NW NOGGIN: Neuroscience outreach group (growing in networks)

Noggins @ Sunnyside LIVE!
2021-10-28 09:45 - 12:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Sunnyside Environmental School, 3421 SE Salmon St, Portland, OR, 97214, United States
WHAT: NW Noggin @ Sunnyside Environmental School
We did it!
How to visit public schools

WHERE: Sunnyside Environmental School, 3421 SE Salmon St, Portland, OR 97214
WHEN: Thursday, October 28, 9:45am – noon (arrival and set up @ 9:45am; first class 10 – 10:50am; second class 11 – 11:50am)
How to visit Portland Public Schools:
Everyone outdoors, fully vaccinated and properly masked.
Contacts: Asa Gervich and Jeremy Thomas, 4th grade teachers

We are thrilled to return LIVE to Jeremy and Asa’s lively classrooms this fall! We’ll make two visits, on Tuesday (10/26) and Thursday (10/28) to consider faces and the brain. We’ll examine faces, make faces, draw faces, consider faces in art and explore how we share our own unique brains through expression.

But we’ll also make brain cells and consider AMAZING questions from 4th graders!

From 4th Grade Teacher Asa Gervich:
Over the past weeks, students have learned about the interplay between their prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, and amygdala – and how mindfulness practices can help us self-regulate. Last week, we learned about the Reticular Activating System – and how it can help us sift through myriad sensory inputs to focus on something important – like, how does an NBA player tune out all the zany free-throw distractions happening in the stands? Or, what role did the RAS play in about half of our class not spotting the gorilla in this video? What’s going on with our RAS when we listen to music and can isolate one particular instrument? Can everyone do that? We were thinking that visit #2 would be an awesome time to bring out the brain specimens (give them something to look forward to after visit #1). And, Jeremy put in a vote for that super cool electrical-impulse station if you guys are still doing that…

Some current kid wonderings:
If parts of the brain are damaged or lose function, how does that impact how the body works?
Is the brain actually pink? Why?
Which is more important, the brain or the heart?
How was Albert Einstein’s brain different from other people’s?
If two people were born at the exact time, and they liked the exact same stuff, and thought the same things at the same time – how would their brains be different? Would their brains be different?
How many neural pathways are there in your brain?
Can neural pathways be rebuilt or repaired?
Is your brain like your immune system?
You know how your fingerprints are unique to you – I wonder if your brain is the same way – is everyone’s completely unique
When someone experiences a failure of either brain or heart (or both) and they survive it – how does that happen?
Perhaps the number of pathways is infinite – because you can always learn new things…
If you have learned how to do a thing through mistake-making, and then you had some brain damage, would you be starting from step one to be learning that thing? Would you need to make all those mistakes all over again?
What’s going on with people who have amnesia? Do people ever get amnesia so bad that they don’t know who they are anymore?

Look forward to seeing you all soon!
To join us, please contact griesar@pdx.edu and jleake@pdx.edu.
COMMITTED VOLUNTEERS

Bill Griesar, PSU/OHSU/NW Noggin
Becky Martinez, NIH BUILD EXITO/PSU
Rose Jardin, PSU/Neuro Club President
Theresa Vu, PSU
Aurora Hernandez Martinez, PSU
Elana Kananykhina, PSU
Cris Keirsey, PSU
Ben Bolen, PSU Neuroscience Club
Krystal Khanh Nguyen, PSU
James Reynolds, PSU

SEE WHAT WE DID AT SUNNYSIDE BEFORE AND DURING COVID 🦠
Thank You Northwest Noggin!

Neurons in Minecraft & More!

A crayon in Homer’s brain

What about the glia?

Noggins @ Sunnyside LIVE!
2021-10-26 09:45 - 12:00 | Sunnyside Environmental School, 3421 SE Salmon St, Portland, OR, 97214, United States
WHAT: NW Noggin @ Sunnyside Environmental School
We did it!
How to visit public schools

WHERE: Sunnyside Environmental School, 3421 SE Salmon St, Portland, OR 97214
WHEN: Tuesday, October 26, 9:45am – noon (arrival and set up @ 9:45am; first class 10 – 10:50am; second class 11 – 11:50am) and again on Thursday (10/28)
Everyone outdoors, fully vaccinated and properly masked.
Contacts: Asa Gervich and Jeremy Thomas, 4th grade teachers

We are thrilled to return LIVE to Jeremy and Asa’s lively classrooms this fall! We’ll make two visits, on Tuesday (10/26) and Thursday (10/28) to consider faces and the brain. We’ll examine faces, make faces, draw faces, consider faces in art and explore how we share our own unique brains through expression.

But we’ll also make brain cells and consider AMAZING questions from 4th graders!
From 4th Grade Teacher Asa Gervich:
Over the past weeks, students have learned about the interplay between their prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, and amygdala – and how mindfulness practices can help us self-regulate. Last week, we learned about the Reticular Activating System – and how it can help us sift through myriad sensory inputs to focus on something important – like, how does an NBA player tune out all the zany free-throw distractions happening in the stands? Or, what role did the RAS play in about half of our class not spotting the gorilla in this video? What’s going on with our RAS when we listen to music and can isolate one particular instrument? Can everyone do that? We were thinking that visit #2 would be an awesome time to bring out the brain specimens (give them something to look forward to after visit #1). And, Jeremy put in a vote for that super cool electrical-impulse station if you guys are still doing that…

Some current kid wonderings:
If parts of the brain are damaged or lose function, how does that impact how the body works?
Is the brain actually pink? Why?
Which is more important, the brain or the heart?
How was Albert Einstein’s brain different from other people’s?
If two people were born at the exact time, and they liked the exact same stuff, and thought the same things at the same time – how would their brains be different? Would their brains be different?
How many neural pathways are there in your brain?

Can neural pathways be rebuilt or repaired?
Is your brain like your immune system?
You know how your fingerprints are unique to you – I wonder if your brain is the same way – is everyone’s completely unique
When someone experiences a failure of either brain or heart (or both) and they survive it – how does that happen?
Perhaps the number of pathways is infinite – because you can always learn new things…
If you have learned how to do a thing through mistake-making, and then you had some brain damage, would you be starting from step one to be learning that thing? Would you need to make all those mistakes all over again?
What’s going on with people who have amnesia? Do people ever get amnesia so bad that they don’t know who they are anymore?
Look forward to seeing you all soon!

COMMITTED VOLUNTEERS

Bill Griesar, PSU/OHSU/NW Noggin
Jeff Leake, PSU/NW Noggin
Elana Kananykhina, PSU
Britta Harbury, PSU
Arielle Isakharov, OHSU
Theresa Vu, PSU
Aaron Eisen, OHSU
Levi Banks, PSU

SEE WHAT WE DID AT SUNNYSIDE BEFORE AND DURING COVID 🦠
Thank You Northwest Noggin!

Neurons in Minecraft & More!

A crayon in Homer’s brain

What about the glia?

Noggin @ NAEOP Conference
2021-10-18 10:00 - 11:30 | Hillton Bellevue WA, 300 112th Ave SE, Bellevue, WA, 98004, United States
WHAT: Noggin presents: Forward thinking about STEAM – with (actual) BRAINS @ Northwest Association of Educational Opportunity Programs (NAEOP) conference!
We did it!

Threshold through TRIO

WHERE: Hilton Bellevue Hotel, 300 112th Ave SE, Bellevue, WA 98004; Kirkland
WHEN: Monday, October 18, 10:15 – 11:30am

NW Noggin is honored to present LIVE at the NAEOP conference this year on our extensive volunteer STEM + Arts collaborations with TRIO and other community programs!

Forward Thinking about STEAM
How do we inspire students? Brains let us perceive, think and behave, and discoveries in neuroscience offer actionable, compelling information about who we are and how we function. Going where you are surprised and challenged by new circumstances and perspectives drives motivating engagement, as does making art. During these moments our brains are changeable and open to new ideas. Nonprofit Northwest Noggin (nwnoggin.org) organizes undergraduates and graduates to collaborate, build community networks and inspire people about neuroscience and art. We bring volunteers excited by research into urban and rural K-12 public schools, correctional facilities, Congress, houseless youth centers, coffee shops, and pubs to hear what people already know and what they’d like to know, and see where our stories and discoveries from labs and classrooms intersect. We’ve met 50,000 people since 2012! Discover what we’ve learned, craft your own cells, and examine real brain specimens up close.

Check out our most recent collaboration with TRIO on the North Oregon coast!
Viking, Shark, Fishermen & Bandit Brains!

Over four days in October, we took questions, discussed neuroscience research, poked brains and made original neurons and glia at public schools in Astoria and Seaside!

SLIDES: NAEOP Slides FINAL (pdf)
SLIDES: NAEOP Slides FINAL (ppt)

Noggins on the Coast!
2021-10-04 - 2021-10-07
WHAT: NW Noggin @ Astoria & Seaside Public Schools!
We did it!
Viking, Shark, Fishermen & Bandit Brains!

WHERE: Astoria and Seaside, Oregon; housing provided for 5 outreach volunteers!
WHEN: Monday – Thursday, October 4 – 7, 2021
We are thrilled to return to the Oregon coast, to make art and learn what middle and high school students already know – and are discovering about their brains!

This is a community-sponsored outreach event in both Seaside and Astoria, Oregon, organized by NW Noggin and Meredith Payton, the College and Career Advisor for the TRIO Pre-College Program at Clatsop Community College!

Thanks to all our generous community collaborators!!

We are indebted and thankful to so many in the North Coast community for making this outreach possible! Meals provided by Peter Pan Market, The Stand, Astoria Coop and Fort George Brewery! Individual housing for six volunteers from the stunning Rosebriar Mansion!

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

MONDAY, Oct 4th
Astoria Middle School, 9:20am – 2:24pm, 1st – 7th period
We did it!

TUESDAY, Oct 5th
Seaside Middle School, 8:30am – 3:00pm, 1st – 4th & 6th period
We did it!

“Thank you so much for coming and teaching us today! The brain is so incredible, I learned so much!” – 8th grade student at Seaside Middle School 🙂
WEDNESDAY, Oct 6th
West Exchange outdoor preschool, 9:30am – 11:30am
Astoria High School, 11:40am – 3:15pm
We did it!

THURSDAY, Oct 7th
Astoria High School, 10:40am – 2:15pm
We did it!

COMMITTED VOLUNTEERS
All volunteers fully vaccinated (***BRING VACCINATION CARD) and masked.

Bill Griesar, PSU/OHSU/NW Noggin
Jeff Leake, PSU/NW Noggin
Jasmin Mabry, PSU/NIH BUILD EXITO
Michael Deveney, PSU
Greyson Moore, PSU
William Leverette, PSU
Ellie Phelps, PSU
Lidia Echeverria-Garcia, University of Oregon

See what else we’ve done in Clatsop County!
Clatsop Community Cortex

North Coast Noggins: Art, Alevins & Brains!

Accumbens in Astoria

Noggin + p:ear!
2021-09-30 09:30 - 11:30 | P:ear, 338 NW 6th Ave, Portland, OR, 97209, United States
WHAT: Noggin @ p:ear!
We did it!
Faces at p:ear!

WHERE: p:ear, 338 NW 6th Ave., Portland, OR 97209
WHEN: Thursday, September 30, 2021, 9:30am – 11:30am

NOTE: All volunteers must be vaccinated against COVID-19 & wear a mask.
Noggin is returning to P:ear, a remarkable Portland nonprofit aimed at building positive relationships with homeless and transitional youth through education, art and recreation to affirm their personal worth and help them create more meaningful and healthier lives.

We are excited to communicate science through the extraordinary volunteer efforts of our talented graduate and undergraduate Noggin participants from Portland State University, Oregon Health & Science University, the Pacific Northwest College of Art, and other collaborators.!

