Weekend of Science!

The weekend of October 7-8 was the Dutch ‘Weekend of Science’, in which universities and research institutes across the country gave a sneak peak into the scientific world. We were invited at the NEMO science museum to talk about what we understand (and do not yet understand) about the brain.

We took the kids (and their parents) on a journey through different areas of the brain. The visual cortex makes an image of the external world that we perceive, but sometimes this image isn’t quite right. We showed the kids what happens when we perceive optical illusions and made them craft their own optical illusion t-rex. At the insula station, the children learned about the representation of your own and other’s emotions. The hippocampus creates and stores memories, which can be improved through regular exercise. I was mostly stationed at the prefrontal cortex, a hub in the front of our brains, that we use to make decisions and to solve puzzles. Nobody was able to outperform the chimp however, on the working memory puzzle that put this brain region to the test!

All in all, a succesful and fun day that was educational both for the children, their parents and last but not least our team! It’s a great experience translating my own line of research and thoughts into a story that’s understandable (and not too boring or abstract..) for all the clever kids walking around.