Week’s activities urge awareness of your brain

Neuroscience faculty, students and staff will celebrate Brain Awareness Week, March 22- 28, with public lectures, tours of research laboratories and demonstrations in local schools.

“The Society for Neuroscience and the UW–Madison Center for Neuroscience have designated Brain Awareness Week as a special time for researchers who are trying to unlock the mysteries of the brain to reach out to the public and talk about their endeavors,” says UW Medical School professor of physiology Meyer Jackson, Brain Awareness Week organizer for 1998. “During the week, scientists here will pause from their activities to discuss their research, demonstrate their experimental methods, answer questions, and teach people how research can affect their lives.”

The following public lectures will be presented:

• “Hearing and Hearing Impairment: Order and Disorder in the Ear and Brain,” by professor of neurophysiology John Brugge, March 23, 7 p.m., Ziemann Suite, Waisman Center. (The lecture will also be presented in American Sign Language.)
• “Epilepsy: Brain Storms and Their Control,” by associate professor of neurology Paul Rutecki, March 24, 7 p.m., Ziemann Suite, Waisman Center.
• “How the Brain Works,” by professor of animal health and veterinary science Mary Behan, March 25, 7 p.m., Ziemann Suite, Waisman Center.
• “Nature, Nurture, Brains and Behavior: How our Genetics and Environment Influence our Intellect,” by associate professor of neurology and pediatrics Kenneth Mack, March 26, 7 p.m., room 114, Waisman Center.

On March 28, several researchers will open their laboratories in the Medical Science Center, beginning at 1 p.m., for displays of computer simulations, human brain anatomy and neural imaging microscopes. Signs will be posted in the building to direct visitors.

At 4 p.m. the final public lecture of the week will be presented in the Medical Science Center, room 227. M. Deric Bownds, professor of molecular biology, will discuss “Human Minds/Animal Minds: How the Brain Evolved.”

Throughout the week, UW–Madison graduate and undergraduate students involved in the Neuroscience Training Program will visit local elementary schools to discuss topics such as development of the nervous system and the neural basis for addiction and to present demonstrations on the human brain. For more information, call Heather Daniels at the Center for Neuroscience, 262-4932 or visit the neuroscience Web site. Free public parking will be available during the week at the Waisman Center parking lot and on Saturday in Lot 20, just west of the Medical Science Center.