Learning about brains and behavior, and genuine, evidence-based structural and functional aspects of who we are is powerful and actionable information for everyone, including those who are experiencing anxiety, depression, drug use disorders, bias, chronic stress, insomnia – as well as poverty, isolation, racism, homophobia and our region’s extreme lack of affordable housing.
LEARN MORE: Noggin @ p:ear
Come join us!
We’ll have some exciting new human brain specimens to share!

LEARN MORE: Cross-Country Noggins!

We’ll also consider faces, and facial expressions, and how we recognize and respond to each other in art and IRL.

Please RSVP to bgriesar@nwnoggin.org and jleake@nwnoggin.org

COMMITTED PARTICIPANTS
1. Bill Griesar, NW Noggin, PSU, OHSU
2. Jeff Leake, NW Noggin, PSU
3. Quinn Westlynd, PSU
4. Tiara Freeman, PSU
5. Becky Martinez, PSU/NIH BUILD EXITO
6. Krystal Khanh Nguyen, PSU
7. Sara Moreno, PSU
8. James Reynolds, PSU
9. Maria Coyner, PSU
Seeing us all through research & art

“Not only are people on the streets affected, but those of us who sleep in our own beds each night also have our brains impacted by homelessness, perhaps through less activation of cerebral networks required to fully humanize those in our community in need of our acknowledgement and support…”

Noggin + p:ear!
2021-09-28 09:30 - 11:30 | P:ear, 338 NW 6th Ave, Portland, OR, 97209, United States
WHAT: Noggin @ p:ear!
We did it!
Faces at p:ear!

WHERE: p:ear, 338 NW 6th Ave., Portland, OR 97209
WHEN: Tuesday, September 28, 2021, 9:30am – 11:30am

NOTE: All volunteers must be vaccinated against COVID-19 & wear a mask.
Noggin is returning to P:ear, a remarkable Portland nonprofit aimed at building positive relationships with homeless and transitional youth through education, art and recreation to affirm their personal worth and help them create more meaningful and healthier lives.

We’ll be there BOTH Tuesday (9/28) and Thursday (9/30)!

We are excited to communicate science through the extraordinary volunteer efforts of our talented graduate and undergraduate Noggin participants from Portland State University, Oregon Health & Science University, the Pacific Northwest College of Art, and other collaborators.!

Learning about brains and behavior, and genuine, evidence-based structural and functional aspects of who we are is powerful and actionable information for everyone, including those who are experiencing anxiety, depression, drug use disorders, bias, chronic stress, insomnia – as well as poverty, isolation, racism, homophobia and our region’s extreme lack of affordable housing.
LEARN MORE: Noggin @ p:ear
Come join us!
We’ll have some exciting new human brain specimens to share!

LEARN MORE: Cross-Country Noggins!

We’ll also consider faces, and facial expressions, and how we recognize and respond to each other in art and IRL.

Please RSVP to bgriesar@nwnoggin.org and jleake@nwnoggin.org

COMMITTED PARTICIPANTS
1. Bill Griesar, NW Noggin, PSU, OHSU
2. Jeff Leake, NW Noggin, PSU
3. Greyson Moore, PSU
4. Quinn Westlynd, PSU
5. Ronan Peck, PSU
6. Tiara Freeman, PSU
7. Denesa Lockwood, OHSU
8. Krystal Khanh Nguyen, PSU

Seeing us all through research & art

“Not only are people on the streets affected, but those of us who sleep in our own beds each night also have our brains impacted by homelessness, perhaps through less activation of cerebral networks required to fully humanize those in our community in need of our acknowledgement and support…”

Noggins @ JumpStart in Gresham/Barlow Schools!
2021-08-18 10:00 - 12:30 | Center for Advanced Learning, 1484 NW Civic Dr, Gresham, OR, 97030, United States
WHAT: NW Noggin @ JumpStart U program in Gresham Barlow Public Schools!
We did it!
LEARN MORE: Gresham Cool

“That was wonderful! Kids were saying ‘it’s so cool, it’s so creepy!’ and ‘I want a job where I get to research brains!’
Really inspiring – please come back!”
WHERE: Center for Advanced Learning, 1484 NW Civic Dr, Gresham, OR 97030
WHEN: Wednesday, August 18, 10:00am – 12:30pm LIVE
**OUTDOORS, and all participants must be MASKED, VACCINATED

From Liz Maki, Director of Career Pathways
“JumpStart U 9th grade camp is a part of the 9th Grade Counts work across the county. The goal of this camp is the give students a jump start into high school by awarding the students .5 credits for completion of the camp. Camp recruitment targets students who are at risk of not completing high school for a variety of reasons. Students who participate in this camp not only benefit from the credit but also the connections to high school staff and other students that they will see next year. Career exploration is the tool the camp uses to create engagement and to apply skills the students will need in high school.”
What I hope students get from NW Noggin:
“I believe students will be highly engaged and motivated to learn about their most valuable asset, their brains. To me, this is one of the greatest pieces of this partnership. My other hope is that the volunteers can speak with the students about their own particular career path; why they chose it, what it looks like, how to get into that career, etc.”
Come join us!
We’ll have some exciting new human brain specimens to share in Gresham too!

LEARN MORE: Cross-Country Noggins!
Please RSVP to bgriesar@nwnoggin.org and jleake@nwnoggin.org
COMMITTED PARTICIPANTS
1. Bill Griesar, NW Noggin/PSU/OHSU
2. Jeff Leake, NW Noggin/PSU
3. Mack Carlisle, PNCA/Pacific/UMass-Amherst graduate
4. Roman Cimkovich, PSU
5. Sarah Holden, OHSU
6. Michael Deveney, PSU
7. Andrea Rano, NIH BUILD EXITO/PSU
8. Jessie Sheeran, PSU
9. Alex Heinrich, PSU
10. Robert Cummings, Colby College
Should be a LOT cooler than our outreach visit to Hillsboro last week!
LEARN MORE at the link below 🙂
Hillsboro Heat

Noggins LIVE in Hillsboro!
2021-08-11 10:15 - 13:00 | Minter Bridge Elementary, 1750 SE Jacquelin Dr, Hillsboro, OR, 97123, United States
WHAT: Noggin visit to Minter Bridge Elementary with 1st-5th graders
We did it!!
LEARN MORE: Hillsboro Heat

WHERE: Minter Bridge Elementary, 1750 SE Jacquelin Dr, Hillsboro, OR 97123
**OUTDOORS, and all participants must be MASKED, VACCINATED
WHEN: Wednesday, August 11, 2021, 10:15am – 1:00pm

From teacher Jessica-Patching Bunch (former Communications Director for NW Noggin!):
“We will be at Minter Bridge Elementary in Hillsboro on August 11th from 10:15am – 1:00pm with 3 groups of kiddos from 1st to 5th grade. The group size should be no more than 40 at a time.
In the days leading up to the Noggin Grand Finale visit I will be taking the kids through learning about brain, body, and breath and how they all relate to self-regulation and stress management using the tools we have available in our nervous system. Because the time slots are short I think that a brain facts Q&A and time with the brains will fill the time for each group.”
Come join us!
We’ll have some exciting new human brain specimens to share in Hillsboro too!

LEARN MORE: Cross-Country Noggins!
COMMITTED PARTICIPANTS
1. Bill Griesar, NW Noggin/PSU/OHSU
2. Jeff Leake, NW Noggin/PSU
3. Kiara Hunt, PSU
4. Kari Baher, PSU
5. Yangmiao Zhang, OHSU
6. Sarah Holden, OHSU
7. Mikah Brandes, OSHU/BUILD EXITO
8. Kanani Miyamoto, NW Noggin/PCC
9. Michael Deveney, PSU
10. Alex Heinrich, PSU
11. Kevanna Doolittle, PSU
12. Roman Cimkovich, PSU
13. Jessie Sheeran, PSU
14. Dave Beaty & son :), PSU
See what we’ve done before in Hillsboro!
Meninges over Minter Bridge!

Noggins @ Hosford PPS LIVE! (4)
2021-06-04 14:00 - 16:00
WHAT: Noggin @ Hosford Middle School
WHERE: Online (link to be shared with volunteers) & LIVE @ Hosford Middle School, 2303 SE 28th Pl, Portland, OR 97214
WHEN:
1. Thursday, May 27, 9:30am – 12:30pm Pacific (Virtual)
2. Friday, May 28, 9:30am – 12:30pm Pacific (Virtual)
3. Thursday, June 3, 2:00 – 4:00pm Pacific (LIVE @ Hosford, 2303 SE 28th Pl, Portland, OR 97214)
4. Friday, June 4, 2:00 – 4:00pm Pacific (LIVE @ Hosford, 2303 SE 28th Pl, Portland, OR 97214)
We did it!
Hosford, Hippocampi & Hope

We are thrilled to return to Hosford, and hear what middle school biology students are learning about energy (ATP!) and brains!

We’ll gather virtually on Tuesday (5/25), Thursday (5/27) and Friday (5/28) to meet, discuss neuroscience research and introduce a found object brain cell project.

We’ll be back LIVE on both Thursday (6/3) and Friday (6/4) to see all the neurons and glial cells, consider more questions and hold a few extra brains!

COMMITTED PARTICIPANTS
1. Bill Griesar, NW Noggin/PSU/OHSU
2. Jeff Leake, NW Noggin/PSU
3. Jessie L. Sheeran, PSU
4. Melissa DeMoura, PSU
5. Roman Cimkovich, PSU
6. Magda Armendariz Sullivan, PSU
7. Wilson Lubeck, PSU
Student Questions!
In what part of the brain do you get thoughts?
How does COVID-19 affect your brain?
How do you become unconscious when you sleep?
How did they get the brains
How long does it take (or repetition) for your brain to remember something?
How is the human brain different from a dog brain?
What happens in your brain when you learn something new?
what’s the worst thing that could happen to the brain
Are you your brain or are you you
When did we start wondering how the brain worked?
What happens in your brain when you associate color with flavor? Like a yellow jelly bean tastes or is associated with lemon.
What are the wrinkles?
How much of our brain do we actually consciously know how to use?
why can some people daydream in almost like full movies but some people cant?
Do we really only use 10% of our brains?
hOW does it WOORKK?
why do i get migraines and what causes them to be clusters or every month?
How does your brain process words so fast? How can you be saying something at the same time that your brain is trying to figure out what to say?
why do some people like me believe in fixed mindsets while others don’t
How come my autism makes it hard to process my words?
does our brain actually get bigger when we get smarter?
How do brains grow bigger?
How do the conscious mind, and the unconscious mind relate when you remember your dream?
what makes you forget things
What is the biggest mystery about the brain at the moment? What would you say is the biggest discovery about the brain?How does the brain use energy?When is the brain fully developed?
how can your emotions effect different parts of your brain, like creativity or decision making.
How effective is sleep on your brain?
can your brain actually grow in size?
Does the Brain change when your mental health is different???
How big can a brain get? and what is the heaviest brain ever recored?
I wonder how different peoples brains are different?
what do brainzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz taste like
can the size of your brain affect how smart you are?
What does your brain look like as you get older and how much does it evolve over 10 years of your life?
DOES YOUR BRAIN ACTUALLY FART WHEN YOU CANT REMEMBER SOMETHING?????
Why does the brain have all of those wrinkles?
How does the brain change over time? How do other people’s reactions to things we do/say affect our brain? How are different people with different mindsets, backgrounds, and life choices brains are different? Are people with bigger brains necessarily smarter? How much of something harmful is needed to impact your brain? Are some people’s creative and logical brain halves switched, and how would that affect them?
If you don’t have the creative part of your brain will it just completely stop working?
How much memory can a brain hold?

