Students invited to learn more about neuroscience in Brain Bee

How do you get people more interested in how the brain works? The Society for Neuroscience and the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives does it by tapping into the curiosity of young people.

Since 1996 Brain Awareness week has been a joint effort of the two organizations. Across the country public lectures, neuroscience laboratory tours and various projects designed to engage students in learning about neuroscience.

Another aspect of Brain Awareness Week is the finals of Brain Bee, an opportunity for high school students to compete in a test of their knowledge of the brain. Through questions and answers they show what they know on such as intelligence, emotions, memory, sleep, vision, hearing, sensations, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, stroke, schizophrenia, epilepsy, depression, addictions, brain research and more. Championship competitions may involve working in a laboratory with real human brains.

The fourth annual Southwest Michigan will compete for a chance to travel to Baltimore for the national competition.

The local competition will be at 10 a.m. Feb. 22. Registration is at 9:30 a.m. at Wood Hall on WMU's campus. The event is organized and co-hosted by faculty and graduate students of the WMU departments of Psychology and Biological Sciences.

Following the brain competition, the WMU neuroscience labs personnel will conduct tours and offer some hands-on neuroanatomy demonstrations for the participants.

Registration is here. The official study material for the Brain Bee is a book titled, "Brain  Facts," which can be downloaded for free at here.

Source: Deanne Puca, Western Michigan University