human interventional study in Japan, The Lancet, 40:1929-1939, 2024).
C. Athletes have a better working memory than non-athletes (Source: Wu, C., et al., Comparison of working memory performance in athletes and non-athletes: a meta-analysis of behavioural studies. Memory, 1-19, 2024; https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2024.2423812).
D. Teenagers who used their cellphones while driving are likely to engage in risky driving behaviors (Source: McDonald, C.C., et al., Handheld cellphone use and risky driving in adolescents, JAMA Network Open, 2024; 7 (10): e2439328 DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.39328).
E. A consistent bedtime helps children regulate their behavior and emotions (Source: Dadzie, A., et al., Associations between sleep health and child behavior at age 6 Years in the INSIGHT study. J. Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 2024; DOI: 10.1097/DBP.0000000000001326).
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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.