Ok, really, this is the last neuroblogging post! All together I put up 11 science posts on various awesome posters and presentations at SfN, as well as 5 or so other posts on life at the conference, how to handle it, and what you might get out of it. I think it was a pretty good year! And last, but not least, we have a final SfN post on hypoglycemia and brain function, with ties to diabetes, Alzheimer's, and more! Check it out, and post questions or comments here or there.

And of course, I have a question: what did you get out of Sci's Neuroblogging? Are there things you would have liked to see more of? Less? What topics did you find the most accessible and what sent your brain reeling (which might not be a good thing)? Let Sci know in the comments!! You all know I do my best to provide you with only the hottest science!

We're home from the conference, and it's time for some reflection. Today's? Packing.

Every time Sci goes to a conference, I end up getting asked for stuff. Chances are, I usually have it. I've got a long history of packing for conferences and other kinds of travel, and I've become kind of a master. I'm not talking rolling your clothes, bringing the small toiletries, etc, etc. Nope, these are the other little things, the little things that make hard, long conference days a little easier and a little better. Obviously, today it's too late to pack for SfN! But for next year or for other conference goers, here's a list, in no particular order, of the little things that can make travel nice.

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I have to reblog this to prove to @mocost that I thought of it FIRST. Today's repost is adapted from the SfN conference in Chicago in 2009.

Sci is still in SFN recovery, so we're having no Friday Weird Science this week. Recovery from the science hangover (located primarily in the Academic Gyrus of the Scientific Lobe. (right below the Central Sulcus of Nerd). Recovery efforts usually involve attempting to make up for a SERIOUS lack of sleep, and a total lack of healthful eating. I have spent the last four days with a heartfelt salad craving.

*lust*

Seriously. While DC is much better for catching healthier and cheaper eats (got some lovely summer rolls in Chinatown and there was a crepe station in the conference center) than when SfN was in Chicago, I was sad to find that the conference center had few salads, and absolutely NO soup. By the end of the week, my voice was so dreadfully crushed from yelling on the poster floor, yelling in the hallways, yelling in the bars, just...yelling...that all I wanted was a nice cup of soup before my poster. Something chicken based to soothe my poor aching throat and prepare me for the trial ahead. And verily, I wandered lo many minutes around the conference center, and there was NOT A SOUP TO BE HAD. WTF. I mean, you'd think that'd be one of the easier "fast" foods (certainly more so than the crepe station I saw!).

However, massive kudos go to the SfN organizers for WIRELESS!!! WIRELESS on the poster floor! It was so nice to be able to tweet the cool stuff I was seeing. Other kudos go out to Cell Press for giving out awesome coloring books of the parts of the cell, Elsevier for giving out brain hats (to the people I saw wearing those OUTSIDE the conference center...you are much braver than I), and Neuroscience Associates for the nice 2012 calendar.

Anyway, Sci often has ideas while at conferences, and these usually occur whilst I am on my way to the conference on the shuttle, or even more often, while I'm trudging dazedly across the poster floor, completely at a loss to contemplate WHY two closely related topic fields are at poster row C and poster row WW, respectively. Not fair.

So Sci was trudging, and dodging and weaving around all the SFN n00bs, who somehow feel it is totally ok to stop in the middle of the walkway and gape at your booklet, causing people who KNOW where they are going to have to make emergency detours. Seriously, kids, you are stopping in the middle of what is essentially a crowded busy street in a temporary neuroscience town of 30,000 people. You get THREE poster sessions to figure out the difference between row A, G, and DD, and if you cannot seem to keep moving by then, Sci's bowling you over, and throwing some elbows in her wake. If you really are lost, for the love of neurons, pull over!!

And as I dodged and wove, and contemplated how much my feet hurt and whether Starbucks in the convention center charges more than their national prices for a latte, I had the solution.

Segways.

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Yes, Sci's neuroblogging extends over time! There was just so much SCIENCE I couldn't keep it within the bounds of SfN. There will be one more science post coming at your eyeballs soon, as well as some reflections on the meeting. And if anyone wants to know how to build your own poster tube strap out of duct tape, I might think about putting together a tutorial (hot stuff, amirite?).

Over at Scientific American right now we have a PTSD study that is currently ongoing in twins, a model of number processing in children, and how heart attacks can change mouse behavior. Comment over here or over there with questions and ideas! And keep your eyes peeled for further neuroblogging to come!

The SfN Neuroblogging posts are coming thick and fast! Make sure you head over to Scientific American and check out the latest posts from the Society for Neuroscience conference, including posts on grey matter and BMI, the serotonin transporter and animal models of depression, and how we process silently read text. Register to leave comments there, or start a conversation here! Keep the neuroscience flowing!

The latest post on Sunday's poster sessions is up at Scientific American, where I'm talking about glucose utilization in the male titi monkey, a very devoted monkey daddy. Go and check it out!

My next post for the epic blogging of Society for Neuroscience is up at Scientific American! You have to check out the poster I saw on serotonin receptors and food motivation. Questions? Comments? Leave them there or leave them here!

Sci's first neuroblogging post is up over at Scientific American, on alpha 1a adrenergic receptors, and their effects on lifespan and cancer. Check it out, and if you'd like to have a chat, leave a comment over there or over here!

Sci is OFF to SFN TODAY!! We'll you there! And in the meantime, let the pre-blogging continue!

We're skipping Friday Weird Science this week, in order to begin Sci's graceful swan dive into the morass that is SFN. Sci's been getting lots of email from awesome scientists, and she hopes to show up at their posters! And she's also been getting tweets and emails from people wanting some advice, and she can see why.

SFN is big. Ok, Not as big as Experimental Biology. Or that one Microbiology meeting. (Apparently it's bigger than BOTH of these! Someone told me once that ASM topped out around 40K but I guess not! Neuroscience FTW!!!) But for many neuroscientists, it's easily the biggest meeting we've ever been to, and often, it's also the first. And so, Sci's little heart aches in sympathy when she gets an email like this:

Hi Sci,
This is my first time to a meeting and to SFN.

I specifically would like to socialize with people who are working in my area of research...

I am generally a shy person and I am trying to break the ice this time. Advice on how to make connections and how to find and approach people in my area of research is what I am looking for.
Have you ever attended SFN sponsored socials? Are they useful? What should we expect at a social?
Any general advice to get the most out of the meeting.. It seems like there is a lot and very little time.
Thanks!

I've been there. Believe me. Her first time, Sci felt like a tiny speck in a sea of neuroscience. Or sometimes (depending on crowds) like a salmon swimming the wrong way in the current. But neuro-salmon, we aren't just here to show our flashy pink tummies and research! No, we are here to SPAWN (not literally, well, some people are, I've heard rumors). We are here to network and spawn research ideas, and if we're little post-doc salmon, we are here to spawn some possible collaborations and faculty opportunity!

(One of last year's SFN attendees. You flash that data tummy, Scientist!!)

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