Berlin’s young neuroscientists are dedicated to public science engagement and at conveying science to young people in and around Berlin!
Tag der Wissenschaft in Luckenwalde
For the past few years, the MedNeuro program has been taking part in the annual Tag der Wissenschaft (Science Day) at the Friedrich-Gymnasium in Luckenwalde (about 80 km south of Berlin). Last year, Mariana Cerdeira and Ahmed Khalil attended the event, which took place in February. It spanned a whole day where high school students could listen to talks by scientists, participate in experiments, and learn about science careers.
Mari spoke about daily life in a neuroscience laboratory and gave the students an introduction to stroke models of study. My talk was split between speaking about my own career path, the similarities and differences between working in clinical medicine and biomedical research, and the basics of magnetic resonance imaging and its use in medical practice.
Several of the students seemed intrigued by a career in science and asked about the employment prospects, day-to-day challenges, and perks of being a scientist. I was also glad that they were interested in practical issues that the media has helped to bring to the public’s attention recently, such as how to recognize when someone is having a stroke and what to do.
Brain Awareness Week
Last year’s Brain Awareness Week (BAW), a worldwide campaign led by the Dana Foundation, was a resounding success. The Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, the Berlin School of Mind and Brain, and MedNeuro organized over a dozen events between the 14th and 18th of March.
The program included a viewing of Pixar’s film Inside Out for primary school children. Depicting the delightful adventures of tiny anthropomorphized emotions inside an eleven-year old girl’s brain, the movie was followed by a Q&A with Professor Isabel Dziobek from the Humboldt University's Institute for Psychology.
Five PhD students (Henriette Edemann Callesen, Mariana Cerdeira, Judith Houtman, Lucille Alonso, and Katharina Ohrnberger) also took part in talks with 11th graders at the Berlin Metropolitan School.
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| A workshop on eye-tracking at the
Brain Awareness Week 2016, taking place at the Bernstein Center for
Computational Neuroscience. Source: Margret Franke |
Aiming to explain the important role that mathematics has to play in neuroscience research, Dr. Michael Scholz of the Technical University of Berlin gave a workshop on “Computing Neurons”. The participants were given a basic introduction to the brain and its function, followed by principles of mathematical modelling of neurons - in the end, they could try their hand at modelling neuronal circuits on a computer.
For anyone who’s been following the news and has wondered to what extent humans and great apes can verbally communicate, the BAW addressed this, too. In a workshop at the Humboldt Graduate School, Dr. Richard Moore from the Berlin School of Mind and Brain discussed the science behind such publicity stunts as Koko the gorilla addressing a United Nations summit in Paris about climate change.
Long Night of Science
The last “cleverest night of the year”, as it’s also known, took place on June 11th 2016. All of Berlin’s major neuroscience institutes took part in organizing a series of lectures, discussions, and demonstrations for the public.
At the Max Delbrück Center (MDC), the night was long and full of knowledge. Besides their usual tour of the MDC laboratories, there were over 80 different events on offer in Campus Buch. Serenaded by some smooth jazz, four researchers presented their work to the public at Café Scientifique. There was also plenty to do for kids, who could participate in a series of small experiments, collect stamps and receive a “researcher’s certificate” at the end.
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| Primary school children learning
about the structure of the brain at Die Gelbe Villa, an educational
center for youth in Kreuzberg. Part of the Brain Awareness Week 2016.
Source: Inken Dose. |
It was a record-breaking year at the Berlin School of Mind and Brain this year. More than 1,500 people of all ages joined this year’s Long Night of Science events, which included memory experiments highlighting the critical role of the hippocampus, a Science Slam, and a talk on how our brains react to food and drugs.
by Ahmed Khalil, PhD Student AG Fiebach
this article originally appeared in Volume 09 Issue 3 Happy Anniversary MedNeuro
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