Where is NW Noggin?
Our innovative graduate and undergraduate art and neuroscience volunteers are Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) Juice award-winning developing experts in science communication, synapsing for science, and teaching in schools, theaters, museums, urban and rural communities, homeless youth centers, breweries, correctional facilities, Congress and bike shop pubs! For more information see NOGGIN BLOGGIN.NW Noggin is a locally sourced, 501(c)(3) ALL-VOLUNTEER shoestring nonprofit organization. Your tax-deductible contribution supports the purchase of sheep brains, pipe cleaners, electrodes and clay for innovative, arts-integrated outreach, and helps send volunteers from local universities (including Portland State University, OHSU, and other area institutions) to public school classrooms, conferences and free community events.
DONATE HERE!
LEARN MORE: Community Neuroscience: How to Build an Outreach Organization
NW Noggin: Art + Brains
Cortical Connections in San Diego Schools!
Dana Support for NOGGINFEST 2022!
Join us in Chile in 2025!
Please join us SUMMER 2025 in Valparaíso, Chile - the home of the Humboldt squid! 🦑⚡️🧠🎨😃 We'll explore how neurons carry information, and how research in Chile (involving the squid’s giant fused axons) led to our understanding of the electrical signaling that links our experiences to the world. We’ll visit laboratories to examine the rich history and exciting present of research at the Universidad de Chile en Valparaíso, make art (including arpilleras, woven depictions of experience that help people express challenging memories and preserve them for accountability), and contribute to community engagement through Ciencia al Tiro, a local STEAM (STEM + Arts) outreach nonprofit. We may even create a public mural celebrating famed neurology patient Phineas Gage, who lived for several years after his infamous accident - and drove a stagecoach - in the city of Valpo!
LEARN MORE: LAS NEURONAS SON BACANES.
Your brain on preparedness
“Why don’t most people prepare for earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, fires, pandemics and other natural disasters? What does neuroscience research suggest about our brains and anxiety, and decision making around high stakes, low frequency traumatic events? And why is preparedness – taking accessible, genuinely effective steps to get ready, both individually…
Reconnecting Our Brains, One Cell at a Time
We did it! We made art. We built our own brain cells. We created synapses and networks and re-connected brains. But please: keep going! We enjoyed a *FREE, GLOBAL, ALL AGES* webinar in June 2020, a collaboration between NW Noggin and BrainFacts.org. AND WE ENJOYED A SECOND FREE GLOBAL WEBINAR ON…
Pandemic connections
Before COVID-19, Noggin had a FULL schedule of immersive volunteer outreach visits on the calendar for spring, including public art and science talks, school sessions, community experiences – even exciting road trips to Poulsbo, Washington and Bend, Oregon! But how do you engage in outreach during a pandemic? The core…
Science Matters
“The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity.” –William Butler Yeats We’re experiencing an extraordinary collision of biology and psychology. A dangerous virus that spreads easily when people congregate has killed over 94,000 Americans in two months. *UPDATE (August 2020): Deaths now past 160,000 and rising…
Dear NW Noggin…
As educators in public classrooms and community, our volunteer STEAM outreach activities are impacted by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. LEARN MORE: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) advice for the public from the WHO (World Health Organization) LEARN MORE: How to manage stress and anxiety during coronavirus crisis LEARN MORE: The Brains at…
The Brains at Brain Fair
“I’ve been very involved in science literacy because it’s critically important in our world today…As a public, we’re asked to vote on issues,…accept explanations,…figure out what to do with our own health care, and you can’t do that unless you have some level of science literacy.” ― Mae C. Jemison Coronavirus,…
Brains examining brains
“I can’t believe I’m a brain myself…examining…a brain!” ― 6th grader at Hosford Middle School, Portland, Oregon Have we mentioned how much we love genuine community engagement? How NW Noggin is entirely driven by volunteers who go places, listen, share their own stories from labs and classrooms, and get inspired by…
“Tomorrow is Brain Day!”
Post written by Judy Anders, Leslie Macpherson & Michael Endicott, Teachers at North Middle School, Grants Pass, Oregon The Second Annual Brain Day at North Middle School was an unqualified success. Many thanks to the NW Noggin Neuroscience Outreach Group – who are ALL VOLUNTEERS! – for bringing their expertise,…
Can a brain use all of the parts at once?
“When the work takes over, then the artist is enabled to get out of the way, not to interfere. When the work takes over, then the artist listens.” ― Madeleine L’Engle Going places Communicating science is more than telling others about your thoughts, experiments, research and ideas. It’s more than…
Sewing Memories, & Brains
“No happiness or pain, no more forgetting” ― Gabriela Mistral Watch our video poster abstract for the Society for Neuroscience Oregon/SW WA Chapter meeting 2021 LEARN MORE: Society for Neuroscience Oregon / SWWA Annual Meeting Inequality harms us all Inequality currently defines the United States and many other countries, including…
Synapsing in San Diego
“I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands. You need to be able to throw something back.” ―Maya Angelou.
Our AMAZING volunteers organized the largest all ages Art & Neuroscience Festival in the Pacific Northwest! We offered live bands, science-inspired art, neuroscience research presentations, and the chance to ask questions and examine real brains! The fifth annual Noggin Fest helped send more young scientists and artists to the Society for Neuroscience conference in San Diego - and into San Diego Unified Public Schools! LEARN MORE @ Brains Beyond SfN!.