Hot Springs hosts neuroscience night

HOT SPRINGS - What is MOSSE? It stands for Montana spectrUM Science Experience. It is a traveling exhibition that is a run by the University of Montana, which hosts science programs for community schools in Montana. 75% of the schools which MOSSE visits are in rural communities.

“In the Fall and Spring we load up the UHAUL with either exhibits like this neuroscience one, or we have one on motion, and we have one called, ‘Hands On Health’,” said Matt Mattes, one of the two MOSSE employees.

This past Tuesday, MOSSE visited the Hot Springs’ Kindergarden through 12th Grade classes and introduced them to neuroscience (the study of the brain). Each class was given about an hour lecture on how the brain works. The title for the day of classes and instructional games was, “Brain: The World Inside Your Head.” MOSSE explained that the program, “... will inspire the next generation of Montana neuroscientists and visionaries by sharing the dynamic world inside our heads. This fascinating exhibit for all ages provides a hands on and up close look at the body’s most essential and fascinating organ, the brain.”

The Hot Springs Parent Teacher Organization and the 21st Century Community Grants paid for MOSSE to visit for the day.

From 5:00pm to 7:00pm the Hot Springs’ gymnasium was open to the students’ family, friends and the general public to see the different games and exhibits MOSSE brought to teach the students. At the entrance to the gymnasium was a large blowup brain, which the visitors had to walk through to enter.

There was a station that introduced people to how the brain controls all the five senses. A popular activity was to try and trace a star by using a mirror. One table had bioluminescent fruit flies as an example of how genetic mutations that make cells glow could be used in diagnostics. The most popular table was were the MOSSE employees showed different dissected animal brains. Students and their families were also given the opportunity to try out monitors hooked up to IPads that could show their brain activity during different tasks.

Jesse Uski, a sixth grader at the school, said, “We learned about the different parts of the brain and how your eyesight works, and we played a lot of games,” as he watched the monitor of an IPad displaying in real time the brain activity, shown in waves on a graph, of a friend who was wearing a simple monitor. Uski wants to keep learning more about the brain and enjoyed the whole day.