Brain Awareness Week

MARCH 19th  

Did you know tomorrow’s United States National Brain Bee competition will take place right here in Baltimore?  In order to compete in the US National Championship, a student must win one of the Local Brain Bees. Students may only compete in one Local Bee per year.

The International Brain Bee is a not-for-profit neuroscience competition for high school students. Directed by founder Dr. Norbert Myslinski of the University of Maryland, the Brain Bee is an attempt to motivate students to learn about the brain, to capture their imaginations, and to inspire them to pursue careers in biomedical brain research. There are currently about 70 Local Brain Bee coordinators worldwide that conduct competitions annually. The winner of each Local Bee is invited to attend a National Brain Bee competition in his or her own country, and the winner of each National Bee is invited to compete in the International Brain Bee Championship.  Most local coordinators are neuroscientists at universities. Others are teachers and administrators from high schools, museums, and industry who are interested in science education and community outreach.

Questions for tomorrow’s competition will be taken from the British Neuroscience Association's publication Neuroscience: the Science of the Brain.  The US National Champion will receive $1,500, a paid summer internship with an esteemed neuroscientist, and a trip for two to the International Brain Bee Championship in Toronto, Canada in August. In addition, the school of the USA winner will receive a microscope from Carl Zeiss, Inc. The second place finisher will receive $1,000, and the third place finisher will receive $500.

According to Dr. Myslinski, "The International Brain Bee motivates our youth to learn more about the brain... We need their energy and their passion to help find cures for Autism, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury and other brain disorders."

For more information about the Brain Bee competitions, visit:  http://www.internationalbrainbee.com

Congratulations to our Local Brain Bee 2009 Winners!
First Place: Sarah Belk, Mount de Sales Academy
Second Place: Carolina Paul, Mount de Sales Academy
Third Place: Zac Tchopev, Dulaney High School

BRAIN BYTE:  Did you know?
It is not possible to tickle yourself.
The cerebellum, a part of the brain, warns the rest of the brain that you are about to tickle yourself. Since your brain knows this, it ignores the resulting sensation.

NEED MORE NEUROSCIECE?
Learning, Arts, and the Brain:  The Dana Consortium Report on Arts and Cognition

Learning, Arts, and the Brain, a study three years in the making, is the result of research by cognitive neuroscientists from seven leading universities across the United States. In the Dana Consortium study, released in March 2008, researchers grappled with a fundamental question: Are smart people drawn to the arts or does arts training make people smarter?  For the first time, coordinated, multi-university scientific research brings us closer to answering that question.  Learning, Arts, and the Brain advances our understanding of the effects of music, dance, and drama education on other types of learning. Children motivated in the arts develop attention skills and strategies for memory retrieval that also apply to other subject areas.

The research was led by Dr. Michael S. Gazzaniga of the University of California at Santa Barbara. “A life-affirming dimension is opening up in neuroscience,” said Dr. Gazzaniga, “to discover how the performance and appreciation of the arts enlarge cognitive capacities will be a long step forward in learning how better to learn and more enjoyably and productively to live.  The consortium’s new findings and conceptual advances have clarified what now needs to be done.”

Michael Gazzaniga, Ph.D., is the Director of the Sage Center for the study of Mind at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has made important advances in our understanding of functional lateralization in the brain and how the cerebral hemispheres communicate with one another. He has published many books:  The Social Brain, Mind Matters, Nature’s Mind, and The Ethical Brain. These, along with his participation in several public television specials have been instrumental in making information about brain function generally accessible to the public. His upcoming book is Human: The Science Behind What Makes Us Unique.

Learning, Arts, and the Brain is available free by written request on institutional letterhead. Please make certain your request contains a complete telephone number-including area code-and a full street address. (Cannot ship to P.O. Boxes). Requests should be mailed or faxed to:

Johanna Goldberg
Dana Foundation
745 Fifth Avenue, Suite 900
New York, NY 10151
Fax: (212) 317-8721

NEUROSCIENCE FOR KIDS

Need more brainteasers?  Visit:  http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/braint.htm

Do you have what it takes to be America's Top Young Scientist?   Discovery Education and 3M are looking for a few great students to inspire with their enthusiasm for science.   Create a short (1-2 min.) video about one of this year's scientific topics and YOU could win a trip to New York City to compete in the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge finals.

Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge is the premier national science competition for students in grades 5 through 8. The Young Scientist Challenge is designed to encourage the exploration of science and innovation among America's youth and to promote the importance of science communication. In 1999, Discovery Communications launched the competition to nurture the next generation of American scientists at a critical age when interest in science begins to decline. In 2008 3M joined forces with Discovery Education in a quest to nurture the next generation of American scientists with an innovative and interactive science program open to every middle school student in America. Over the last ten years, more than 600,000 middle school students have been nominated to participate in the competition, and winners have gone on to speak in front of members of Congress, work with the nation's top scientists, and pursue academic careers in the sciences.

In order to enter, students must be in grades 5 through 8, and must submit a video entry online by May 20, 2009:   www.youngscientistchallenge.com/registrations/index.cfm.

The Awarded “America’s Top Young Scientist” will receive a $50,000 in U.S. Savings Bonds (Cash value $25K), in addition to other featured prizes!