SEE WHAT WE’VE DONE BEFORE @ HOSFORD!
Honest selves @ Hosford

Brains, Art & Inquiry @ Hosford

High energy Hosford: Tumors, music & drugs!

Noggins @ Hosford PPS LIVE! (3)
2021-06-03 14:00 - 16:00
WHAT: Noggin @ Hosford Middle School
WHERE: Online (link to be shared with volunteers) & LIVE @ Hosford Middle School, 2303 SE 28th Pl, Portland, OR 97214
WHEN:
1. Thursday, May 27, 9:30am – 12:30pm Pacific (Virtual)
2. Friday, May 28, 9:30am – 12:30pm Pacific (Virtual)
3. Thursday, June 3, 2:00 – 4:00pm Pacific (LIVE @ Hosford, 2303 SE 28th Pl, Portland, OR 97214)
We did it!
Hosford, Hippocampi & Hope

4. Friday, June 4, 2:00 – 4:00pm Pacific (LIVE @ Hosford, 2303 SE 28th Pl, Portland, OR 97214)

We are thrilled to return to Hosford, and hear what middle school biology students are learning about energy (ATP!) and brains!

We’ll gather virtually on Thursday (5/27) and Friday (5/28) to meet, discuss neuroscience research and introduce a found object brain cell project.

We’ll be back LIVE on both Thursday (6/3) and Friday (6/4) to see all the neurons and glial cells, consider more questions and hold a few extra brains!
COMMITTED PARTICIPANTS
1. Bill Griesar, NW Noggin/PSU/OHSU
2. Jeff Leake, NW Noggin/PSU
3. Jessie L. Sheeran, PSU
4. Andrea Rano, PSU/NIH BUILD EXITO
5. Wilson Lubeck, PSU
6. Alex Heinrich, PSU
7. Roman Cimkovich, PSU
8. Magda Armendariz Sullivan, PSU
9. Allister Williams, PSU
10, Ellie Phelps, PSU
Student Questions!
In what part of the brain do you get thoughts?
How does COVID-19 affect your brain?
How do you become unconscious when you sleep?
How did they get the brains
How long does it take (or repetition) for your brain to remember something?
How is the human brain different from a dog brain?
What happens in your brain when you learn something new?
what’s the worst thing that could happen to the brain
Are you your brain or are you you
When did we start wondering how the brain worked?
What happens in your brain when you associate color with flavor? Like a yellow jelly bean tastes or is associated with lemon.
What are the wrinkles?
How much of our brain do we actually consciously know how to use?
why can some people daydream in almost like full movies but some people cant?
Do we really only use 10% of our brains?
hOW does it WOORKK?
why do i get migraines and what causes them to be clusters or every month?
How does your brain process words so fast? How can you be saying something at the same time that your brain is trying to figure out what to say?
why do some people like me believe in fixed mindsets while others don’t
How come my autism makes it hard to process my words?
does our brain actually get bigger when we get smarter?
How do brains grow bigger?
How do the conscious mind, and the unconscious mind relate when you remember your dream?
what makes you forget things
What is the biggest mystery about the brain at the moment? What would you say is the biggest discovery about the brain?How does the brain use energy?When is the brain fully developed?
how can your emotions effect different parts of your brain, like creativity or decision making.
How effective is sleep on your brain?
can your brain actually grow in size?
Does the Brain change when your mental health is different???
How big can a brain get? and what is the heaviest brain ever recored?
I wonder how different peoples brains are different?
what do brainzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz taste like
can the size of your brain affect how smart you are?
What does your brain look like as you get older and how much does it evolve over 10 years of your life?
DOES YOUR BRAIN ACTUALLY FART WHEN YOU CANT REMEMBER SOMETHING?????
Why does the brain have all of those wrinkles?
How does the brain change over time? How do other people’s reactions to things we do/say affect our brain? How are different people with different mindsets, backgrounds, and life choices brains are different? Are people with bigger brains necessarily smarter? How much of something harmful is needed to impact your brain? Are some people’s creative and logical brain halves switched, and how would that affect them?
If you don’t have the creative part of your brain will it just completely stop working?
How much memory can a brain hold?

SEE WHAT WE’VE DONE BEFORE @ HOSFORD!
Honest selves @ Hosford

Brains, Art & Inquiry @ Hosford

High energy Hosford: Tumors, music & drugs!

Noggins @ Hosford PPS! (2)
2021-05-28 09:30 - 12:30
WHAT: Noggin @ Hosford Middle School
WHERE: Online (link to be shared with volunteers) & LIVE @ Hosford Middle School, 2303 SE 28th Pl, Portland, OR 97214
WHEN:
1. Thursday, May 27, 9:30am – 12:30pm Pacific (Virtual)
2. Friday, May 28, 9:30am – 12:30pm Pacific (Virtual)
We did it!
Hosford, Hippocampi & Hope

3. Thursday, June 3, 2:00 – 4:00pm Pacific (LIVE @ Hosford, 2303 SE 28th Pl, Portland, OR 97214)
4. Friday, June 4, 2:00 – 4:00pm Pacific (LIVE @ Hosford, 2303 SE 28th Pl, Portland, OR 97214)

We are thrilled to return to Hosford, and hear what middle school biology students are learning about energy (ATP!) and brains!

We’re gathering virtually on Thursday (5/27) and Friday (5/28) to meet, discuss neuroscience research and introduce a found object brain cell project. On Thursday we met with over 150 6th graders to consider their compelling questions!

This Friday we’ll be joined by celebrated neuroscientist and author Dr. Theanne Griffith from 9:45am until 10:30am! Dr. Griffith will share stories from some of her awesome books on the brain, and perhaps run an experiment to explore the nature of sound and hearing 🙂

We’ll be back LIVE on both Thursday (6/3) and Friday (6/4) to see all the neurons and glial cells, consider more questions and hold a few extra brains!
COMMITTED PARTICIPANTS
1. Bill Griesar, NW Noggin/PSU/OHSU
2. Jeff Leake, NW Noggin/PSU
3. Jessie L. Sheeran, PSU
4. Andrea Rano, PSU/NIH BUILD EXITO
5. Magda Armendariz Sullivan, PSU
6. Kass Fitzgerald, PSU
7. Dr. Theanne Griffith, UC Davis
8. Kindra Crick, NW Noggin

Student Questions!
In what part of the brain do you get thoughts?
How does COVID-19 affect your brain?

“While primarily a respiratory disease, COVID-19 can also lead to neurological problems. The first of these symptoms might be the loss of smell and taste, while some people also may later battle headaches, debilitating fatigue, and trouble thinking clearly, sometimes referred to as “brain fog.” All of these symptoms have researchers wondering how exactly the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, affects the human brain. In search of clues, researchers at NIH’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) have now conducted the first in-depth examinations of human brain tissue samples from people who died after contracting COVID-19. Their findings…suggest that COVID-19’s many neurological symptoms are likely explained by the body’s widespread inflammatory response to infection and associated blood vessel injury—not by infection of the brain tissue itself.”
LEARN MORE: Taking a Closer Look at COVID-19’s Effects on the Brain
How do you become unconscious when you sleep?
How did they get the brains

LEARN MORE: A BioGift of Brains
How long does it take (or repetition) for your brain to remember something?
How is the human brain different from a dog brain?

“…we can see from an MRI of a dog brain that even though it is smaller than a human brain, all of the same basic structures are present. This is true for large regions like the cerebral cortex and the cerebellum, as well as for smaller, subcortical structures like the brainstem, hippocampus, amygdala, and basal ganglia, which have important roles in movement, memory, and emotion.

“Dogs also have large olfactory systems, comprising about two percent of the total brain weight (compared to 0.03 percent in humans). Where dogs fall short is in the cortex. Apart from being smaller, there are fewer folds, which means less surface area and fewer neurons. The frontal lobe, which in humans occupies the front third of the brain, is relegated to a paltry ten percent in dogs…”
LEARN MORE: Decoding the Canine Mind
“While ferret, mongoose and cat have increasingly larger cortices (3.1 g, 9.3 g, and 24.2 g) with increasingly more neurons (39 million, 116 million, and 250 million neurons, respectively), we find that the lion has approximately as many neurons in the cerebral cortex as the average found in dogs, ca. 500 million neurons, despite a twice larger cortex in the lion than in the dogs…Remarkably, of all the individuals we analyzed, the one with the most neurons in the cerebral cortex was a golden retriever dog (627 million neurons), followed by the lion (545 million neurons), one of the raccoons (512 million neurons), the striped hyena (495 million neurons), a smaller dog of unspecified breed (429 million neurons) and a second raccoon individual (395 million neurons).“
LEARN MORE: Dogs Have the Most Neurons, Though Not the Largest Brain
What happens in your brain when you learn something new?
what’s the worst thing that could happen to the brain
Are you your brain or are you you
When did we start wondering how the brain worked?

LEARN MORE: Why Study the History of Neuroscience?
What happens in your brain when you associate color with flavor? Like a yellow jelly bean tastes or is associated with lemon.
What are the wrinkles?
How much of our brain do we actually consciously know how to use?
why can some people daydream in almost like full movies but some people cant?
Do we really only use 10% of our brains?
hOW does it WOORKK?
why do i get migraines and what causes them to be clusters or every month?
How does your brain process words so fast? How can you be saying something at the same time that your brain is trying to figure out what to say?
why do some people like me believe in fixed mindsets while others don’t
How come my autism makes it hard to process my words?
does our brain actually get bigger when we get smarter?
How do brains grow bigger?
How do the conscious mind, and the unconscious mind relate when you remember your dream?
what makes you forget things
What is the biggest mystery about the brain at the moment? What would you say is the biggest discovery about the brain?How does the brain use energy?When is the brain fully developed?
how can your emotions effect different parts of your brain, like creativity or decision making.
How effective is sleep on your brain?
can your brain actually grow in size?
Does the Brain change when your mental health is different???
How big can a brain get? and what is the heaviest brain ever recored?
I wonder how different peoples brains are different?
what do brainzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz taste like
can the size of your brain affect how smart you are?
What does your brain look like as you get older and how much does it evolve over 10 years of your life?
DOES YOUR BRAIN ACTUALLY FART WHEN YOU CANT REMEMBER SOMETHING?????
Why does the brain have all of those wrinkles?

How does the brain change over time? How do other people’s reactions to things we do/say affect our brain? How are different people with different mindsets, backgrounds, and life choices brains are different? Are people with bigger brains necessarily smarter? How much of something harmful is needed to impact your brain? Are some people’s creative and logical brain halves switched, and how would that affect them?
If you don’t have the creative part of your brain will it just completely stop working?
How much memory can a brain hold?
How does the brain work when you are in a coma?
How does the brain change as we grow up?
does/how does our brain stay awake while we sleep?
Why do you control the right side of your body with the left side of your brain and the other way around.
How do external factors reach the processing center of the brain, and can you simulate external things?
is there a limit to how much knowledge we can hold
why do we dream? i also would just like to learn more about the brain in general
How do different parts of our brain know where to control things and how to do it, because different parts of the brain are used for different things, so how does the brain itself know the difference?
Also, maybe, what is the physical brain like.
Why and how do we dream?
is the brain one part or is it two parts that are connected?
how much of your energy does the brain use up
How much oxygen does the brain need to stay conscious?
Why and how do we dream? How/why do we have different types of dreams?

SEE WHAT WE’VE DONE BEFORE @ HOSFORD!
Honest selves @ Hosford

Brains, Art & Inquiry @ Hosford

High energy Hosford: Tumors, music & drugs!

