Mysteries of Your Brain News
IMAGES ARE LINKED HERE
Contacts: Adrienne Wiseman, awiseman@umn.edu and Gretchen Zampogna zampogna@umn.edu
ST. PAUL, Minn. (Sept. 29, 2020) — Mysteries of Your Brain takes you on an immersive, animated adventure into the human brain, exploring how the brain works and what makes human brains so special.
Your tour guides on this journey are a curious girl and her crow companion—together you’ll zoom along the paths of neurons, fly through brains and experience illusions on a grand scale. You’ll learn how your brain makes you you and that, ultimately, how we each have the power to change our brains through the unique immersive experience possible in a planetarium dome.
The Bell Museum created this groundbreaking program with help from science and content advisors at the University of Minnesota including Cheryl Olman, professor of psychology, and Janet Dubinsky, professor of neuroscience; as well as Patrice Greger, educator with Minneapolis Public Schools; and neurobiologists Daniel Fergus and Lyric Jorgenson. Kim Todd, associate professor in English and Creative Writing, wrote the script.
“The exciting, new thing we’re doing here is using immersive media to explore ‘inner’ rather than outer space—in this case, to help us understand arguably the most important organ in our body: our brain! Focusing on the brain made great sense to us given the University of Minnesota is a powerhouse in brain science. We were thrilled to work with UMN researchers to guide and advise the show content. And we hope audiences will find that we were able to make the film a uniquely Bell production—in the show, we explore other amazing brains of nature beyond our human brains,” says Holly Menninger, Bell Museum director of public engagement and science learning.
This show brings audiences inside the brain to watch the process of learning and see how synapses work in an engaging, colorful way. Young learners can see how brains work—from INSIDE a brain!
The program is aimed at a general audience with a specific focus on upper elementary and middle school students (grades 2–6 are ideal ages; for general audiences ages 8+).
With generous support from:
Virtual Programs (Facebook Live)
October 12–16, join us daily for live conversations with researchers from the University of Minnesota who will showcase their exciting work in brain science. Experience a brain scan in real time. Learn about the consequences of brain injury and drug addiction. Get in touch with your emotions, from a scientific perspective—and so much more!
Amazing Animal Brains activities in the Bell Museum’s Touch & See Lab
In addition to the Mysteries of Your Brain planetarium program, the Bell will offer ongoing activities in their acclaimed Touch & See Lab. Museum visitors can see how animals’ brains, skulls, and skills match up, and learn about how brains make each species different from the next. They can explore similarities and differences in brain anatomy and examine real and cast skulls, as well as 3D prints of brain scans from the Olman Lab’s Brain Zoo project.
Throughout the debut weekend, get up close and personal with real brains and hands-on demonstrations at the demo counter in Touch & See.
Touch & See Lab activities are made possible with generous support from:
