“Ewwww!”
In observance of national Brain Awareness Week, several University of Montana graduate students studying neuroscience and biomedical science visited Missoula high-school and middle-school students in recent days, teaching them about the different parts of the brain, what it's made of, how it functions and the many diseases that can affect its health.
Seib and company used an egg suspended in a jar of water to demonstrate how the brain is protected by cerebrospinal fluid, and helped the students build neurons using colorful pipe cleaners.
When asked who wanted to hold a brain, nearly everyone's hand shot in the air.
“It smells really bad,” said Austin Hodges, crinkling his nose.
The graduate students brought with them four sheep brains, three mouse brains and a minuscule bee brain.
Hodges was surprised at the sheep brain's small size and the UM students' ability to preserve it. Seeing a brain up-close is way better than any picture in a textbook, he said.
“It was kind of hard and slimy,” he said.
This is the fifth year that graduate students and staff from UM's Center for Structural and Functional Neuroscience have traveled to Missoula schools during Brain Awareness Week. The idea is to get kids enthusiastic about the brain and maybe inspire future scientists, said Ilsa Seib, the center's program coordinator.
What's always most surprising, Seib said, is the number of kids who have known someone who's had a disease or injury affecting the brain, such as Alzheimer's disease or a stroke.
Students who answered questions correctly received candy, an essential tool to keeping middle-schoolers engaged, Seib said.
The tricky part is describing the brain in a fun and simple way that kids can understand.
“The key is not to get lost in the details,” said Loretta Bolyard, one of the graduate students.
“It's a good exercise for us,” Seib added. “It's easy to get tunnel vision in your own field of study.”
Reporter Chelsi Moy can be reached at 523-5260 or at chelsi.moy@missoulian.com
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