NEUROSCIENCE+JANUARY+2013

NEUROSCIENCE FOR KIDS NEWSLETTER - Volume 17, Issue 1 (January, 2013)

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HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM NEUROSCIENCE FOR KIDS

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Welcome to the Neuroscience for Kids Newsletter.

In this issue:

1. What's New at Neuroscience for Kids 2. Neuroscience for Kids Site of the Month 3. Neuroscience for Kids Drawing Contest 4. 2013 University of Washington Brain Awareness Week Open House 5. Summer Research Programs for Students and Teachers 6. Media Alert 7. Treasure Trove of Brain Trivia 8. Support Neuroscience for Kids <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">9. How to Stop Your Subscription

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<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">1. WHAT'S NEW AT NEUROSCIENCE FOR KIDS

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">Neuroscience for Kids had several new additions in December including:

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">A. December Neuroscience for Kids Newsletter was archived <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1155cc; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">@http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/news1612.html <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">B. 2013 Neurocalendars (January, February, March, April) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1155cc; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">@http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/pdf/jan13.pdf <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1155cc; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">@http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/pdf/feb13.pdf <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1155cc; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">@http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/pdf/mar13.pdf <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1155cc; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">@http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/pdf/apr13.pdf <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">C. Text Message Reveals Signs of Stroke <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1155cc; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">@http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/texts.html

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">In December, 5 new figures were added and 56 pages were modified.

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<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">2. NEUROSCIENCE FOR KIDS "SITE OF THE MONTH"

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">The Neuroscience for Kids "Site of the Month" for January is the "BrainFacts.org" blog at:

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1155cc; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">@http://blog.brainfacts.org/

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">The BrainFacts.org blog is a new feature launched by the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) and funded by the SfN, The Kavli Foundation, and the Gatsby Charitable Foundation. There are nine blogging neuroscientists including Anita Bandrowski, Leanne Boucher Douglas Fields, Jean-Francois Gariepy, Dwayne Godwin, Jason Snyder, Nicholas Spitzer, Bradley Voytek and me. None of the writers are paid for participating on the blog. So far, I have written two posts for the site.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">The blog is an open forum where writers and readers can engage in discussions about all aspects of neuroscience. The SfN does not edit any of the blogger's content, so writers are free to express their own thoughts, opinions and interpretations. Similarly, readers are encouraged to join the conversation by leaving comments about the blog posts.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">Current blog posts discuss moral judgment, social conflicts, e-books, subconsciousness and extrasensory perception, research experiences for students, online gaming contributions to neuroscience, brain size, bird communication, the neural basis of social rank and the prefrontal cortex.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">Visit the BrainFacts blog and join the conversation!

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<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">3. NEUROSCIENCE FOR KIDS DRAWING CONTEST - NOW OPEN

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">There is one more month to get out your pencils, pens and markers and join the NEUROSCIENCE FOR KIDS DRAWING CONTEST. The contest is open to students in kindergarten through college and this year, teachers and parents can enter too! 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:

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1155cc; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">@http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/contest13.html

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">Contest entries must be received by February 1, 2013.

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<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">4. 2013 UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON BRAIN AWARENESS WEEK OPEN HOUSE

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">Brain Awareness Week (BAW) is a yearly event to promote the public and personal benefits of brain research. As part of international BAW at the University of Washington, teachers and their students are invited to an Open House on Tuesday, March 5, 2013. If you are interested in attending the open house in Seattle, please complete the registration form at:

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1155cc; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">@http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/baw.html

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">Space is limited!

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<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">5. SUMMER RESEARCH PROGRAMS FOR STUDENTS AND TEACHERS

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">The Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering (CSNE) is offering summer research experiences for high school students, high school teachers and undergraduate students. But the deadline for applications (February 1) is approaching quickly!

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">For more information, including requirements and application materials, please visit:

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1155cc; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">@http://www.csne-erc.org/node/14/summer-research-program-application

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<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">6. MEDIA ALERT

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">A. The Museum of Arts and Design (New York, NY) is hosting the exhibit "The Art of Scent" until February 24, 2013. According the museum web site: "The Art of Scent 1889-2012 is the first major museum exhibition to recognize scent as a major medium of artistic creation and fifteen artists who work in this medium." For more information about the exhibit, see:

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1155cc; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">@http://www.madmuseum.org/exhibition/the-art-of-scent

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">B. The new special edition of SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN ("What Makes Us Human") has the article "Cooking Up Bigger Brains" by Rachael Moeller Gorman.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">C. "How the Owl Tracks Its Prey" by Masakazu Konishi (AMERICAN SCIENTIST, November-December, 2012) discusses the acute sense of hearing in owls.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">D. The January-February 2013 issue of DISCOVER magazine has a few neuro-related findings in its "100 Top Stories of 2012" including "Debut of the Mind-Controlled Robots," "Social Jet Lag," and Spine Stimulator Lets the Paralyzed Stand Again

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">E. "Why Oliver Sacks is One of the Great Modern Adventurers" by Ron Rosenbaum and "How Artificial Intelligence Can Change Higher Education" by Tom Vanderbilt in SMITHSONIAN magazine (December, 2012).

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">F. "Bionic Connections" by D. Kacy Cullen and Douglas H. Smith describes a new way to connect artificial limbs to the nervous system and "A Confederacy of Senses" by Lawrence D. Rosenblum discusses how what we hear depends on what we see and feel. Both articles are published in SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN (January, 2013).

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">G. The new issue of SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN MIND (January, 2013) is on newsstands now with articles about how the brain is involved with optimism, law, illusions, violence and neuroplasticity.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">H. On December 30, 2012, the CBS TV show "60 Minutes" aired a segment about brain-computer interfaces. You can watch this show online at:

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1155cc; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">@http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50137987n

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<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">7. THE TREASURE TROVE OF BRAIN TRIVIA

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">A. Eyeglasses were used in China around 1270. (Source: Pickover, C.A., The Medical Book. From Witch Doctors to Robot Surgeons, 250 Milestones in the History of Medicine, New York: Sterling, 2012.)

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">B. Meningitis (inflammation of the meninges, the coverings of the brain) can be caused by bacteria, viruses or fungi.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">C. Cerebrospinal fluid was once called "Liquor Cotunnii" after Italian Domenico Cotugno who described CSF in the ventricles of the brain in 1764. (Source: Pickover, C.A., The Medical Book. From Witch Doctors to Robot Surgeons, 250 Milestones in the History of Medicine, New York: Sterling, 2012.)

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">D. Potassium bromide was one of the first effective medicines for epilepsy.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">E. The countries that have published the most neuroscience papers between 1996 and 2010 are: United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Canada. (Source: Scimago Lab, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1155cc; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">@http://www.scimagojr.com/index.php <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">)

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