November 29 , 2006
HUMAN BRAIN SUBJECT OF BISHOP MUSEUM EXHIBITION
HONOLULU - Presentation Helps Raise Awareness about Mental Illness
What did Abraham Lincoln, Thomas A. Edison, and Albert Einstein have in common? Besides being great minds of the 19th and 20th century, they all suffered from disabling and debilitating brain disorders. Einstein and Edison were both dyslexic, and Lincoln suffered from severe depression. Bishop Museum will present a multi-million dollar interactive exhibition that will help explain how the brain works and how it sometimes malfunctions. BRAIN: The World Inside Your Head opens October 13, 2007 through January 20, 2008, in the Castle Memorial Building. The groundbreaking traveling exhibition was made possible by a grant from Pfizer Inc. and was produced by Evergreen Exhibitions, in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The hands-on exhibit provides a close-up look at the human body’s most essential and fascinating organ by exploring its development, geography, and function. Using virtual reality, video games, optical illusions and interactive displays, it shows how the brain functions, and how, like other parts of the body, it can sometimes malfunction. The exhibit helps take the mystery out of brain disorders by showing the physical causes. Visitors will walk right through the electrical workings of a re-created functioning brain.
Visitors will also see real brains of humans and animals and experience amazing optical illusions. They’ll visit a nineteenth-century lab to see how scientists first started learning about the brain. Interactive components include the ability to launch an electrical signal down a neuron tunnel, stimulate memories with smells, decipher optical illusions, conduct brain surgery (YES!), and play a game filled with facts to help boost the brain.
The most amazing and complex structure in the universe, the human brain contains as many neurons as there are stars in the Milky Way. The brain never turns off and by age 4 has grown to its full size. The brain feels no pain, and while it makes up only 2 percent of body weight, it uses 20 percent of the body’s fuel.
A recent study by Pfizer shows that nearly 40% of American adults said they have a family member with a brain-related disorder such as Alzheimers, Attention Deficit Disorder, dyslexia, migraines, depression and other anxiety disorders, or other brain diseases. Many families have difficulty discussing mental illness with their children. In the Pfizer study, fewer than 16% of parents said they have “very thoroughly discussed” mental illness with their children, while more than 64% had talked about underage alcohol use and 69% had talked about illegal drug use. Mental illness is often stigmatized and rarely is it understood that many mental illnesses have a physical cause and are often treatable.
“Understanding brain disorders is the key that unlocks a family’s ability to cope with mental illness,” said project director Kathleen Izon. “This exhibition will provide both our residents and visitors with a first-hand opportunity to learn and understand more about the brain, one of science’s most exciting and challenging areas of research. We hope families will walk away with the message that treatments exist for people with brain-based conditions, and that people with mental illnesses and other brain-related conditions can live productive lives.”
BRAIN premiered at the Smithsonian’s Art and Industries Building in 2001, and has since traveled to 15 major science centers and natural history museums worldwide. Bishop Museum will be the only Hawai‘i venue to present BRAIN. The Smithsonian is also loaning two objects, a human skull (circa 1300) found in Cinco Cerros, Peru, with evidence of brain surgery; and an epoxy cast of a triceratops brain cavity made from a bisected fossil skull from an animal that lived around 70 million years ago. Both are from the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. and will be included in the Honolulu debut.
At the time of the Smithsonian opening, Pfizer also funded a new guide for parents through the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry titled, “Talking to Kids about Brain-related Conditions.” The guide is available to download free at www.pfizer.com/brain. (There is also a virtual tour of the exhibition at the web site.) Like the exhibition, the brochure explains brain-related conditions and helps parents and children talk about these important, but often sensitive issues. The guide also includes referral information for national mental health organizations.
Pfizer discovers, develops, manufactures and markets leading prescription medicines for humans and animals. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) co-partnered in the production and content collaboration. NIH is the principal biomedical and behavioral research agency of the United States Government and one of the world’s foremost medical research centers. Statistics say more than 44 million Americans have a mental disorder, ranging from anxiety to schizophrenia. Another 50 million (about the same number who suffer from high blood pressure) have neurological diseases including migraines and Alzheimers.
The exhibition is appropriate for parents and children of all ages. Regular Museum admission applies. For more information about BRAIN, call (808) 847-3511 or visit www.bishopmuseum.org.
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