Where is NW Noggin?
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.
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NW Noggin: Art + Brains
Let the children lead
Observing Art & Brains @ SfN
How many neurons in a dinosaur brain?
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 brain research, make art (including arpilleras, woven depictions of events 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: Arte y Cerebros en Chile LEARN MORE: ARTS & BRAINS IN CHILE
Do You Wake Up Tired?
Post by Meaghan Creech, undergraduate in Public Health: Pre-Clinical Health Sciences pursuing a Neuroscience Minor at Portland State University. Meaghan is currently in the last term of their NIH-funded PSU URISE Cohort 2 placement in Nicole Bowles Lab within the Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences at Oregon Health and…
The Art and Neuroscience of Narrative
About the art and neuroscience of narrative by artist Jeff Leake Bill Griesar and I kicked off the month of February with a discussion of brains and storytelling to open my show “New Mythologies” at the Corrine Woodman Gallery at the Art Center in Corvallis. We also discussed many of…
Brains Love Animals
Post (and illustrations!) by Elizabeth DeGraw, an undergraduate Psychology major pursuing a minor in Interdisciplinary Neuroscience at Portland State University. Discovering my topic, animals saved the day As I was trying to think of a good topic to write about for this post, I was hoping to land on an…
How fast can you go?
Post by Diego Sanchez, an undergraduate pre-Physician’s Assistant in Psychology pursuing an Interdisciplinary Neuroscience minor at Portland State University. There are many activities that I enjoy doing when I have the time. I like to travel, go to the beach, watch a movie with the family, and so forth. Two…
Brain Cells Dance
Noggin drama! This spring we traveled to Oregon’s spectacular North Coast for a few days of theater and school visits, to explore the cellular actors that populate our brains. We are indebted to TRIO Clatsop and the tireless work of Meredith Payton, who once again helped organize housing and meals…
Without my amygdala, would I get scared?
On a sunny, flowering, pollen-dense spring day, eighteen Noggin volunteers from Portland State University happily converged on Sunnyside Environmental School in southeast Portland. The school was bursting with activity, as students, teachers and staff were readying plants for a sale, while we carried in our pipe cleaner astrocytes, cerebellar granule…
Noggin Brings Brains, Volunteers, Coffee and Pizza to Brain Fair 2024
We love BRAIN FAIR! What do we love about the annual Brain Fair at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry? It’s FREE! Brain Fair is FREE, which is – unfortunately – not a typical OMSI experience. If you want to visit the rest of Portland’s premier science institution with…
From External to Internal
Trading Darkroom Photography for Brain Imaging Post by Amanda Jones, undergraduate in Psychology and Social Science pursuing an Interdisciplinary Neuroscience minor at Portland State University. Amanda currently volunteers for the NCANDA-A study in the Developmental Brain Imaging Lab (DBIL) at Oregon Health and Science University. For as long as I can remember, cameras have always…
My Pathway to Research
Post by Connie Tran, undergraduate in Biology pursuing an Interdisciplinary Neuroscience minor at Portland State University. Connie is a research assistant in Dr. Martin Schreiber‘s lab in the Donald D. Trunkey Center for Civilian and Combat Casualty Care at OHSU. Connie Tran at her research poster during the PSU BUILD EXITO Summer Research Symposium…
What Happens to a Young Brain on Opioids?
Post by Becky Martinez, undergraduate in Psychology pursuing a minor in Interdisciplinary Neuroscience at Portland State University. Becky is currently an undergraduate research assistant at the Advancing Research in Pediatric Pain (ARPP) Lab at Oregon Health and Sciences University. Time for a story! When 14-year-old Ralphie is playing football, he…
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?.