Where is NW Noggin?
Our innovative graduate and undergraduate art and neuroscience volunteers are Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) Juice award-winning developing experts in science communication, synapsing for science, and teaching in schools, theaters, museums, urban and rural communities, homeless youth centers, breweries, correctional facilities, Congress and bike shop pubs! For more information see NOGGIN BLOGGIN.NW Noggin is a locally sourced, 501(c)(3) ALL-VOLUNTEER shoestring nonprofit organization. Your tax-deductible contribution supports the purchase of sheep brains, pipe cleaners, electrodes and clay for innovative, arts-integrated outreach, and helps send volunteers from local universities (including Portland State University, OHSU, and other area institutions) to public school classrooms, conferences and free community events.
DONATE HERE!
LEARN MORE: Community Neuroscience: How to Build an Outreach Organization
NW Noggin: Art + Brains
EPSPs & Entropy!
Making our own boxes, and brains!
Join us in Chile in *2027*!
In 2027 we'll return to Valparaíso, Chile, home of the Humboldt squid! 🦑⚡️🧠🎨😃 Just like in 2025, and 2023, we'll explore how neurons carry information, and how research in Chile (involving the squid’s giant fused axons) informed our understanding of the electrical signaling that links our experiences to the world. We’ll visit laboratories to examine the rich history and exciting present of research at the Universidad de Chile en Valparaíso, make art (including arpilleras, woven depictions of experience that help people express challenging memories and preserve them for accountability), and contribute to community engagement with Ciencia al Tiro, a local STEAM (STEM + Arts) outreach nonprofit.
LEARN MORE: LAS NEURONAS SON BACANES. LEARN MORE: Valparaiso - Arte y Cerebros en Chile LEARN MORE: ARTS AND BRAINS IN CHILE
What is it like to volunteer in an ADHD lab?
By Noah Trantel, undergraduate in Psychology, Portland State University For the past nine months, I have had the opportunity to volunteer at Oregon Health & Science University, in Joel Nigg’s lab, which focuses on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (or ADHD). ADHD is a commonly diagnosed neurological condition in adolescents, characterized by…
PSU, Noggin, OMSI & Brains!
Post by Sai Kiersarsky, Portland State University Neuroscience Club Would the world be a better place if people had a better understanding of the working of their own brains, and how their brains interacted with the world, including other peoples’ brains? What would the world be like if people had…
Make + Think + Code
Making things, responding to what’s in front of you, thinking about your options, steps and consequences, and turning evolving ideas and data into instructions, illustrative stories and code for our rapidly progressing technologies are critical skills for teaching, research, science and art… “I do not think there is any thrill…
Rosehip neurons in pipe cleaners!
An August 2018 paper in Nature Neuroscience reports the discovery of a new subtype of human cortical neuron with distinctive rose hip-shaped axon terminals… LEARN MORE: Transcriptomic and morphophysiological evidence for a specialized human cortical GABAergic cell type LEARN MORE: MEET THE ROSE HIP CELL, A NEW KIND OF NEURON This cell…
The Trickster in Bone
We’re excited to continue our collaboration with Grande Ronde and Siletz tribal communities, and bring art and neuroscience outreach participants to Oregon’s Lincoln and Yamhill counties in October for a Spirit Mountain Community Fund supported effort to explore tantalizing connections between tales and brains with K-12 students, teachers, artists, storytellers…
Aloha Potential!
Post and pictures by Aaron Eisen, PSU Neuroscience Club Aloha! The spirit of NW NOGGIN has traveled thousands of miles to the beautiful State of Hawaii. We are growing in networks, just like neurons! We had the honor of being invited to Waikiki Elementary School to bring art (4000 pipe cleaners!!)…
Dancing, Parkinson’s & Mistakes
“Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them.” –Bruce Lee We arrived at Velo Cult, by far our favorite bike shop pub, for our penultimate public presentation in this venerable community institution. More outreach is on the way, but sadly Velo has closed after the City…
Correctional Connections
Post by Jordan Ray, Portland State University “Even the knowledge of my own fallibility cannot keep me from making mistakes. Only when I fall do I get up again.” –Vincent Van Gogh This week we drove south to the Willamette Valley city of Woodburn, Oregon, where the annual Fiesta Mexicana was…
Meet your brain cells!
Post by volunteer Ashley Keates, Portland State University As a recent graduate in Psychology from Portland State University, I’m committed to our school’s motto, “Let Knowledge Serve the City.” As an undergraduate volunteer with NW Noggin, I’ve made pipe cleaner neurons in urban K-12 classrooms, introduced real human brains while cradling…
Imagination, Stories & Brains
Post by Jacob Schoen, OHSU Oregon National Primate Research Center “Man was the storytelling animal, the only creature on earth that told itself stories to understand what kind of creature it was. The story was his birthright, and nobody could take it away.” –Salman Rushdie Only humans..? One message that…
What is outreach like?
“I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands. You need to be able to throw something back.” ―Maya Angelou
Our Northwest Noggin undergraduate and graduate outreach volunteers are enthusiastic and informed, and regularly let knowledge serve by going places, making art, exploring brain research, sharing stories and listening to community questions and interests in urban and rural K-12 public schools, coffee shops, museums, correctional facilities, houseless youth nonprofits, research conferences, Congress and more! LEARN MORE @ What is outreach like?.