Noggins @ Hosford PPS! (1)
2021-05-27 09:30 - 12:30
WHAT: Noggin @ Hosford Middle School
WHERE: Online (link to be shared with volunteers) & LIVE @ Hosford Middle School, 2303 SE 28th Pl, Portland, OR 97214
WHEN:
1. Thursday, May 27, 9:30am – 12:30pm Pacific (Virtual)
We did it!
Hosford, Hippocampi & Hope

2. Friday, May 28, 9:30am – 12:30pm Pacific (Virtual)
3. Thursday, June 3, 2:00 – 4:00pm Pacific (LIVE @ Hosford, 2303 SE 28th Pl, Portland, OR 97214)
4. Friday, June 4, 2:00 – 4:00pm Pacific (LIVE @ Hosford, 2303 SE 28th Pl, Portland, OR 97214)

We are thrilled to return to Hosford, and hear what middle school biology students are learning about energy (ATP!) and brains!

We’ll gather virtually on Thursday (5/27) and Friday (5/28) to meet, discuss neuroscience research and introduce a found object brain cell project. We’ll be back LIVE on both Thursday (6/3) and Friday (6/4) to see all the neurons and glial cells, consider more questions and hold a few extra brains!
COMMITTED PARTICIPANTS
1. Bill Griesar, NW Noggin/PSU/OHSU
2. Jeff Leake, NW Noggin/PSU
3. Magda Armendariz Sullivan, PSU
4. Kass Fitzgerald, PSU
5. Alex Heinrich, PSU

Student Questions!
In what part of the brain do you get thoughts?
How does COVID-19 affect your brain?

“While primarily a respiratory disease, COVID-19 can also lead to neurological problems. The first of these symptoms might be the loss of smell and taste, while some people also may later battle headaches, debilitating fatigue, and trouble thinking clearly, sometimes referred to as “brain fog.” All of these symptoms have researchers wondering how exactly the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, affects the human brain. In search of clues, researchers at NIH’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) have now conducted the first in-depth examinations of human brain tissue samples from people who died after contracting COVID-19. Their findings…suggest that COVID-19’s many neurological symptoms are likely explained by the body’s widespread inflammatory response to infection and associated blood vessel injury—not by infection of the brain tissue itself.”
LEARN MORE: Taking a Closer Look at COVID-19’s Effects on the Brain
How do you become unconscious when you sleep?
How did they get the brains

LEARN MORE: A BioGift of Brains
How long does it take (or repetition) for your brain to remember something?
How is the human brain different from a dog brain?

“…we can see from an MRI of a dog brain that even though it is smaller than a human brain, all of the same basic structures are present. This is true for large regions like the cerebral cortex and the cerebellum, as well as for smaller, subcortical structures like the brainstem, hippocampus, amygdala, and basal ganglia, which have important roles in movement, memory, and emotion.

“Dogs also have large olfactory systems, comprising about two percent of the total brain weight (compared to 0.03 percent in humans). Where dogs fall short is in the cortex. Apart from being smaller, there are fewer folds, which means less surface area and fewer neurons. The frontal lobe, which in humans occupies the front third of the brain, is relegated to a paltry ten percent in dogs…”
LEARN MORE: Decoding the Canine Mind
“While ferret, mongoose and cat have increasingly larger cortices (3.1 g, 9.3 g, and 24.2 g) with increasingly more neurons (39 million, 116 million, and 250 million neurons, respectively), we find that the lion has approximately as many neurons in the cerebral cortex as the average found in dogs, ca. 500 million neurons, despite a twice larger cortex in the lion than in the dogs…Remarkably, of all the individuals we analyzed, the one with the most neurons in the cerebral cortex was a golden retriever dog (627 million neurons), followed by the lion (545 million neurons), one of the raccoons (512 million neurons), the striped hyena (495 million neurons), a smaller dog of unspecified breed (429 million neurons) and a second raccoon individual (395 million neurons).“
LEARN MORE: Dogs Have the Most Neurons, Though Not the Largest Brain
What happens in your brain when you learn something new?
what’s the worst thing that could happen to the brain
Are you your brain or are you you
When did we start wondering how the brain worked?

LEARN MORE: Why Study the History of Neuroscience?
What happens in your brain when you associate color with flavor? Like a yellow jelly bean tastes or is associated with lemon.
What are the wrinkles?
How much of our brain do we actually consciously know how to use?
why can some people daydream in almost like full movies but some people cant?
Do we really only use 10% of our brains?
hOW does it WOORKK?
why do i get migraines and what causes them to be clusters or every month?
How does your brain process words so fast? How can you be saying something at the same time that your brain is trying to figure out what to say?
why do some people like me believe in fixed mindsets while others don’t
How come my autism makes it hard to process my words?
does our brain actually get bigger when we get smarter?
How do brains grow bigger?
How do the conscious mind, and the unconscious mind relate when you remember your dream?
what makes you forget things
What is the biggest mystery about the brain at the moment? What would you say is the biggest discovery about the brain?How does the brain use energy?When is the brain fully developed?
how can your emotions effect different parts of your brain, like creativity or decision making.
How effective is sleep on your brain?
can your brain actually grow in size?
Does the Brain change when your mental health is different???
How big can a brain get? and what is the heaviest brain ever recored?
I wonder how different peoples brains are different?
what do brainzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz taste like
can the size of your brain affect how smart you are?
What does your brain look like as you get older and how much does it evolve over 10 years of your life?
DOES YOUR BRAIN ACTUALLY FART WHEN YOU CANT REMEMBER SOMETHING?????
Why does the brain have all of those wrinkles?

How does the brain change over time? How do other people’s reactions to things we do/say affect our brain? How are different people with different mindsets, backgrounds, and life choices brains are different? Are people with bigger brains necessarily smarter? How much of something harmful is needed to impact your brain? Are some people’s creative and logical brain halves switched, and how would that affect them?
If you don’t have the creative part of your brain will it just completely stop working?
How much memory can a brain hold?
How does the brain work when you are in a coma?
How does the brain change as we grow up?
does/how does our brain stay awake while we sleep?
Why do you control the right side of your body with the left side of your brain and the other way around.
How do external factors reach the processing center of the brain, and can you simulate external things?
is there a limit to how much knowledge we can hold
why do we dream? i also would just like to learn more about the brain in general
How do different parts of our brain know where to control things and how to do it, because different parts of the brain are used for different things, so how does the brain itself know the difference?
Also, maybe, what is the physical brain like.
Why and how do we dream?
is the brain one part or is it two parts that are connected?
how much of your energy does the brain use up
How much oxygen does the brain need to stay conscious?
Why and how do we dream? How/why do we have different types of dreams?

SEE WHAT WE’VE DONE BEFORE @ HOSFORD!
Honest selves @ Hosford

Brains, Art & Inquiry @ Hosford

High energy Hosford: Tumors, music & drugs!

Noggins in Astoria LIVE! (3)
2021-05-21 11:00 - 12:30
WHAT: Noggin @ Astoria High School, Astoria, OR

We did it!
And omg we LOVE live community outreach!!
LEARN MORE:
Clatsop Community Cortex

WHERE: Both virtual (link coming to volunteers) and LIVE visits!
WHEN:
1. Tuesday, May 11, 2:45 – 4:15pm Pacific (Virtual)
2. Thursday, May 20, 2:45 – 4:15pm Pacific (Virtual)
3. Friday, May 21, 11:00am – 12:30pm Pacific (LIVE; outdoor at Clatsop Community College, courtyard outside Columbia Hall; 1651 Lexington Ave, Astoria, OR 97103)

We are thrilled to return to school in this remarkable river city, and hear what high school juniors and seniors are learning about brains! We gathered virtually on Tuesday (5/11) to meet, discuss neuroscience research and introduce a found object brain cell project.
Noggins in Astoria! (1)

We’re returning online Thursday (5/20)…
Noggins in Astoria! (2)

…and then LIVE Friday (5/21) – to see all the neurons and glial cells, consider more questions and hold a few extra brains!

(We’ll be outdoors, physically distanced and masked!)

COMMITTED PARTICIPANTS
1. Bill Griesar, NW Noggin/PSU/OHSU
2. Jeff Leake, NW Noggin/PSU/OHSU
3. Jasmin Mabry, PSU/NIH BUILD EXITO
4. Jessie L. Sheeran, PSU
5. Melissa DeMoura, PSU
6. Annika Hokanson, PSU
7. Roman Cimkovich, PSU

LEARN MORE: Found Neuron Project
SEE WHAT WE’VE DONE IN CLATSOP COUNTY BEFORE
North Coast Noggins: Art, Alevins & Brains!

Accumbens in Astoria

Student Questions!

Could you modify the brain to forget how to die, therefore living forever?

What are alters actually in DID?
“There is not a clear understanding of DID etiopathology, there is no standardized method of diagnosis, and as such, the disorder has been plagued by a history of fabrication case studies (North, 2015). For these reasons, the disorder is opposed by many psychiatrists. To address this controversy, researchers have begun to examine the neurological basis of DID in an effort to provide stronger physical evidence for the disorder.”
LEARN MORE: A systematic review of the neuroanatomy of dissociative identity disorder

What was one interesting thing learned from Henry M.’s brain? (Patient H.M.)

How do we know if most humans really perceive colors the same?

Could you use electrodes in the brain to simulate certain emotions or trigger certain memories or reactions?

How efficient is your brain at running, like how much energy does it make

While making up only a small fraction of our total body mass, the brain represents the largest source of energy consumption—accounting for over 20% of total oxygen metabolism. Of this, it is estimated that neurons consume 75%–80% of energy produced in the brain. This energy is primarily utilized at the synapse with a large proportion spent in restoration of neuronal membrane potentials following depolarization. Other neuronal functions such as vesicle recycling, neurotransmitter synthesis and axoplasmic transport also contribute to synaptic energy depletion and the requirement for an elevated metabolic rate in neurons. Energy requirements are therefore not uniform throughout the brain but instead increased in localized regions dependent on neuronal activity.
LEARN MORE: Brain Energy and Oxygen Metabolism: Emerging Role in Normal Function and Disease
In a group of healthy volunteers, the researchers showed that different brain regions that serve distinct functions have notably different power and different cost. They then investigated the effects of alcohol on these new measures by assessing a group of people that included light drinkers and heavy drinkers and found that both acute and chronic exposure to alcohol affected power and cost of brain regions. Brain imaging used by NIH scientists to improve our understanding of how alcohol affects the brain.
“In heavy drinkers, we saw less regional power for example in the thalamus, the sensory gateway, and frontal cortex of the brain, which is important for decision making,” said Dr. Shokri-Kojori. “These decreases in power were interpreted to reflect toxic effects of long-term exposure to alcohol on the brain cells.”
LEARN MORE: NIH study of brain energy patterns provides new insights into alcohol effects

How fast can the brain process information?

What happens to the brain when you are dehydrated?

How does caffeine affect the brain?

Caffeine, a chemical, acts to block (or “antagonize”) receptors for adenosine, a chemical that binds to the adenosine receptors. This reduces the release of some important neurotransmitters, among them dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin and acetylcholine that are essential for staying alert and awake. Adenosine is a nucleotide (found in DNA, mRNA), and is also part of an important energy substrate known as ATP, or adenosine tri-phosphate.
As your day progresses, and you express your genes and use up ATP, your bloodstream levels of adenosine rise, and bind to adenosine receptors in several cerebral regions, including an area beneath the frontal cortex called the basal forebrain. This decreases brain activity and you feel sleepy, and cognitively a little slow – appropriately ready, of course, for a restorative nap.
But then Kat, Olivia or Micha serve you a glorious and rewarding cup of Stumptown at Street 14, and the caffeine finds your brain’s adenosine receptors, displacing that downer adenosine and transiently attaching itself to the receptors instead. Caffeine blocks the normal response of these receptors, so again, it is considered an adenosine receptor antagonist.
There remain copious swarms of adenosine molecules circulating in your blood, and your body still needs that rest, but your brain is no longer listening to this chemical signal with caffeine antagonizing the receptors in the basal forebrain and elsewhere where adenosine would normally act. You’re up!
LEARN MORE: Astoria Noggins: Tipsy Buzzed Mice @ Street 14
LEARN MORE: Drunk mice on espresso – what could go wrong?
If someone experiences a certain emotion a lot does that make it more likely for them to experience that emotion more often?

Would it be possible to keep a brain alive/working without it being attached to a real body?

Could you make a brain process more information faster and basically improve everybody’s brainpower. Maybe in the future curing brain illnesses.

Does long-term alcohol use affect the brain and how it functions?
Alcohol is a fascinating molecule, easily capable of crossing membranes and gaining access to the brain, with a water soluble hydroxyl (-OH) “head,” and a fat soluble, two carbon “body” – making it appear, suggests Dr. Grant, a bit like a friendly dog.
LEARN MORE: What’s a “drink..?” At the Newmark for beer & brains

How is the brain able to store and find memories

Can all drugs modify the chemical makeup of the brain?

What is happening in the brain when someone gets a headache

A headache may feel like a pain inside your brain, but it’s not. Most headaches begin in the many nerves of the muscles and blood vessels that surround your head, neck, and face. These pain-sensing nerves can be set off by stress, muscle tension, enlarged blood vessels, and other triggers. Once activated, the nerves send messages to the brain, and it can feel like the pain is coming from deep within your head.
LEARN MORE: What To Do When Your Head Hurts
LEARN MORE: NIH Headache Information Page

Would sending electrical signals to certain parts of the brain move certain parts of the body?

How much do we truly know about the human brain?

When you take a hallucinogenic drug what’s going on in your brain? Some say they see things when they take HD. Is the brain causing that?

A defining quality of any psychedelic is its ability to bind to and “activate” (i.e., act as an “agonist” at) the 5HT-2A receptor (one of fifteen different receptors for the neurotransmitter serotonin).
LEARN MORE: Psychedelic Portland

Could we change the way our bodies combat sickness? To aim towards drugs being the main defender, and to lower the number of symptoms you will have with a sickness, like not having a runny nose if you catch a cold.

Noggins in Astoria! (2)
2021-05-20 14:45 - 16:15
WHAT: Noggin @ Astoria High School, Astoria, OR
We did it!
LEARN MORE:
Clatsop Community Cortex

WHERE: Both virtual (link coming to volunteers) and LIVE visits!
WHEN:
1. Tuesday, May 11, 2:45 – 4:15pm Pacific (Virtual)
2. Thursday, May 20, 2:45 – 4:15pm Pacific (Virtual)
3. Friday, May 21, 11:00am – 12:30pm Pacific (LIVE; outdoor location TBD)

We are thrilled to return to school in this remarkable river city, and hear what high school juniors and seniors are learning about brains!

We gathered virtually on Tuesday (5/11) to meet, discuss neuroscience research and introduce a found object brain cell project. We returned Thursday (5/20) – to see all the neurons and glial cells and consider more questions about brains!

We have one visit left this spring – a LIVE brain wrangling experience for high school students and Clatsop Community College students in Astoria!

(This time we’ll be outdoors, physically distanced and masked!)
COMMITTED PARTICIPANTS
1. Bill Griesar, NW Noggin/PSU/OHSU
2. Jeff Leake, NW Noggin/PSU/OHSU
3. Jasmin Mabry, PSU/NIH BUILD EXITO
4. Yuri Sugano, University of Chicago
5. Andrea Rano, PSU/NIH BUILD EXITO
6. Magda Armendariz Sullivan, PSU
7. Kass Fitzgerald, PSU
8. Alex Heinrich, PSU
9. Annika Hokanson, PSU
10. Cassidy Wilson, University of Chicago Neuroscience Club
11. Alisha Steigerwald, PSU Neuroscience Club
12. Roman Cimkovich, PSU

LEARN MORE: Found Neuron Project
Student Questions!

Could you modify the brain to forget how to die, therefore living forever?

What are alters actually in DID?
“There is not a clear understanding of DID etiopathology, there is no standardized method of diagnosis, and as such, the disorder has been plagued by a history of fabrication case studies (North, 2015). For these reasons, the disorder is opposed by many psychiatrists. To address this controversy, researchers have begun to examine the neurological basis of DID in an effort to provide stronger physical evidence for the disorder.”
LEARN MORE: A systematic review of the neuroanatomy of dissociative identity disorder

What was one interesting thing learned from Henry M.’s brain? (Patient H.M.)

How do we know if most humans really perceive colors the same?

Could you use electrodes in the brain to simulate certain emotions or trigger certain memories or reactions?

How efficient is your brain at running, like how much energy does it make

While making up only a small fraction of our total body mass, the brain represents the largest source of energy consumption—accounting for over 20% of total oxygen metabolism. Of this, it is estimated that neurons consume 75%–80% of energy produced in the brain. This energy is primarily utilized at the synapse with a large proportion spent in restoration of neuronal membrane potentials following depolarization. Other neuronal functions such as vesicle recycling, neurotransmitter synthesis and axoplasmic transport also contribute to synaptic energy depletion and the requirement for an elevated metabolic rate in neurons. Energy requirements are therefore not uniform throughout the brain but instead increased in localized regions dependent on neuronal activity.
LEARN MORE: Brain Energy and Oxygen Metabolism: Emerging Role in Normal Function and Disease
In a group of healthy volunteers, the researchers showed that different brain regions that serve distinct functions have notably different power and different cost. They then investigated the effects of alcohol on these new measures by assessing a group of people that included light drinkers and heavy drinkers and found that both acute and chronic exposure to alcohol affected power and cost of brain regions. Brain imaging used by NIH scientists to improve our understanding of how alcohol affects the brain.
“In heavy drinkers, we saw less regional power for example in the thalamus, the sensory gateway, and frontal cortex of the brain, which is important for decision making,” said Dr. Shokri-Kojori. “These decreases in power were interpreted to reflect toxic effects of long-term exposure to alcohol on the brain cells.”
LEARN MORE: NIH study of brain energy patterns provides new insights into alcohol effects

How fast can the brain process information?

What happens to the brain when you are dehydrated?

How does caffeine affect the brain?

Caffeine, a chemical, acts to block (or “antagonize”) receptors for adenosine, a chemical that binds to the adenosine receptors. This reduces the release of some important neurotransmitters, among them dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin and acetylcholine that are essential for staying alert and awake. Adenosine is a nucleotide (found in DNA, mRNA), and is also part of an important energy substrate known as ATP, or adenosine tri-phosphate.
As your day progresses, and you express your genes and use up ATP, your bloodstream levels of adenosine rise, and bind to adenosine receptors in several cerebral regions, including an area beneath the frontal cortex called the basal forebrain. This decreases brain activity and you feel sleepy, and cognitively a little slow – appropriately ready, of course, for a restorative nap.
But then Kat, Olivia or Micha serve you a glorious and rewarding cup of Stumptown at Street 14, and the caffeine finds your brain’s adenosine receptors, displacing that downer adenosine and transiently attaching itself to the receptors instead. Caffeine blocks the normal response of these receptors, so again, it is considered an adenosine receptor antagonist.
There remain copious swarms of adenosine molecules circulating in your blood, and your body still needs that rest, but your brain is no longer listening to this chemical signal with caffeine antagonizing the receptors in the basal forebrain and elsewhere where adenosine would normally act. You’re up!
LEARN MORE: Astoria Noggins: Tipsy Buzzed Mice @ Street 14
LEARN MORE: Drunk mice on espresso – what could go wrong?
If someone experiences a certain emotion a lot does that make it more likely for them to experience that emotion more often?

Would it be possible to keep a brain alive/working without it being attached to a real body?

Could you make a brain process more information faster and basically improve everybody’s brainpower. Maybe in the future curing brain illnesses.

Does long-term alcohol use affect the brain and how it functions?
Alcohol is a fascinating molecule, easily capable of crossing membranes and gaining access to the brain, with a water soluble hydroxyl (-OH) “head,” and a fat soluble, two carbon “body” – making it appear, suggests Dr. Grant, a bit like a friendly dog.
LEARN MORE: What’s a “drink..?” At the Newmark for beer & brains

How is the brain able to store and find memories

Can all drugs modify the chemical makeup of the brain?

What is happening in the brain when someone gets a headache

A headache may feel like a pain inside your brain, but it’s not. Most headaches begin in the many nerves of the muscles and blood vessels that surround your head, neck, and face. These pain-sensing nerves can be set off by stress, muscle tension, enlarged blood vessels, and other triggers. Once activated, the nerves send messages to the brain, and it can feel like the pain is coming from deep within your head.
LEARN MORE: What To Do When Your Head Hurts
LEARN MORE: NIH Headache Information Page

Would sending electrical signals to certain parts of the brain move certain parts of the body?

How much do we truly know about the human brain?

When you take a hallucinogenic drug what’s going on in your brain? Some say they see things when they take HD. Is the brain causing that?

A defining quality of any psychedelic is its ability to bind to and “activate” (i.e., act as an “agonist” at) the 5HT-2A receptor (one of fifteen different receptors for the neurotransmitter serotonin).
LEARN MORE: Psychedelic Portland

Could we change the way our bodies combat sickness? To aim towards drugs being the main defender, and to lower the number of symptoms you will have with a sickness, like not having a runny nose if you catch a cold.

SEE WHAT WE’VE DONE IN CLATSOP COUNTY BEFORE
North Coast Noggins: Art, Alevins & Brains!

Accumbens in Astoria

Noggins in Astoria! (1)
2021-05-11 14:45 - 16:15
WHAT: Noggin @ Astoria High School, Astoria, OR

WHERE: Both virtual (link coming to volunteers) and LIVE visits!
WHEN:
1. Tuesday, May 11, 2:45 – 4:15pm Pacific (Virtual)
We did it!
LEARN MORE:
Clatsop Community Cortex

2. Thursday, May 20, 2:45 – 4:15pm Pacific (Virtual)
3. Friday, May 21, 11:00am – 12:30pm Pacific (LIVE; outdoor location TBD)

We are thrilled to return to school in this remarkable river city, and hear what high school juniors and seniors are learning about brains! We’ll gather virtually on Tuesday (5/11) to meet, discuss neuroscience research and introduce a found object brain cell project. We’ll be back online Thursday (5/20) – and LIVE Friday (5/21) – to see all the neurons and glial cells, consider more questions and hold a few extra brains!

(This time we’ll be outdoors, physically distanced and masked!)
COMMITTED PARTICIPANTS
1. Bill Griesar, NW Noggin/PSU/OHSU
2. Jeff Leake, NW Noggin/PSU/OHSU
3. Jasmin Mabry, PSU/NIH BUILD EXITO
4. Yuri Sugano, University of Chicago
5. Andrea Rano, PSU/NIH BUILD EXITO
6. Magda Armendariz Sullivan, PSU
7. Kass Fitzgerald, PSU
8. Melissa Sek, PSU
9. Alex Heinrich, PSU
10. Annika Hokanson, PSU

LEARN MORE: Found Neuron Project
Student Questions!

Could you modify the brain to forget how to die, therefore living forever?

What are alters actually in DID?
“There is not a clear understanding of DID etiopathology, there is no standardized method of diagnosis, and as such, the disorder has been plagued by a history of fabrication case studies (North, 2015). For these reasons, the disorder is opposed by many psychiatrists. To address this controversy, researchers have begun to examine the neurological basis of DID in an effort to provide stronger physical evidence for the disorder.”
LEARN MORE: A systematic review of the neuroanatomy of dissociative identity disorder

What was one interesting thing learned from Henry M.’s brain? (Patient H.M.)

