It's All in Your Head

I’ll bet you didn’t know this, but March 15 – 21 is Brain Awareness Week. It’s a global campaign to increase public awareness about the progress and benefits of brain research. This is the 15th anniversary of the campaign that involves universities, hospitals, schools, research centers, and museum exhibits. That’s where we come in.

I’m reminded of Defending Your Life, the 1991 Albert Brooks film, in which Rip Torn portrays Bob Diamond, the Purgatorial Prosecutor. Touting he’s able to use 48% of his brain, he reminds Brooks that the “little brains” (as we humans are called behind our backs) use only 3%. While that’s a little low by current standards of research, it’s now suggested that humans use 10% of their cranial potential.

There’s obviously a lot we don’t know about the brain and its complexities, particularly when it comes to hypoxia and its long-term effects on the old gray matter. Dr. Robert Roach, Senior Scientist at the Altitude Research Center in Denver, has made this study his life. His list of publications includes an impressive array of subject matter. And that’s why the American Mountaineering Museum is hosting the next sPEAKer series event on this very subject and led by Dr. Roach. Beginning at 7 PM in the Foss Auditorium, Roach will share his studies combining slide presentations, lecture, and discussion.

The Rocky Mountain Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine met at the Mountaineering Center last weekend. It led to some interesting conversations, one with a physician who, through personal experience, doesn’t doubt the correlation between sustained high altitude hypoxia and reduced brain function. His instruction? “Take good care of your brain.” Wherever you are, whatever you do, that’s sound advice.

Stop by, then, tomorrow night after work to hear Roach’s timely take on the subject. Remember, the Museum will be open and free to attendees after 5:30 PM. It’ll be a great chance to see the current “Thin Air – an exhibit on altitude and oxygen” before it closes in a few weeks.

Now, what was it I was supposed to remember? ;->

sPEAKers, Exhibits and Parties!

Brot Coburn came to our sPEAKer Series to present on his recent discoveries in the Mustang Valley. You can check out the PBS special here airing November 18th! Brot gave an amazing presentation and we had a great turn out! Pictured left to right, Rob Raker, Brot Coburn and Jake Norton.


MUSEUM DOUBLE HEADER

December 2nd we will have Gary Guller in for a presentation on his incredible trek to Base Camp leading the largest cross-disability group to 17,500 ft, before setting another record, becoming the first person with one arm to summit Mt. Everest!

December 3rd we will have a special opening reception for our newest exhibit THIN AIR: An Exhibit on Altitude and Oxygen! Stay for a special presentation at 7:00 by Jake Norton on Mallory and Irvine too! RSVP to info@mountaineeringmuseum.org, admission is $5 per person. Friends of the Museum and AAC Library get in free.

THIN AIR: An Exhibit on Altitude and Oxygen

The museum has been closed due to weather the past two days, but we are still preparing for our new exhibit coming in next week. THIN AIR: An Exhibit on Altitude and Oxygen starts next week, with the official opening reception to be scheduled soon!

MOUNTAINEERING takes grit. It takes tenacity. It takes energy. And, it also takes another fuel - OXYGEN. For centuries, mountaineers have been climbing higher. Beyond the physical endurance that it takes to reach these heights, there is the constant battle against ALTITUDE.
Whenever you go higher, you lose more and more of that crucial fuel: OXYGEN. The relationship between altitude, oxygen, energy, endurance and the climber can mean the difference between success and failure...or life and death!
What is THIN AIR? What happens to our bodies as we go up in elevation? What are scientists learning about the effects of altitude on our bodies and minds, and on those who call the high peaks their home?
When did mountaineers first use OXYGEN to climb mountains? How have they progressed? Is the use of oxygen considered a climbing aid, a performance-enhancing drug?
The answers are at the American Mountaineering Museum in THIN AIR: An exhibit on Altitude and Oxygen.