New York, Feb. 4, 2009 - At this bee, spelling doesn’t count: the brain’s the thing. And students from almost 30 high schools will be putting their brains to work as they try to remember the ins and outs of the three-pound organ.
The New York City Regional Brain Bee is a live Q & A competition that tests high school students’ knowledge of neuroscience. Students, selected by their high schools to compete, are quizzed on the brain and how it relates to memory, emotions, intelligence, behaviors, and disorders. The event is presented by the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives and co-sponsored by NRTA: AARP’s Educator Community and the Society for Neuroscience. It will be held on Feb. 12 at 5 pm at New York University’s Helen and Martin Kimmel Center for University Life.
This year, Joseph LeDoux, Ph.D, a member of the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives, will emcee the event and serve as a tie-breaker judge. LeDoux is the Henry and Lucy Moses Professor of Science and a member of the Center for Neural Science at New York University, where he specializes in the study of fear and anxiety. Post-doctoral fellows Linnaea Ostroff, Ph.D., and Daniela Schiller, Ph.D., from NYU’s Center for Neural Science, will serve as judges.
Students from all five boroughs and Westchester will compete for the grand prize: $250 and an all-expenses paid trip to the National Brain Bee at the University of Maryland in Baltimore, held on the last two days of Brain Awareness Week, March 20-21. There, students from more than 25 states will compete for the national title and the chance to go up against teens from around the world at the second-annual International Brain Bee, to be held in Canada this May.
Brain Awareness Week is an international campaign coordinated by the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives. The Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives is a nonprofit organization of more than 265 neuroscientists committed to advancing public awareness of the progress and promise of brain research. For more information, visit www.dana.org.
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