How do we know if most humans really perceive colors the same?

Could you use electrodes in the brain to simulate certain emotions or trigger certain memories or reactions?

How efficient is your brain at running, like how much energy does it make

While making up only a small fraction of our total body mass, the brain represents the largest source of energy consumption—accounting for over 20% of total oxygen metabolism. Of this, it is estimated that neurons consume 75%–80% of energy produced in the brain. This energy is primarily utilized at the synapse with a large proportion spent in restoration of neuronal membrane potentials following depolarization. Other neuronal functions such as vesicle recycling, neurotransmitter synthesis and axoplasmic transport also contribute to synaptic energy depletion and the requirement for an elevated metabolic rate in neurons. Energy requirements are therefore not uniform throughout the brain but instead increased in localized regions dependent on neuronal activity.
LEARN MORE: Brain Energy and Oxygen Metabolism: Emerging Role in Normal Function and Disease
In a group of healthy volunteers, the researchers showed that different brain regions that serve distinct functions have notably different power and different cost. They then investigated the effects of alcohol on these new measures by assessing a group of people that included light drinkers and heavy drinkers and found that both acute and chronic exposure to alcohol affected power and cost of brain regions. Brain imaging used by NIH scientists to improve our understanding of how alcohol affects the brain.
“In heavy drinkers, we saw less regional power for example in the thalamus, the sensory gateway, and frontal cortex of the brain, which is important for decision making,” said Dr. Shokri-Kojori. “These decreases in power were interpreted to reflect toxic effects of long-term exposure to alcohol on the brain cells.”
LEARN MORE: NIH study of brain energy patterns provides new insights into alcohol effects

How fast can the brain process information?

What happens to the brain when you are dehydrated?

How does caffeine affect the brain?

Caffeine, a chemical, acts to block (or “antagonize”) receptors for adenosine, a chemical that binds to the adenosine receptors. This reduces the release of some important neurotransmitters, among them dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin and acetylcholine that are essential for staying alert and awake. Adenosine is a nucleotide (found in DNA, mRNA), and is also part of an important energy substrate known as ATP, or adenosine tri-phosphate.
As your day progresses, and you express your genes and use up ATP, your bloodstream levels of adenosine rise, and bind to adenosine receptors in several cerebral regions, including an area beneath the frontal cortex called the basal forebrain. This decreases brain activity and you feel sleepy, and cognitively a little slow – appropriately ready, of course, for a restorative nap.
But then Kat, Olivia or Micha serve you a glorious and rewarding cup of Stumptown at Street 14, and the caffeine finds your brain’s adenosine receptors, displacing that downer adenosine and transiently attaching itself to the receptors instead. Caffeine blocks the normal response of these receptors, so again, it is considered an adenosine receptor antagonist.
There remain copious swarms of adenosine molecules circulating in your blood, and your body still needs that rest, but your brain is no longer listening to this chemical signal with caffeine antagonizing the receptors in the basal forebrain and elsewhere where adenosine would normally act. You’re up!
LEARN MORE: Astoria Noggins: Tipsy Buzzed Mice @ Street 14
LEARN MORE: Drunk mice on espresso – what could go wrong?
If someone experiences a certain emotion a lot does that make it more likely for them to experience that emotion more often?

Would it be possible to keep a brain alive/working without it being attached to a real body?

Could you make a brain process more information faster and basically improve everybody’s brainpower. Maybe in the future curing brain illnesses.

Does long-term alcohol use affect the brain and how it functions?
Alcohol is a fascinating molecule, easily capable of crossing membranes and gaining access to the brain, with a water soluble hydroxyl (-OH) “head,” and a fat soluble, two carbon “body” – making it appear, suggests Dr. Grant, a bit like a friendly dog.
LEARN MORE: What’s a “drink..?” At the Newmark for beer & brains

How is the brain able to store and find memories

Can all drugs modify the chemical makeup of the brain?

What is happening in the brain when someone gets a headache

A headache may feel like a pain inside your brain, but it’s not. Most headaches begin in the many nerves of the muscles and blood vessels that surround your head, neck, and face. These pain-sensing nerves can be set off by stress, muscle tension, enlarged blood vessels, and other triggers. Once activated, the nerves send messages to the brain, and it can feel like the pain is coming from deep within your head.
LEARN MORE: What To Do When Your Head Hurts
LEARN MORE: NIH Headache Information Page

Would sending electrical signals to certain parts of the brain move certain parts of the body?

How much do we truly know about the human brain?

When you take a hallucinogenic drug what’s going on in your brain? Some say they see things when they take HD. Is the brain causing that?

A defining quality of any psychedelic is its ability to bind to and “activate” (i.e., act as an “agonist” at) the 5HT-2A receptor (one of fifteen different receptors for the neurotransmitter serotonin).
LEARN MORE: Psychedelic Portland

Could we change the way our bodies combat sickness? To aim towards drugs being the main defender, and to lower the number of symptoms you will have with a sickness, like not having a runny nose if you catch a cold.

SEE WHAT WE’VE DONE IN CLATSOP COUNTY BEFORE
North Coast Noggins: Art, Alevins & Brains!

Accumbens in Astoria

Black in Biophysics Week PANEL!
2021-05-11 11:00 - 12:00
WHAT: Black in Biophysics PANEL
WHERE: ZOOM (REGISTER HERE)
WHEN: Tuesday, May 11th, 2021, 1-2pm EST/12-1pm CST/11am – 12pm Pacific

Welcome to Black In Biophysics Week!

FROM BLACK IN BIOPHYSICS: Black In Biophysics is an organization/movement that aims to recognize and celebrate Black biophysicists. We hope to use our platform to create a more inclusive environment in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields by supporting underrepresented students in our own field of biophysics and beyond.

#BIBPSNextGenerations on Tuesday, May 11th, 2021

Join our panel discussion with scientists of diverse cultural and professional backgrounds. Students at middle schools and high schools will have the opportunity to see the exciting experiments of Black scientists and speak to and have their questions answered by the panelists. To ensure maximum student participation, we encourage that teachers share the panel in their classrooms. Q&A session to follow.
Join us on Zoom from 1-2pm EST/12-1pm CST/11am – 12pm Pacific
Panelists:
Bobbie Brown
PhD Student in Neuroscience
Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

Juliet Obi
PhD Student in Pharmaceutical Sciences
University of Maryland, Baltimore

Chase Webb
PhD Student in Pharmaceutical Sciences
University of California San Francisco

John Del Rosario, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Researcher
Washington University in St. Louis

Taviare Hawkins, Ph.D.
Chair and Professor of Physics
University of Wisconsin – La Crosse

Moderator:
Jamaine Davis, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Meharry Medical College

Registration is required to receive an email with the Zoom link.

NW Noggin @ MacLaren POSTPONED!
2021-05-07 15:00 - 16:30
WHAT: NW Noggin visit @ Maclaren Youth Correctional Facility
WHERE: Via ZOOM link (we’ll email to volunteers!)
WHEN: POSTPONED (unit in quarantine; new date/time TBD)
“Because the brain is undergoing such rapid, fundamental changes at this stage of life, adolescents have a heightened capacity to learn and to [grow] out of risky behavior.”
— The MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Law and Neuroscience
We are excited to return to MacLaren, and meet with more young people curious about the brain, and the policy implications of ongoing neuroscience research on adolescent development, bias, trauma, drugs, and mental health in terms of education, healthcare, criminal justice and the law.

COMMITTED VOLUNTEERS
1. Bill Griesar, NW Noggin/PSU/OHSU
2. Jeff Leake, NW Noggin/PSU
3. Jaboa Lake, PSU
4. Joanna DeMeyer, Oregon State University
5. Joey Seuferling, UW Medical School
6. Annika Hokanson, PSU
7. William Leverette, PSU
8. Alisha Steigerwald, PSU/PSU Neuro Club
9. Kit Carlton, artist
10. Melissa DeMoura, PSU
Learn more about NW Noggin at MacLaren at these links:
Myelinating @ MacLaren!

All is in motion, is growing, is you

LEARN MORE: Youth get visual, hands-on experience with the brain
Corrections, Bias & Brains

Noggins @ Sunnyside PPS! (4)
2021-04-30 12:30 - 14:00
WHAT: NW Noggin @ Sunnyside Environmental School
WHERE: Google Meet link coming soon for Noggin volunteers!
WHEN:
1. Thursday, April 22, 12:30 – 2:00pm (Pacific)
2. Friday, April 23, 12:30 – 2:00pm (Pacific)
3. Thursday, April 29, 12:30 – 2:00pm (Pacific)
4. Friday, April 30, 12:30 – 2:00pm (Pacific)
We’re going back to school!

Portland Public Schools is on a “hybrid” schedule, and we’ll meet virtually with 4th graders at Sunnyside Environmental School for four days in April! The first week (4/22 & 4/23) we learned what kids already know and wanted to know about their brains, introduced ourselves, talked neuroscience research and discovered how to make our own neurons and glia.

LEARN MORE: A crayon in Homer’s brain
We’ll follow up week two (4/29 & 4/30) by sharing “found object” brain cells we make at home!

CHECK OUT STUDENT BRAIN CELLS!!
Neurons in Minecraft & More!

LEARN MORE: Pipe Cleaner and FOUND OBJECT Brain Cells!
THIS FRIDAY we’ll also welcome celebrated neuroscientist and children’s book author Dr. Theanne Griffith, who recently headlined NOGGINFEST!

She’s excited to see the brain cells kids create, and afterwards will read from her Magnificent Makers series about exploring the brain!
SEE WHAT WE DID AT SUNNYSIDE BEFORE COVID 🦠
What about the glia?

COMMITTED VOLUNTEERS
1. Bill Griesar, NW Noggin/PSU/OHSU
2. Jeff Leake, NW Noggin/PSU
3. Jasmin Mabry, PSU
4. Melissa DeMoura, PSU
5. Magda Armendariz Sullivan, PSU
6. Kass Fitzgerald, PSU
7. Alex Heinrich, PSU
8. Carli Cox, PSU/Rosenbaum scholar
9. Dr. Theanne Griffith, UC Davis
10. Roman Cimkovich, PSU
11. Anna Traylor, PSU
12. William Leverette, PSU
13. Wilson Lubeck, PSU
14. Danny Leister-Gray, PSU

Noggins @ Sunnyside PPS! (3)
2021-04-29 12:30 - 14:00
WHAT: NW Noggin @ Sunnyside Environmental School
WHERE: Google Meet link coming soon for Noggin volunteers!

WHEN:
1. Thursday, April 22, 12:30 – 2:00pm (Pacific)
2. Friday, April 23, 12:30 – 2:00pm (Pacific)
3. Thursday, April 29, 12:30 – 2:00pm (Pacific)
4. Friday, April 30, 12:30 – 2:00pm (Pacific)
We’re going back to school!

Portland Public Schools is on a “hybrid” schedule, and we’ll meet virtually with 4th graders at Sunnyside Environmental School for four days in April! The first week (4/22 & 4/23) we learned what kids already know and wanted to know about their brains, introduced ourselves, talked neuroscience research and discovered how to make our own neurons and glia.

LEARN MORE: A crayon in Homer’s brain
We’ll follow up week two (4/29 & 4/30) by sharing “found object” brain cells we make at home!

LEARN MORE: Pipe Cleaner and FOUND OBJECT Brain Cells!
More details coming soon!
SEE WHAT WE DID AT SUNNYSIDE BEFORE COVID 🦠
What about the glia?

