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
Autonomic Function @ Franklin
Observing Art & Brains @ SfN
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
Pipe Cleaners, Gel Prints, Electrodes & Brains!
We were thrilled to return to one of the nation’s largest Brain Fairs on Saturday, to kick off Brain Awareness Week with piles of pipe cleaners, jars of block printing ink, numerous sketch pads, electrodes, Mindflex Duels, “spiker” boxes, real formalin-fixed cerebrums – and almost 30 enthusiastic Noggin volunteers! LEARN MORE: Brain…
Byrom Brains!
NW Noggin visited Edward Byrom Elementary School out in Tualatin this week. We came with an enthusiastic group of volunteer educators, including Sulema Rodriguez, Jessica Patching-Bunch, Aliese Poole, and Andrea Anaya from Psychology at Portland State University, and Kim Engeln, Christina Williams and Dr. Dale Fortin from Neuroscience at OHSU!…
Noggin Printing @ P:ear
We spent our last “Noggin Tuesday” (for this month anyway – we plan to return!) enjoying substantive, absorbing and engaging conversations with the exceptional young people at P:ear, an innovative program that builds positive relationships with homeless and transitional youth through education, art and recreation… DO MORE: Donate to P:ear While…
NW Noggin: Interview with the Dana Foundation!
NW Noggin is honored to be a Brain Awareness Week partner of the Dana Foundation, a leading philanthropic organization that supports brain research through grants, publications, and educational programs. We share their enthusiasm for active outreach, and their commitment to educating the public about the potential of research… LEARN MORE: The Dana Foundation LEARN MORE: Brain Awareness Week…
Gardening Glia @ Gardner
We brought a crowd of eager volunteers – along with art supplies, including plants, grasses and vibrant mosses from local gardens – to the STEAM-focused Gardner School of Arts and Sciences, in a bucolic neighborhood of Salmon Creek, Washington… LEARN MORE: From STEM to STEAM: Science and Art Go Hand-in-Hand Sulema Rodriguez and…
Making a human @ P:ear
“Electricity is really just organized lightning” – George Carlin Today at P:ear was all about orderly currents – the flow of salty action potentials along biological networks of synaptically linked neurons in the human brain! Brittany Alperin, a graduate student in Behavioral Neuroscience at OHSU, brought along some educational (and also fashionable!) EEG…
#brains2DC!
Want to see brains return to Washington? NW Noggin is planning our return to the Capitol this fall, and to students in DC area public schools! UPDATE: See our newest plans for Noggins in DC! NW Noggins Bring #brains2DC! SEE WHAT WE DID LAST YEAR: STEAMing to DC! The annual Society…
Marijuana legalization means fewer opioid deaths
The Trump administration’s first White House Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, warned of “greater enforcement” of federal marijuana laws, noting that “when you see something like the opioid addiction crisis blossoming in so many states around this country, the last thing we should be doing is encouraging people.” However, marijuana is not Vicodin,…
Benefits + limits of neurons @ P:ear
Electromagnetic radiation surrounds us, suffuses us, and is absorbed, reflected and emitted by stuff in our environment. It can be described as a spectrum of waves of varying frequencies, from the long waves (low frequencies) associated with radio transmission to the ultra-high frequencies of gamma rays… Some of this radiation bounces off objects, including…
Neurons for the people!
Support science 🔬! WHAT: An evening of science and art making; learn about brain cells and create your own! WHEN: WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29 (6 – 8pm) WHERE: Velo Cult, 1969 NE 42nd Avenue, Portland, OR 97213 NW Noggin Velo Cult events are always free, all ages, and open to everyone! PRINT…
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?.