It weighs little more than a standard bag of sugar and is made up of almost 75% of water yet it allows us to perform an incredible array of tasks.
Now the human brain – our most complex organ – is being celebrated next week in Aberdeen and in other cities across Europe during Brain Awareness Week.
The initiative is a campaign to increase public awareness to the progress and benefits of brain research.
Next Thursday (March 18) the University of Aberdeen is holding Bring Your Own Brain – a free event that will give the public an insight into some of the leading brain research underway at the institution.
King’s Conference Centre is the venue for the night which begins at 6pm with a drinks reception in the adjoining James Mackay Hall with entertainment provided by ‘brain buskers’ and music from the Garioch Fiddlers featuring the University’s own neurobiologist Dr Peter Fraser.
At 6.45pm Professor Stephen Logan, Senior Vice Principal at the University, will then invite guests into the Conference Centre where a ‘brain research relay’ will kick off at 7pm. The ‘relay’ is a series of short and fast paced talks from University scientists:
· Dr Marco Thiel, a physicist, will explain how maths and supercomputers can help to understand how our brains work
· Dr Ben Jones, a psychologist, will reveal why our brains get excited when we see certain faces
· Dr Ann Rajnicek, a neuroscientist, will describe how electrical fields may help heal the injured brain
· Dr Alison Murray, a clinician, will outline how we can see inside the brain and what it tells us
Professor Peter McCaffery, head of the University’s neurobiology research programme, said: “Bring Your Own Brain promises to be a fun and informative event that highlights the diversity of just some of the cutting edge brain research underway at the University of Aberdeen.”
Bring Your Own Brain is open to all. Book your free space here.
ENDS