COMMITTED VOLUNTEERS
1. Bill Griesar, NW Noggin/PSU/OHSU
2. Jeff Leake, NW Noggin/PSU
3. Yuri Sugano, University of Chicago
4. Andrea Rano, PSU/NIH BUILD EXITO
5. Magda Armendariz Sullivan, PSU
6. Kass Fitzgerald, PSU
7. Alex Heinrich, PSU
8. Joanna DeMeyer, Oregon State University
9. Anna Traylor, PSU
10. William Leverette, PSU

Noggins @ Sunnyside PPS! (2)
2021-04-23 12:30 - 14:00
WHAT: NW Noggin @ Sunnyside Environmental School
WHERE: Google Meet link coming soon for Noggin volunteers!

WHEN:
1. Thursday, April 22, 12:30 – 2:00pm (Pacific)
2. Friday, April 23, 12:30 – 2:00pm (Pacific)
We did it!

A crayon in Homer’s brain

3. Thursday, April 29, 12:30 – 2:00pm (Pacific)
4. Friday, April 30, 12:30 – 2:00pm (Pacific)
We’re going back to school!

Portland Public Schools is on a “hybrid” schedule, and we’ll meet virtually with 4th graders at Sunnyside Environmental School for four days in April! The first week (4/22 & 4/23) we’ll learn what kids already know and want to know about their brains, introduce ourselves, talk neuroscience research and discover how to make our own neurons and glia.

We’ll follow up week two (4/29 & 4/30) by sharing “found object” brain cells we make at home!

LEARN MORE: Pipe Cleaner and FOUND OBJECT Brain Cells!

SEE WHAT WE DID AT SUNNYSIDE BEFORE COVID 🦠
What about the glia?

COMMITTED VOLUNTEERS
1. Bill Griesar, NW Noggin/PSU/OHSU
2. Jeff Leake, NW Noggin/PSU
3. Jasmin Mabry, PSU
4. Melissa DeMoura, PSU
5. Magda Armendariz Sullivan, PSU
6. Kass Fitzgerald, PSU
7. Alex Heinrich, PSU
8. Melissa Sek, PSU
9. Roman Cimkovich, PSU

CHECK OUT THESE STUDENT QUESTIONS!
Stanley: I want to know about all the nerves in the brain
How does the brain affect activities like running?
How does the brain know your likes, interests, etc.?
Rome: I want to know about memories and dreams
Emma: How do dreams work? What does it have to do with memories?
Arlo: I want to know about the thinking part of the brain
Julian: How big or small the laughter part of your brain is
Bea: How does the brain process what it wants to do, and how does it know whether it is a good thing to do
Nadia: What are the different parts of the brain?
Eva: I am curious about memories and thoughts. How do we remember things? When you are learning something new, how exactly is your brain involved in the learning? HOW DO WE LEARN?
Zander: How do brains sense when the body gets hurt?
Kellen: How do the body and the brain communicate? How do the brain and our muscles, bones, etc.?
Eva: I am wondering about guilt – the feeling of feeling bad about something you’ve done; how is the brain involved in that?
Ames: Why is our limbic system so “fast-acting”? How many nerves are in our brains?
Archie: How come sometimes you have control over your dreams, and other times you don’t? Why do our brains look like mush, yet they are so complicated?
Arlo: What part of your brain is used the most? Why do humans have nightmares vs dreams sometimes? Is it because of something we’ve seen, or do they just happen?
Bea: Why do we dream?
Dexter: Do people with epilepsy (like me) have more dreams than people who don’t? How fast do you think it takes for people to process their dreams? What do you know about helping kids with epilepsy and reading? Why did you start studying the brain in the first place? What is the strangest thing you’ve learned in your careers? I feel most of my seizures near my mouth and I wonder if different kinds of seizures happen in different parts of the brain.
Dylan: How many emotions can the brain help you make? How many neurons do you have?
Elsie: I just want to learn more about HOW the brain does its work.
Emma: What would my emotion be if I had two bad things happening at once? What is the first thing you ever learned about the brain?
Ericka: Why are brains pink? Why do they have so many grooves in them?
Julian: If you’re asleep, do both halves of the brain go asleep? In the middle of the night, do the halves switch?
Kiernan: How big, exactly, is my brain?
Marina: What happens to your brain, when it gets bruised? How does your brain decide if something tastes good?
Nadia: Are all of our ideas a bunch of existing things, put together?
Rome: When we have dreams – what makes us dream about certain things in particular? Is it all memory-based?
Seb: How big is the prefrontal cortex?
Sophie: I still don’t understand HOW a memory gets stored. Also, what decides if you like a certain taste or smell, or not?
Stanley: How much can your whole brain process in a day? When or why does our brain go on “autopilot”? What is the most helpful part of the brain?
Zander: How much smarter is a human from a dinosaur? How does a brain develop intelligence?

PSU Neuro Club: Gut-brain axis Review w/Dr. Robert Martindale!
2021-04-22 18:30 - 20:00
WHAT: Gut-brain axis Review with Dr. Robert Martindale
WHEN: Thursday, April 22nd at 6:30pm Pacific time
WHERE: Zoom Meeting ID (872 5609 7777); LINK
Dr. Robert Martindale is a Professor of Surgery and former Chief of General Surgery at OHSU. He specializes in surgical nutrition and surgical critical care, and will be joining the PSU Neuroscience Club for a second time. Dr. Martindale will discuss the gut-brain axis and how digestive health and brain health are interrelated!

Come join us – free!

Noggins @ Sunnyside PPS! (1)
2021-04-22 12:30 - 14:00
WHAT: NW Noggin @ Sunnyside Environmental School

WHERE: Google Meet link coming soon for Noggin volunteers!
WHEN:
1. Thursday, April 22, 12:30 – 2:00pm (Pacific)
2. Friday, April 23, 12:30 – 2:00pm (Pacific)
3. Thursday, April 29, 12:30 – 2:00pm (Pacific)
4. Friday, April 30, 12:30 – 2:00pm (Pacific)
We did it!

A crayon in Homer’s brain

We’re going back to school!

Portland Public Schools is on a “hybrid” schedule, and we’ll meet virtually with 4th graders at Sunnyside Environmental School for four days in April!

The first week (4/22 & 4/23) we’ll learn what kids already know and want to know about their brains, introduce ourselves, talk neuroscience research and discover how to make our own neurons and glia.

We’ll follow up week two (4/29 & 4/30) by sharing “found object” brain cells we make at home!

LEARN MORE: Pipe Cleaner and FOUND OBJECT Brain Cells!
Just dropped off two new 3D printed brains for 4th grade teachers Asa Gervich and Jeremy Thomas!

SEE WHAT WE DID AT SUNNYSIDE BEFORE COVID 🦠
What about the glia?

COMMITTED VOLUNTEERS
1. Bill Griesar, NW Noggin/PSU/OHSU
2. Jeff Leake, NW Noggin/PSU
3. Yuri Sugano, University of Chicago
4. Andrea Rano, PSU/NIH BUILD EXITO
5. Magda Armendariz Sullivan, PSU
6. Kass Fitzgerald, PSU
7. Alex Heinrich, PSU
8. Joanna DeMeyer, Oregon State University
9. Anna Traylor, PSU

CHECK OUT THESE STUDENT QUESTIONS!
Stanley: I want to know about all the nerves in the brain
How does the brain affect activities like running?
How does the brain know your likes, interests, etc.?
Rome: I want to know about memories and dreams
Emma: How do dreams work? What does it have to do with memories?
Arlo: I want to know about the thinking part of the brain
Julian: How big or small the laughter part of your brain is
Bea: How does the brain process what it wants to do, and how does it know whether it is a good thing to do
Nadia: What are the different parts of the brain?
Eva: I am curious about memories and thoughts. How do we remember things? When you are learning something new, how exactly is your brain involved in the learning? HOW DO WE LEARN?
Zander: How do brains sense when the body gets hurt?
Kellen: How do the body and the brain communicate? How do the brain and our muscles, bones, etc.?
Eva: I am wondering about guilt – the feeling of feeling bad about something you’ve done; how is the brain involved in that?
Ames: Why is our limbic system so “fast-acting”? How many nerves are in our brains?
Archie: How come sometimes you have control over your dreams, and other times you don’t? Why do our brains look like mush, yet they are so complicated?
Arlo: What part of your brain is used the most? Why do humans have nightmares vs dreams sometimes? Is it because of something we’ve seen, or do they just happen?
Bea: Why do we dream?

Dexter: Do people with epilepsy (like me) have more dreams than people who don’t? How fast do you think it takes for people to process their dreams? What do you know about helping kids with epilepsy and reading? Why did you start studying the brain in the first place? What is the strangest thing you’ve learned in your careers? I feel most of my seizures near my mouth and I wonder if different kinds of seizures happen in different parts of the brain.
Dylan: How many emotions can the brain help you make? How many neurons do you have?
Elsie: I just want to learn more about HOW the brain does its work.
Emma: What would my emotion be if I had two bad things happening at once? What is the first thing you ever learned about the brain?
Ericka: Why are brains pink? Why do they have so many grooves in them?
Julian: If you’re asleep, do both halves of the brain go asleep? In the middle of the night, do the halves switch?
Kiernan: How big, exactly, is my brain?
Marina: What happens to your brain, when it gets bruised? How does your brain decide if something tastes good?
Nadia: Are all of our ideas a bunch of existing things, put together?
Rome: When we have dreams – what makes us dream about certain things in particular? Is it all memory-based?
Seb: How big is the prefrontal cortex?
Sophie: I still don’t understand HOW a memory gets stored. Also, what decides if you like a certain taste or smell, or not?
Stanley: How much can your whole brain process in a day? When or why does our brain go on “autopilot”? What is the most helpful part of the brain?
Zander: How much smarter is a human from a dinosaur? How does a brain develop intelligence?

Society for Neuroscience Oregon / SWWA Annual Meeting
2021-04-15 08:50 - 19:30
WHAT: Society for Neuroscience Oregon / SW Washington Annual Meeting
A fantastic celebration of regional scientific research!

CHECK OUT THE PROGRAM: SFN OR-WA 2021 program
WHERE: Register for the *ONLINE* Chapter Meeting HERE
WHEN: Thursday, April 15, 8:50am – 7:30pm

The Oregon/Southwest Washington Chapter is the local group affiliated with the Society for Neuroscience. Our annual meeting in the spring brings together neuroscience students, postdoctoral scholars and faculty from across the state and region to share projects and network with colleagues.

Noggin poster

NW Noggin: Axons & Arpilleras – Addressing trauma and supporting community across disciplines and national boundaries
GRIESAR, W.S.* ** *** ****, LEAKE, J.* ** *** ARANEDA, C. ** *****
“No happiness or pain, no more forgetting”
― Gabriela Mistral

Science needs investment and diverse perspectives. Integrating arts in STEM (STEAM) encourages more people to get involved.
Nonprofit NW Noggin (nwnoggin.org) organizes undergraduates and graduates to collaborate, build community networks and inspire people about neuroscience and art. Volunteers benefit from work across disciplines and institutions, serve as “near peer” role models, gain skill explaining research, and think creatively about careers. We’ve met over 45,000 academic priority K-12 students, homeless youth, incarcerated youth and members of the public since 2012!

Extreme inequality defines the United States, with devastating brain, health and social consequences, as more people struggle to access food, water, education, public transit, healthcare and housing.
Concentrated wealth isolates those with extravagant resources from the broader community. Isolation is worsened by degrading rhetoric from political leaders and pundits who protect privileges, often by dehumanizing others.
Inequality can also lead to the violation of human rights, and violence.
Valparaíso, Chile, home to both a long history of neuroscience research and astonishing art traditions, is currently targeted by a repressive and authoritarian government, whose leader, billionaire Sebastian Piñera, has declared “war” (guerra) on those protesting injustice.

