AV俱乐部

鈥淚t鈥檚 squishy, squirmy,鈥� he declares as his finger makes the brain jiggle. Made of peach-flavored Jello, condensed milk and food colouring, the brain looks like cheese macaroni that鈥檚 been left at the back of the stove for a few days. The boy then knocks on his own brain: one, two, three.听 鈥淚t鈥檚 a good thing we鈥檝e got our skulls.鈥�

鈥淵es,鈥� agrees Amanda Green, a AV俱乐部 PhD student. She gives the听wobbly brain a poke, too. 鈥淚t鈥檚 soft and pliant, isn鈥檛 it? We need our hard skulls to protect our brains.鈥�

听

听

Throughout March Break, about 30 members of the Students in Neuroscience Society have taking shifts at the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History. Tying into the museum鈥檚 theme of Arctic Adventure, the graduate students are talking to kids about 鈥渃ool brains鈥� 鈥� the brains of hibernating animals 鈥� to discuss how听creatures such as squirrels, bears, frogs听and bats survive when their body temperature drops and for long periods without food. The students come from a range of disciplines, from physiology to pharmacology and biophysics.

How hibernating creatures induce and survive in a near-death state 鈥� known as torpor 鈥� has long fascinated scientists. In particular, researchers looking at ways of treating strokes in humans are interested in how the brains of听these animals endure the rigors of hibernation without, as master鈥檚 student Michelle Black puts it, 鈥渢urning into mush.鈥�

Other brainy activities: Lecture: 鈥楤rain Repair, Neurogenesis and Parkinson's Disease:听 A Roadmap for the Future of Treatment鈥� Dr. Harold Robertson, Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, AV俱乐部 Friday, March 14, 3:30 to 4:30 p.m., Room 4263, Life Sciences Centre. Hosted by Society for Neuroscience 听 Social including the screening of films from the 鈥楤rains on Film鈥� contest (coordinated by the Undergraduate Neuroscience Society at AV俱乐部) Friday, March 14, 2008; 4:30听to 6 p.m., first floor lounge, Department of Psychology, Life Sciences Centre Hosted by Neuroscience Institute, AV俱乐部

鈥淲hen you have a stroke, reduced oxygen and blood flow leads to brain damage,鈥� adds Rahia Mashoodh, a master鈥檚 student in psychology and neuroscience. 鈥淚f you could somehow mimic the hibernating brain, you could protect the brain from further damage.鈥�

Strokes produce waves of brain cell destruction. The halting of the blood flow stems the brain's supply of oxygen and glucose, immediately slaying a core group of cells. Even after blood flow resumes, additional groups of nearby cells continue to succumb to the stressful event.

Kids get into grey matter: fascinated by what听brains look like and how they work. At the museum, they can take apart a plastic model of a brain to see what鈥檚 inside. And they get to do a brainy craft: making neurons of round stickers (the cell body) and pipe cleaners, which pose as dendrites and axons. The grey matter of the human brain is comprised of billions of these neurons, the cells that send and receive electro-chemical signals to and from the brain and nervous system.

鈥淚t鈥檚 good to able to explain things in language children can understand. It makes us remember what got us so excited about neuroscience in the first place,鈥� says Ms. Mashoodh, 23, who was taken aback when a six-year-old boy asked her, 鈥淭he cells in the brain鈥� what do they have to do with deoxy-ribonucleic acid?鈥�

鈥淭hat鈥檚 DNA to you and me,鈥� she adds in an aside.

Ms. Black says it was a second-year class, Introduction to Neuroscience () that had her intrigued by this field of study.

鈥淲hen I realized our thoughts had a physical space in the brain, I was hooked. I think that鈥檚 the coolest thing ever,鈥� says Ms. Black, 34, a sleep researcher. 鈥淔rom day-one, I thought it was super interesting.鈥