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Press Releases | |
January 5, 2001
Brain Bee 2001Contact:
Darren Johnson
(631) 287 8313
Fax: (631) 283 4081Long Island High School Students Are Sought for Second-Annual Contest
Southampton, NY - Here's a quiz show that not only takes brains, but is about brains. At stake is not only scholarship money, but the future of research for such disorders as schizophrenia, epilepsy, cerebral palsy, autism and mental retardation.
Southampton College of Long Island University will host its second annual regional "Brain Bee" on March 3, but contestants need to sign up as soon as possible. High school students from Long Island interested in psychology and neuroscience need to contact Southampton College Professor John Neill at (631) 287-8202 to register and obtain a free workbook. Dr. Neill is supervising Brain Bee prep classes on Saturdays until the live contest. The winner goes to the National Brain Bee in Baltimore.
The local Brain Bee will be held in Southampton College's Duke Lecture Hall on Saturday, March 3, from 9 to 11 a.m. It's the only Brain Bee on Long Island. A practice and review Brain Bee session will be held on Saturday, February 24, at 9 a.m. Contestants will also meet Southampton College students who conducted neuroscience research with Dr. Neill at Harvard Medical School last year. Dr. Neill and his Harvard colleagues published an important finding in the current Journal of Neuroscience that details the benefits of choline in reducing developmental disabilities in rats. Choline is commonly found in foods like green leafy vegetables, white fish, soy products, eggs, milk. peanut butter and beef. The information may soon be useful in helping high-risk infants.
The Brain Bee is a quiz-show competition about neuroscience for high school students. The best young brains in the country are quizzed about the brain and how it relates to intelligence, memory, emotions, sensations, movement, stress, aging, sleep and neurological disorders, such as addiction, Alzheimer's and stroke. The winner of each regional contest is then invited to the National Brain Bee that will be March 13-14. All the questions come from one book, "Brain Facts," published by the Society for Neuroscience.
The National Brain Bee awards $6000 in scholarship money to its top-three finalists. Last year's Southampton College Brain Bee winner, Aashish Bhatt, a ninth grader from Newfield High School in Coram, went on to win 5th place in the national competition and a $12,000 scholarship to Southampton College.
Internationally, the Brain Bee is part of Brain Awareness Week (March 12-18). Spearheaded by The DANA Alliance and the Society for Neuroscience, the goal is to motivate youth to learn about the brain and pursue careers in biomedical brain research in the war against mental retardation, cerebral palsy, schizophrenia, epilepsy, autism and other brain disorders.