Securing Brains @ BioGift

Post by Danny Leister-Gray, undergraduate at Portland State “I profess to learn and to teach anatomy not from books but from dissections, not from the tenets of Philosophers but from the fabric of Nature.”  ~ William Harvey I am a student who recently transferred to Portland State University, and I’m currently…

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Brain-casting, on a budget!

Post by artist, Noggin volunteer and PSU graduate Darrin Lane Holding a real human brain for the first time is an unforgettable experience, one that confronts you, directly, with the extraordinary physical underpinnings of your own thoughts, feelings, memories, dreams and personality. It encourages many young people to think deeply…

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Myelinating @ MacLaren!

Our NW Noggin volunteers eagerly returned to meet with young people incarcerated at the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility this week, to consider the state of all our changing, developing brains… “Because the brain is undergoing such rapid, fundamental changes at this stage of life, adolescents have a heightened capacity to learn…

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How to 3D Print a Brain

“The mistakes pointed out the problems with the project, pushing the maker to improve upon them.” –Mark Frauenfelder Making things, experimenting, responding to what’s in front of you, thinking about your options, steps and consequences, learning from your own mistakes and converting your developing ideas and data into tangible objects,…

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Let the children lead

Post by Michael Deveney, NW Noggin outreach volunteer from Portland State University Getting close and comfortable, I rode the 90 minutes (in 90 degree heat) through Oregon’s Willamette Valley in a single cabin pickup with no A/C along with two of my fellow Noggin experts, Paul Delahanty and Aaron Eisen…

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Brains, Beavers & STEAM

Another gorgeous summer day in western Oregon, and our enthusiastic outreach volunteers tackled I-5 south for a 90 minute drive to Oregon State University! We were invited by OSU (home of the Beavers), the American Psychological Association (APA) and the American Psychological Foundation (APF) to present a dinner workshop for…

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LTP in La Grande

Brain cells connect, and those points of connection, called synapses, are changeable. Synapses will strengthen (“potentiate”), or weaken (“attenuate”) in response to changes in synaptic activity, which is determined by what you’re doing, experiencing, and/or perceiving at the time. Highly stimulated neurons, for example, will change how they express genes,…

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Seeing & STEAM in Vancouver

“Science and art have in common intense seeing, the wide-eyed observing that generates empirical information.” –Edward Tufte NW Noggin crossed the Columbia River (at rush hour!) this spring to meet with curious students and families for STEAM NIGHT at Sarah J. Anderson Elementary..! LEARN MORE: Sarah J. Anderson Elementary Sarah…

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