Tag: brain

@OHBMEquinox: Neuroimaging conferencing on Science Twitter?

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Hanging out & just rotating around the sun. Recently I was reflecting on how long I have personally stood on our Earth as it made it’s daily rotations on it’s orbit around the sun. I came to the conclusion that I have been around the sun too many times than what I would like to actually admit to here… I also reflected on the number of friends & scientific contacts that I have enjoyed making over the course of these many rotations around the sun. I also did not want to particularly contemplate how much ionizing radiation I had subjected my body to in flying around to many locations in the world for well over 3 decades.

Using technology wisely to increase productivity? I have been resorting to using technology more & more – to regularly meet with collaborators across oceans, as well as give lectures to my students when I am either traveling, or when I am unwell. [ This is a great option when you do not wish to infect the rest of your building with bubonic plague. šŸ™‚ Let’s be mindful & not spread the infection to others…] These virtual meetings have been great – lot’s of time saved not travelling. No jet lag either.

Taking the next step with technology. So, this makes me ask the question: if we can use technology to meet with friends, family & colleagues to discuss things, why can’t we organize scientific activities such as conferences using different virtual formats? Does this mean I am advocating that we all sit at our desks & watch video feeds of talking heads? No. Not at all. That would be awful.

We need to think about different ways to interact & present our science – ways which excite & engage our colleagues! I have had the pleasure of being involved with Science Twitter for about 5 years now. What a wonderful thing this has been! I have learned so many cool new things about neuroimaging – including getting new papers/preprints of fascinating new work by colleagues whose work I respect. I have also met so many people, made lots of new contacts. Amazing, when I have gone to scientific meetings e.g. Organization for Human Brain Mapping [OHBM] I have run into folks whose Tweets I have been reading & vice-versa. What a great way to make contact with those that you do not know! I have been able to invite folks out to IU to give talks & have also gone out to visit others & talk at their institutions, after meeting them on Twitter. How cool is that?

An OHBM Science Experiment. For the last 3 years the very capable young neuroscientists based at Aalto University in Helsinki have run a Brain Twitter Conference – with key note Tweeters & regular Tweeters. It has run for a day & has been a lot of fun – see previous conference abstracts/program from 2019 etc. here:Ā  http://braintc.aalto.fi/2019/

This year we all decided to embark on a crazy experiment during the Equinox as our Earth takes a daily rotation around the sun – over a 24 hour period. It will be the Spring Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere, Autumnal Equinox in the Southern Hemisphere. Everywhere there will be an equal balance between the number of hours of day & night. Cool to contemplate, no? So as our Earth rotates around on this particular day – March 2020, we are going to devote it to neuroimaging/neuroscience! The new day dawns in Australasia first – so our Aussie hub – led by the inimitable @DrBreaky [a.k.a. Michael Breakspear] will start us on our journey. As the Earth turns during the day, we will turn to Europe/Africa/Middle East & to our Finnish hub – led by one of the architects of BrainTwitter conference @eglerean [a.k.a. Enrico Glerean] & the very capable & experienced team in Helsinki. Further on as the day nears its end we will be looked after by the experienced & seasoned US hub – led by the indefatigable @dimitrpantazisĀ  &[a.k.a. Dimitrios Pantazis] in Boston. [Just as well – since his team will be closing out the day for us…] So as the Earth turns, we turn to 3 hubs who will co-ordinate our neuroimaging activities!

Where to get more information? Check out: OHBMx.org & submit an abstract soon! And check out @OHBMEquinox on Twitter. I will write another post with updates on the activities soon…

PuceLab couch surfers
Matt Winter & Kami @salibayeva breaking in the PuceLab couch for Brain Twitter conference.

Meanwhile, our lab is ready for this: new couch/coffee table in the lab where we will be able to hang out & enjoy the fun on the Equinox – March 20! Note that this is also co-incides with Brain Awareness Week in many parts of the world – so consider including @OHBMEquinox #OHBMx in your activities on that Friday!

Even the creatures in Indiana are going nuts about this…

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…don’t miss out. @aina_puce

 

 

 

 

 

Interacting with pint-sized scientists

Over social media a number of us have been discussing our Skype-based interactions with schoolchildren either via the mainly USA-based ‘Skype a Scientist’ program [https://www.skypeascientist.com/ & see @SkypeScientist on Twitter] or via a new program in Finland [#ScientistsInSchool & see tweets by @aivoAALTO @AnnikaHulten & @eglerean at Aalto University]. Spending an hour with a bunch of schoolchildren [for me it has been 5th graders] is really a tremendous amount of fun. They ask lots of penetrating questions about your career & motivation, as well as doing science.

Last year when I Skyped for the first time with a science class, here were some of questions that I got:

  1. How long have you been a neuroscientist?
  2. What made you want to study neuroscience?
  3. What types of degrees/educational programs did you have to earn to become a neuroscientist?
  4. Do you think it was more difficult to become a scientist as a female than it would have been if you were a male? Were there many other females in your classes?
  5. I read that you are a photographer. Can you tell me more about your photography?
  6. Who is your favorite famous Scientist? why?
  7. What was your favorite book as a child? Why?
  8. Which emoji is your favorite? Why?
  9. Did you see the movie ā€œInside Outā€? If yes, do you feel it was an accurate representation of emotions/expressions/micro expressions?

Pretty cool huh? A lot of questions were centered around my scientific background & education. This year there were similar questions in addition to those asking about specific aspects of science. This year I did not get the questions ahead of time & had to do it ‘cold turkey’ & it was a lot of fun!

Given that a lot of people are trying to do this & are doing this by themselves, I thought that it might be nice to share some resources [e.g. you tube videos, popular science articles in magazines & newspapers etc. that have been written in language that those who are not trained in science can understand]. So, I thought that I would start the ball rolling by sharing some things that I have shared that have worked well.Ā Here are some resources I have found that have been useful to share:

A. Here is a great teaching tool from brainfacts.org on brain anatomy. It has pull down menus that allow you to select different anatomical features in the brain ā€“ you can start at the lobes & go more detailedā€¦ have a play & see what you think. This is a new tool ā€“ have not seen this one previously.

You can spin the brain around to the view you want. Start by looking at the pull down button in the top left corner of the website ā€˜Choose a Structureā€™ā€¦.

B. Materials on brain injuries:
B1. Patient HM ā€“ the man who cannot learn or remember new information, things or people. Here is a video &Ā a New York Times article on him.Ā After HM died in 2008Ā  & his brain was taken out of his body & flown to San Diego, it was sliced in frozen sections as this article & video cam footage shows.[Finally the paper of the work was published in 2014 in Nature Communications by Annese et alā€¦]

At the time of writing, one of the scientists who was the first to test his memory function in the late 1950s, Brenda MilnerĀ  [from the Montreal Neurological Institute] is still alive & just celebrated her 100th birthday. Incredibly, she still works at the Institute & teaches(!) & there was just recently a huge celebration for her birthday! See this video with her being interviewed.

B2. Patient SM ā€“ the lady who cannot recognize or feel fear [first described by Adolphs et al in a paper in Nature in 2005]. Here is a Discover magazine article on her.

B3. Phineas Gage ā€“ the railway foreman working in Vermont in the 19th century with a workplace accident with gunpowder with an iron rod passing through his brainā€¦ here is a video on his case. [There is also the 2012 paper by Van Horn et al in PLoS One where they looked at his skull & attempted to reconstruct the likely brain damage to grey & white matter pathways that Gage sustained.]

B4. Language & the brain. Patient ‘Tan’ of French neurologist called Paul Broca in 19th century. This patient could only utter one syllable ā€˜tanā€™ after a stroke. See this article.

In the mid-20th century language lateralization was studied in patients ā€“ people with epilepsy etc. These people were tested ahead of their seizure surgery [to ensure that they did not create another patient HMā€¦]. So here is a classic video of Dr Wada, the neurosurgeon who pioneered the test that still bears his name.

Additionally, if people want to leave comments with link to other resources that would be great – it would be convenient to access… I will continue to add other resources to this blogpost as I find them.