Guest post by Sandra Ackerman, Duke Institute for Brain Sciences.
FASTER than the blink of an eye . . .
MORE POWERFUL than a champion bodybuilder . . .
ABLE to span whole galaxies in a single thought . . .
This marvel of multitasking is the human brain.
Brain Awareness Week Logo 2012
As you take a few seconds to skim this paragraph (perhaps while listening to music, or shifting your weight to keep your balance in a moving bus), various sites in your brain are firing off countless signals along pathways of nerve fiber in all directions. These signaling pathways emerge, change, die back or grow stronger throughout the human lifespan, in a self-regulating, ever-evolving assemblage more complex than anything the human mind has ever created. And we’re each carrying around one of these turbo-charged puppies in a bony box on top of our shoulders!
Now’s your chance to get to know your brain a little better, as the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences presents an array of activities for all ages during Brain Awareness Week, from Monday, March 12, through Saturday, March 17.
Each weeknight, in Durham locales ranging from the West End Wine Bar to the Nasher Museum to the Regulator Bookshop, distinguished faculty will give talks on different aspects of the brain, while during the day the Museum of Life and Science will give interactive demonstrations for school groups. The week wraps up Saturday, March 17 with an all-hands-on-deck, multi-event Open House at the Levine Science Research Center.
Brain Awareness Week: get ready to expand your mind!