Saturday program focuses on human brain

March 13, 2007

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — What weighs about 3 pounds and can handle more information than the Library of Congress?

If you answered the human brain, you are right on target.

Each day, scientists learn more about the unique mass of tissue within each of us that controls everything from our body temperature to our deepest emotions, and interprets everything we see, hear, taste, smell and feel.

“Our brains make us who we are,” said Dennis Steindler, executive director of the Evelyn F. and William L. McKnight Brain Institute of the University of Florida, “and our understanding of how amazing the human brain really is increases with each new discovery.”

Steindler will discuss “How the Brain Works and How the Broken Brain Can Be Fixed” at 10 a.m. Saturday at the DeWeese Auditorium on the ground floor of the McKnight Brain Institute, 100 S. Newell Drive, Gainesville.

Anyone from middle-school students to retirees who want to learn more about the brain or about how MBI scientists are trying to cure Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and every other neurological disease is invited.

Steindler’s talk will also give the audience an opportunity to ask any questions they may have about the normal brain, or about how brain disease and injury is treated today and may one day be treated in the future.

The talk is part of Brain Awareness Week, which is being recognized worldwide March 12-18 to increase public understanding of the human brain. Contact MBI information coordinator John Pastor at 352-273-5815 or email: jdpastor@ufl.edu for more information.