Noggin partnered with Chilean artist/educator Cecilia Araneda to teach how the art of “arpilleras,” the sewing of embroidery and patchwork to depict aspects of life, has helped many express traumatic experiences and contribute to the memory of significant national violations of human rights.
We participated in a public radio interview and displayed arpilleras and human brains at Street 14 Café during an “Art Walk” in Astoria, Oregon, and discussed neuroscience research on stress, trauma, memory, dehumanized perception, resilience and recovery.
We then presented and crafted our own arpilleras at p:ear, a critical community center for support of Portland Oregon youth who lack access to safe, stable housing, while answering questions about behavior and the brain. NW Noggin was p:ear’s Community Partner awardee in 2020.
Building excitement and awareness of discoveries, educational options and careers through arts-integrated outreach across institutional, international and generational lines trains new scientists to collaborate, engages more communities, and increases awareness and support for investment in brain research and the arts.
* Department of Psychology, Portland State University; ** NW Noggin (nwnoggin.org); *** Department of University Studies, Portland State University; **** Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health & Science University; ***** Colectivo Memoarte
Sewing Memories, & Brains

PSU Neuroscience Club poster

WATCH HERE: Navigating neuroscience education and outreach during COVID-19
See what our outreach participants have done with SfN in the past!

LEARN MORE: Noggin @ Society for Neuroscience
2021 Chapter Program
8:50 AM Welcome
Mini-symposium of the Gut Microbiome-Nervous System Axis
9:00 Insights into the enteric nervous system: perspectives from a gut stem cell biologist
Annie Zemper, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Biology, University of Oregon

9:30 Environmental challenges, the gut microbiome, and behavioral and cognitive measures in mouse models
Jacob Raber, Ph.D., Professor of Behavioral Neuroscience, OHSU
10:00 Microbial modulation of zebrafish behavior and brain development
Judith Eisen, Ph.D., Professor of Biology, University of Oregon
10:30 Emerging roles of gut microbiome in autism
Maude David, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Microbiology, Oregon State University
11:00 Role of the Gut Microbiome in Effects of Dominant Human Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP) Mutations on Behavioral and Cognitive Performance in Mice
Payel Kundu, Ph.D., OHSU

11:15 Lunch break and poster viewing
12:30 An eye on neurogenesis: Exploring how retinal progenitors transition from proliferation to differentiation in the developing zebrafish visual system
Kara Cerveny, Ph.D., Professor of Biology, Reed College
1:00 Comparing Response Times Between HSAN2 and Typical Participants
Chris Koch, Ph.D., George Fox University
1:15 A Non-Human Primate Model of Neonatal Encephalopathy to Evaluate Novel Translational Therapeutics
Meredith Kelleher, Ph.D., Oregon National Primate Research Center
1:30 Brain Volumetrics Across the Lifespan of the Rhesus Macaque
Steven Dash, Oregon National Primate Research Center

1:45 Centella asiatica and Withania somnifera improve resilience in a Drosophila melanogaster model of aging
Christine McClure, N.D., M.S., OHSU

2:00 Cannabidiol Vapor Inhalation Effects in Memory, Social Interaction, and Instrumental Behavior of Female Rats
Maria Rivera-Garcia, Ph.D., Dow Neurobiology Labs – Legacy Research Institute

2:15 Break and poster-viewing
2:45 Understanding functional architecture and neuromodulation of brain circuits using connectomic and novel imaging approaches
Tianyi Mao, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Vollum Institute, OHSU

3:15 Investigating the Role of Cell Migration Inducing and Hyaluronan Binding Protein (CEMIP) in Central Nervous System Disease
Alec Peters, Oregon National Primate Research Center

3:30 Expression and Distribution of Aquaporin-1 in Extremely Aged Rhesus Brain
Opal Stayer-Wilburn, Oregon National Primate Research Center

3:45 Ibuprofen induces differences in NMDA and AMPA receptor functions between males and females
Emily Sackinger, Oregon State University

4:00 Amyloidosis in the Prefrontal Cortex of Old Rhesus Macaques Resembles that of Humans, Showing Extracelluar Plaques and Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy
Gail Stonebarger, Oregon National Primate Research Center

POSTER SESSION Q&A
4:20 John Cook
4:25 Raey Gesese
4:30 Bill Griesar and Jeff Leake (video above)
4:35 Alex Speers
4:40 Abby H. Gligor
4:45 Forrest Fearington
4:50 Angela Gonzalez
4:55 Jonathan Anguiano
5:00 Mikah Brandes
5:05 Mae Rose
5:10 AJ Mitchell
5:15 Sarah Holden
5:20 Tua’au Laolagi
5:25 Alisha Steigerwald, PSU Neuro Club (video above)

5:30 Matthew R. Blake
5:35 Geoffrey A. Dunn
5:40 Karli Corey
5:45 Sree Yeturu
5:50 Teagan James
5:55 Noa Rayzman
6:15 KEYNOTE: How genes and bacteria shape the risk of neuroinflammatory disease: The example of Multiple Sclerosis
Sergio Baranzini, Ph.D., Professor of Neurology, UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences
7:15 Awards and closing

PSU Neuro Club: Exploring the Brain w/Susannah Cahalan!
2021-04-13 17:00 - 18:30
WHAT: Exploring the Brain with award-winning author Susannah Cahalan
Wonderful event!

WHEN: Tuesday, April 13th at 5:00pm
WHERE: Zoom Meeting ID (872 5609 7777)
Susannah Cahalan is an award-winning #1 New York Times bestselling author, journalist, and public speaker. Her 2012 memoir, Brain on Fire has sold over a million copies and was made into a Netflix original movie. Her second book, The Great Pretender, made an array of “Best-Of” lists and was shortlisted for the 2020 Royal Society’s Science Book Award.

This term, the PSU Neuroscience Club has the special privilege of hosting Susannah for our very own event! Susannah will be discussing both of her books, as well as answering student questions about the brain, the fields of Neurology/Psychiatry, and what it was like for her during her own journey with a disease that was like having her “brain on fire.”
Come join us – free!

NOGGINFEST 2021!!!
2021-03-20 18:00 - 20:30
WHAT: NOGGINFEST 2021!
WE DID IT!!
CHECK IT OUT AT THE LINK!!
NogginFest 2021: Threshold Potential!

WHEN: SATURDAY, MARCH 20, 6:00 – 8:30pm!

This is the largest student-run, accessible, public celebration of music, art and interdisciplinary neuroscience in the Pacific Northwest!
And it’s FREE!!

“I LOVE THIS!! It’s like old #WeirdPortland: there’s #music, #brains, #beer, everybody’s making #art & talking about #neuroscience!”

Discover research on psychedelics, the gut/brain axis and more! Hear amazing bands! Get blown away by incredible, innovative sciart!
REGISTER HERE
JOIN US: Noggin Fest 2021!
EXPLORE THE NOGGINFEST ART AUCTION!

Image by Danny Leister-Gray
NogginFest began in 2017 to showcase exciting research, awesome musicians and compelling, brain-related art. The legendary Fort George Brewery in Astoria donates the drinks, and we’ve held, intrigued and gained insight into brains with anyone curious about learning more!

ENHANCE YOUR NOGGIN:

*** SOLD OUT!
Check out sciart, raffle tickets and “glial gifts” to make your NogginFest experience even more extraordinary!

Raffle items include 3D printed brains! Pipe cleaner glia! Pipe cleaner neurons!

Through art sales, beer sales and generous donations, we’ve managed to send our informed and enthusiastic outreach volunteers from Portland State University and other area institutions to multiple Society for Neuroscience conferences to present on innovative, interdisciplinary community outreach…

LEARN MORE: Noggin @ the Society for Neuroscience

LEARN MORE: Nonprofit Noggins!

Brain Awareness Week!
2021-03-15 - 2021-03-21
LEARN MORE: Brain Awareness Week!
NW Noggin is honored to be a Brain Awareness Week partner of the Dana Foundation, a leading philanthropic organization that supports neuroscience research through grants, publications, and educational programs. We share their enthusiasm for genuine community outreach, and their commitment to educating everyone about the potential of research…

Listening, learning and making connections beyond the college green…
LEARN MORE: The Dana Foundation
LEARN MORE: Brain Awareness Week
THIS YEAR ENJOY NOGGINFEST!!!

LEARN MORE: JOIN US @ NOGGINFEST 2021

SAVE THE DATE: SATURDAY, MARCH 20, 6-8:30pm
REGISTER HERE
Get Your Glial Gift/Raffle ticket!
EXPLORE THE NOGGINFEST ART AUCTION!

Daylight Saving Time harms brains
2021-03-14
Finding it difficult to wake up after we ‘spring’ forward to Daylight Saving Time? Oregon has plans to end this biannual ritual. But if we lock the clock to Daylight Saving Time as Oregon hopes to, our problems will be far worse than just recovering from the jarring consequences of losing one hour of sleep. Instead, we’ll be doomed to losing sleep year-round and gaining weight in the process.
Science and history tell us this is a recipe for disaster.

LEARN MORE
Oregon wants to increase sleep deprivation and winter misery

PSU Neuro Club: Considering med school?
2021-03-03 18:30 - 20:00
WHAT: OHSU Medical School Panel
WHEN: Wednesday, March 3rd at 6:30pm
WHERE: Zoom ID- 862 6140 2069

Medical students from OHSU will be joining the PSU Neuroscience Club for a panel event where they discuss their paths in medicine! This will be a very interactive event, where students will have a chance to ask OHSU medical students any questions they have.

** CANCELED - PSU Neuro Club: NEUROSURGERY!
2021-02-25 18:30 - 20:00
WHAT: Neurosurgery with Dr. Kokkino
CANCELED (so sorry!) – regular club meeting tonight
WHEN: Thursday, February 25th at 6:30pm
WHERE: Zoom ID- 862 6140 2069

Dr. Kokkino, a neurosurgeon with a specialization in neurooncology and minimally invasive surgical techniques, will join the PSU Neuroscience Club for a fun event! Dr. Kokkino will present interesting neurosurgery cases, and will answer student questions!
LEARN MORE: What is brain surgery like?

Virtual Science Pub with Denesa Lockwood: Can You Smell Me Now?
2021-02-16 18:30 - 20:30
WHAT: Virtual Science Pub: Can You Smell Me Now? How COVID-19 Affects Our Sense of Smell and Taste with OHSU Behavioral Neuroscientist and Northwest Noggin Board member Dr. Denesa Lockwood!
WHERE: Virtual OMSI Science Pub – Facebook Live & YouTube; REGISTER HERE
WHEN: FEB 16, 2021 | Virtual Edition | 6:30-8:30PM

Currently touted as one of the more noticeable symptoms of COVID-19 infection, lack of smell has also been associated with many other conditions and can severely impact the sufferer. How does this condition arise, especially with a virus that seems to mostly impact the respiratory system? In this talk, neuroscientist Denesa Lockwood will explore how the senses of smell and taste are intertwined with the brain and review current scientific findings on how and why the coronaviruses affect olfactory neurons.

Denesa Lockwood, Ph.D. is a behavioral neuroscientist, studying behavior and the underlying neural mechanisms by which behavior arises. She graduated from Western Oregon University and then completed her graduate work at Florida State University, with a dissertation focused on conditioned taste aversion. She currently studies the genetic underpinnings of alcohol addiction, but remains interested in learning and memory, including sensory memories.
When she’s not getting mice drunk in the lab, Denesa stays busy wrangling three children, two dogs, and a constantly varying number of fish. She has been an active volunteer and voice for broader science dissemination into the community, heading up the March for Science efforts here in Portland for several years running. She also is a board member of the non-profit educational outreach group NW NOGGIN, where she has volunteered across the country teaching students of all ages about the basics of neuroscience, and she recently (2019) received the Sigma Xi Outstanding Supporter of Research award.
