The roses (and dendrites!) were blooming this week in Milwaukie, Oregon, south of Portland but synapsed to the city by the orange line MAX… We arrived at Ardenwald Elementary in North Clackamas Public Schools, signed in and began taping a vibrant brain map to the carpeted floor of Sarah Power’s second grade classroom… We’d gathered another sizable crowd…
On a dry and splendid spring afternoon, fifteen enthusiastic Noggin volunteers headed east for our second “synaptic community connection” in the inland Pacific Northwest… We’d made terrific connections with schools in Davenport, Washington during Brain Awareness Week in March, and were subsequently approached by the Northeast Oregon Area Health Education Center (NEOAHEC) in La Grande to answer…
Scientists, post-docs, graduate students, a healthy contingent of bicycling undergraduates from Portland State University, a high school student, and one brain-savvy artist arrived at McMenamin’s Edgefield in Troutdale last week to attend the annual Society for Neuroscience Oregon & Southwest Washington Chapter meeting, and share posters, talks and research… As it’s Bike Challenge month at both…
The Society for Neuroscience‘s 47th annual meeting, Neuroscience 2017, is the world’s largest neuroscience conference for scientists and physicians devoted to understanding the brain and nervous system. The conference is scheduled for November 11-15 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. Join more than 30,000 colleagues from more than 80 countries at the…
Our noggins are no strangers to sunrise, as teenagers are often expected to appear for classes that begin at 8:00am or earlier, despite research evidence suggesting brain benefits from a later start to school… LEARN MORE: Sleep in Adolescents: The Perfect Storm LEARN MORE: Noggins in Nod: The science of sleep…
Spring is a notoriously stormy and changeable season in the Pacific Northwest, yet despite the occasional downpour, we added a sizable Noggin contingent to Portland’s impressively thronged March for Science on Saturday (Earth Day) to support continued public investment in scientific research, along with arts-integrated STEM outreach and education… Our waterproof volunteers included…
From Breakfast on through all the day At home among my friends I stay, But every night I go abroad Afar into the land of Nod – Robert Louis Stevenson Our volunteers get more questions about sleep and dreams than almost any other topic. Adolescents, often beset by anxiety and…
Touch is just one of Aristotle’s original “five senses,” but it involves much more than gentle pressure perceived when holding an apple, or tapping a screen. Our “somatosensation” (sensation from the body) encompasses many specific impressions – heat, cold, hair deflection, poke – each dependent on a specific neuronal “micro-machine.” It is also utterly…
“A good place to start in neuroscience is learning the basics of what you have in your own head, then ask questions, and keep asking.” -Jacob Schoen, PSU/NW Noggin How have you connected personally with students through your volunteer work?” There was this one high schooler, we’ll call him Paul. He…
What is a psychopath? What drives a Ted Bundy, or a Diane Downs, to be so cold blooded – and to lie, manipulate, and commit horrific crimes without experiencing remorse? Do the brains of psychopaths differ? Can we identify changes in specific brain regions that might predict or diagnose this condition? How should efforts to understand the biological basis…