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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 May including:
A. May Neuroscience for Kids Newsletter was archived
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/news2905.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 June is World Health Organization "Brain Health" at:
https://www.who.int/health-topics/brain-health Where do you go to find accurate, easy-to-read information about brain health? I hope your first stop is Neuroscience for Kids, but there are many other great websites such as the Site of the Month for June, the World Health Organization (WHO) "Brain Health."
As described on the first page of the Brain Health site, the WHO seeks "to improve care, recovery, well-being and participation of people living with neurological disorders across the life-course, while reducing associated mortality, morbidity and disability associated with neurological conditions." Explore the information through four main links: a) Fact sheets, b) Databases and tools, c) Resolutions and decisions, d) Technical work and e) News. The fact sheets describe the symptoms and treatments of 12 different neurological conditions and explain what the WHO is doing to address each condition. For more information about the WHO response, read through the materials in the "Resolutions and decisions" section and "Technical work" section of the website. In "Databases and tools" you will find information about the global impact of neurological disease. Finally, the web site maintains news articles, official publications and videos about specific topics related to brain health.
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Are you traveling this summer? Gear up for an exploration of neuroscience at a museum. Here are a few of the many exhibits to visit; perhaps there is one near you:
A. Brain Museum at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (Buffalo, NY) https://medicine.buffalo.edu/about/community_outreach/brain-museum.html
B. Art and the Brain at the Greene Science Center (New York, NY) https://zuckermaninstitute.columbia.edu/exhibitions-art-and-brain
C. Mind/Matter: The Neuroscience of Perception, Attention, and Memory at the Yale Peabody Museum (New Haven, CT) https://peabody.yale.edu/news/mind-matter-exhibition
D. The Mütter Museum (Philadelphia, PA) https://muttermuseum.org/visit
E. Your Brain at the Franklin Institute (Philadelphia, PA) https://fi.edu/en/exhibits-and-experiences/your-brain
F. Brainy Bodies at the Pacific Science Center (Seattle, WA) https://pacificsciencecenter.org/exhibit/brainy-bodies/
G. Journey Through the Human Brain Exhibit at The Cox Science Center (West Palm Beach, FL) https://www.coxsciencecenter.org/brain
H. Brains at the Bell at the Bell Museum (St. Paul, MN) https://www.bellmuseum.umn.edu/brain-content/
I. Perception Playground at the Museum of Science (Boston, MA) https://www.mos.org/visit/exhibits/perception-playground
J. Brain: The World Inside Your Head! at The EcoTarium (Worcester, MA) https://ecotarium.org/event/brain-exhibit-opening/
K. Hello Brain (exhibit closes on June 20, 2025) at the Francis Crick Institute (London, England) https://www.crick.ac.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/hello-brain
L. Brainstorm: The Human Brain & Research at the University of Groningen (Groningen, Netherlands) https://www.rug.nl/museum/exhibitions/2025/brainstorm-the-human-brain-and-research?lang=en
M. Brains at the Senckenberg Nature Museum (Frankfurt, Germany) https://museumfrankfurt.senckenberg.de/en/exhibition/permanent-exhibitions/brains/
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I am a big user of the public library system. Whether I am browsing for books online or visiting the library in person, I am always looking for something interesting to read. But did you know that there are some libraries that offer something other than books? Here are some unusual libraries where you can check out a variety of items:
A. Tool Lending Library: https://localtools.org/find/
B. Toy Library: https://www.usatla.org/
C. Musical Instrument Library: http://www.musicalinstrumentlibrary.com/home.html
D. Gear Library: https://familiesinnature.org/gear-library/#!form/GearLibrary
E. Puzzle Library: https://www.thepuzzlerepublic.com/
F. Seed Library: https://www.seedlibrarynetwork.org/
Some university- and museum-based science programs provide kits to teachers and schools. For example, when I ran the NeuroSeeds program at the University of Washington, I provided equipment and supplies to teachers who attended a workshop to become familiar with the curriculum and resources. Although the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience (https://www.funfaculty.org/equipment_loan_program) does have an Equipment Loan Program for university neuroscience faculty who can use the equipment for research or teaching, I have not seen a program that offers neuroscience materials to the general public similar to the tool, toy, instrument, gear, puzzle and seed libraries. I can imagine a neuroscience library filled with equipment, supplies, and activities for people interested in learning more about the brain. Students might even check out materials for school or science fair projects.
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A. "Why honing your sense of smell could keep you sharp as you age," (NEW SCIENTIST, May 24, 2025).
B. "What are microplastics doing to your brain? We're starting to find out," (NEW SCIENTIST, May 10, 2025).
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A. The echidna, also called the spiny anteater, has electroreceptors in its snout to detect electrical fields and find food (Source: Gregory, J.E. et al, Responses of electroreceptors in the snout of the echidna, J. Physiol., 414:521-38, 1989).
B. Danionella cerebrum is a species of small transparent fish.
C. Researchers studied the use of a snooze alarm in more than 3 million nights of people who used a sleep monitoring smartphone application. Results showed that 55.6% of people used the snooze alarm and when the snooze alarm was used, it was pressed an average of 2.4 times (Source: Robbins, R. et al., Snooze alarm use in a global population of smartphone users, Sci Rep., 15, 16942, 2025).
D. A new method to identify a misfolded protein (alpha-synuclein) in cerebrospinal fluid may help diagnose Parkinson's disease (Source: Schuler, M. et al., Alpha-synuclein misfolding as fluid biomarker for Parkinson's disease measured with the iRS platform, EMBO Molecular Medicine, 2025; DOI: 10.1038/s44321-025-00229-z.
E. Monitoring the brainwaves of children having surgery can be used to adjust the amount of anesthesia, reduce post-operative complications and lead to faster recovery (Source: Miyasaka, K.W. et al., EEG-guided titration of sevoflurane and pediatric anesthesia emergence delirium: A randomized clinical trial, JAMA Pediatr. Published online April 21, 2025. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2025.0517).
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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.