NEUROSCIENCE+AUGUST+2012

NEUROSCIENCE FOR KIDS "SITE OF THE MONTH"

The Neuroscience for Kids "Site of the Month" for August is the "Science 360 Network (Medical Science Topics)" at:

@http://science360.gov/topic/Medical+Sciences/

The medical sciences section of Science 360 Network is a collection of short videos about the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease. Although the materials do not all focus on the nervous system, there are still plenty of videos for those of you who can't get enough neuroscience. For example, on the first pages of selections, you can find a story about the importance of sleep and another about concussion research. Further down on that same page is a story about a new therapy to help people who have visual cortex damage.

If you can't find what you are looking for, try the site's search feature. I searched the site using the word "brain" and received about 30 videos.

Science 360 Network is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.

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NATIONAL BRAIN FREEZE DAY

I missed it! Last month, of course on July 11 (7/11), 7-Eleven stores across the United States sponsored National Brain Freeze Day by giving away free Slurpees, those frozen, icy treats.

The cause of brain freeze ("ice cream headache") is still unclear. These headaches may be caused by rapid cooling of the palate (upper part of mouth) which then activates nerve fibers that cause pain. Another theory is that the pain is caused by temporary changes in the blood flow to the brain.

Come to think of it, headaches are nothing to celebrate. But getting rid of them is sure something to be happy about!

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KNIT YOUR OWN BRAIN HAT

Keep your head warm in the winter with a knitted "Brain Hat." For $5 you can buy the pattern. Unfortunately, you cannot purchase a finished hat. However, if you have knitting skills, you can make your own. See:

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1155cc; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">@http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/brain-hat

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<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">NEW BRAIN EXHIBIT FOR 2014

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">Last month, the Philadelphia Inquirer web site detailed the plans of the Franklin Institute to build a new museum wing for a 8,500 square foot exhibit about the brain. The Franklin Institute started to build the new space last May and the brain exhibit will open in the summer of 2014.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">Expected exhibit highlights:

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">* A plastinated human brain and spinal cord.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">* An Xbox to capture pictures of visitors and show the location of the central nervous system.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">* A large "Neural Light Show" display with colored lights to represent electrical and chemical signals within the brain.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">* Visual illusions

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">* Detecting patterns in neural networks.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">Read more about the new exhibit at:

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1155cc; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">@http://tinyurl.com/c3mlcdu

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<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">SUMMER CONCERT INTERMISSION

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">Join me at the "Sounds of Summer Concert Series" at University Village in Seattle, WA, on August 15. The sponsor of the concert series, UW Medicine, asked me to host an exhibit about neuroscience at the concert and then to talk to the crowd when the band (The Paperboys) takes a 15 minute break. Other neuroscientists and students will staff tables throughout the concert to help people learn about the brain. I am still planning my 15 minute intermission presentation and thinking of ways to speak with an audience of 500-800 people who will likely be surprised to hear a neuroscientist in the middle of a concert. For details about the event, see:

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1155cc; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">@http://www.uvillage.com/sounds-of-summer-concert-series-7/

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

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">A. "The Humans With Super Human Vision" by Veronique Greenwood (DISCOVER magazine, July-August, 2012).

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">B. "What Is Your Dog Thinking?" by Stanley Coren (DISCOVER magazine, July-August, 2012).

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">C. "Nightmare Scenario" by John Cloud (TIME magazine, July 9, 2012) discusses sleep and insomnia.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">D. "The Joyful Mind" by Morten L. Kringelbach and Kent C. Berridge (SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, August, 2012) discusses the science of happiness.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">E. For spider fans everywhere: "Spiders Alive!" is a new museum exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History that runs through December 2, 2012. See: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1155cc; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">@http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/current-exhibitions/spiders-alive

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">F. "What Your Nose Knows" by Jennifer Kahn (PARADE magazine, July 29, 2012) discusses the new science of the senses.

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

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">A. The common garter snake is immune to the neurotoxic venom tetrodotoxin. This snake eats newts that contain tetrodotoxin in their skin. (Source: Feldman, C.R., Brodie, Jr., E.D, Brodie III, E.D. and Pfrender, M.E., Constraint shapes convergence in tetrodotoxin-resistant sodium channels of snakes, PNAS, 109:4556-4561, 2012.)

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">B. Neuroscientist Andrew Huxley, who passed away on May 30, 2012, won the 1963 Nobel Prize for his work on how nerve impulses are transmitted. Professor Huxley was knighted in 1974 and was the half-brother of "Brave New World" author Aldous Huxley.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">C. An old English proverb states: "Money spent on brain is never spent in vain."

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">D. Walruses do not sleep for periods lasting 40-84 hours when they are swimming continuously. They alternate these long waking periods by resting on land for 2-19 hours. (Source: Pryaslova, J.P., Lyamin, O.I., Siegel, J.M. and Mukhametov, L.M., Behavioral sleep in the walrus. Behav Brain Res., 201:80-87, 2009.)

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">E. Humans have three small bones in their middle ears; birds have only one bone. (Source: Birkhead, T., Bird Sense. What It's Like to Be a Bird, New York: Walker & Company, 2012.)