Frontiers for Young Minds:A mission to engage the next wave of scientists

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About

Frontiers in Neuroscience for Young Minds is a scientific journal that includes young people (from 8 to 18) in the review of articles. This has the double benefit of bringing kids into the world of scientific research – many of them for the first time – and offering active scientists a platform for reaching out to the broadest of all publics.

  • All articles in Frontiers for Young Minds will be reviewed and approved for publication by young people themselves. Established neuroscientists will mentor these young Review Editors and help them review the manuscript and focus their queries to authors. To avoid overburdening the young Review Editors, revised manuscripts will in turn be reviewed by one of the stellar Associate Editors of Frontiers in Neuroscience for Young Minds.

How does it work?

 

New research or review articles are reported on a subject area that fits into one of the categories mentioned above. This can be work published by Frontiers or any other publisher;

The scientists write up their research for submission to the Journal, following our editorial guidelines as outlined below;

The report is handled by one of our prestigious associate editors, who will manage the process of peer review ;

Your article is reviewed by a young mind, mentored by a scientist with experience in peer review.

The young mind and mentor will require that the authors write clearly, concisely and with enthusiasm!

The articles are then validated by the Associate Editor, revised and forwarded to the Frontiers office for production;

The text is typeset and published on kids.frontiersin.org.

The identities of the reviewers (first name only for the young mind) and author are published with the article.

 

How can you get involved?

 

If you are interested in becoming a Frontiers Young Minds Reviewer, please contact our editorial office with a short biography and a letter. Is there someone among your family or friends who is a scientist and who can act as mentor for the project?

If you would like information about becoming a Young Minds mentor, please send your contact information and to our editorial office and we can explore these opportunities together.

If you are an author, send us an abstract with the reference to the original research article, or a short summary if you are planning to submit a review. In both cases, please indicate into which subject area above your contribution should be placed. You will then be contacted by an Associate Editor, who will be handling the review of your Young Minds paper. In the second half of 2014, we will open our manuscript submission and review platform to handle Young Minds papers; in the interim, please submit your materials with a cover letter to [email protected]. Once approved, we will ask you submit a two to three page article appropriate for our community of Young Minds, including two or three figures, and a very short list of references (no more than 5). Please make a special effort for the figures — these will help get you message across to the readers of this site.

If you are a teacher, keep an eye on this website: PDF versions of all the articles will soon be available, along with an e-book of the first round of articles for use in the classroom.

 

Young minds

 

Sean

5 years old

USA

I love books and articles with wry humor, and think my father is the funniest guy in the world. My other love is mechanisms, and I am frustrated that I have not yet learned all the math needed to build a spaceship. But I am working on it, meanwhile honing my logical skills by reviewing.

 

C.J.

13 years old

Canada

I'm a Canadian girl who just began grade 8. I like reading, dancing, acting, swimming and multiple other activities. My favorite colours are green, blue, purple and black. When I grow up I want to be a teacher, geologist, palaeontologist or another kind of science researcher. My favourite subjects in school are French, music, geography, English and science

 

Henry

12 years old

California, USA

I am in 7th grade, and my parents are neuroscientists. I like to play sports, especially basketball. My favorite TV show is the Simpsons. When I grow up, I want to be an engineer and invent cool and important things.

 

 

Marin

8 years old

Cambridge, MA, USA

3rd grader who plays the piano and loves to sing and dance. She participates in Science Club for Girls and she and her Mom will be performing in their second opera this year.

 

 

Scientists

  • Our authors and team of associate editors are contributing to the transmission of scientific culture to a new generation.

Ray Dolan

Wellcome Trust Centre
for Neuroimaging

University College London

London, United Kingdom

I study how emotion influences decision making. I use a technology called fMRI which enables me to measure brain activity while people perform mental tasks. Outside of work I listen to jazz, rhythm and blues, and opera. I am an avid hiker, reader of literature and enjoy fly fishing.

 

Dar Meshi

Freie Universität Berlin

Berlin, Germany

Doing neuroscience research is fun! I conduct experiments to understand how we make decisions when we interact with other people. I want to understand how we value other people's opinions and how their opinions can motivate our behavior. When I'm not doing science, I like to draw odd geometrical shapes, and I love watching movies as well.

Shelly
Levy-Tzedek

Medical Neurobiology Department

The Hebrew University

Jerusalem, Israel

Studies how we use our different senses (e.g., vision and audition), to understand our surroundings (e.g., that there is a yellow car approaching the crosswalk fast, and we should wait before crossing). We see the car, we hear its engine, and we plan our actions accordingly.

Jose M Carmena

Dept. of Electrical Engineering
and Computer Sciences

University of California

Berkeley, USA

Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley, and Co-Director of the Center for Neural Engineering and Prostheses at UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco. He is interested in how the brain controls movement, and in the design of neuroprosthetic systems for people suffering with paralysis and other neurological conditions.

Susan Riviera

Developmental Neuroscientist

University of California

Davis, USA

I study how thinking develops, particularly thinking about number, space, time and emotions or feelings. To do this, I study both typically developing people and people who have developmental disorders like autism and fragile X syndrome.

Robert Stickgold

Beth Israel Deaconess
Medical Center

Harvard Medical School

Boston, USA

He studies how sleep and dreaming make our memories stronger and last longer, while also trying to figure out what they really mean, and whether they are even worth keeping. His work suggests that sleeping is a big part of learning, and sometimes as important as studying!

José del R Millán

Center for Neuroprosthetics

EPFL

Lausanne, Switzerland

Professor at the Center for Neuroprosthetics of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). He received a PhD in computer science from the Technical University of Catalonia, Barcelona (Spain) and has worked in Italy, US and Switzerland. He has received several awards for his work on brain-machine interfaces and brain-controlled robots.

 

Stephanie
Cacioppo

HPEN Laboratory

The University of Chicago

Chicago, USA

Director of the High Performance Electrical Neuroimaging (HPEN) Laboratory, Stephanie studies how one's social relationships modify one's brain, and vice versa. She has received several awards for her work on the science of social connection and pair bond.

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