By Sarah Geegan

In February and March, area high school teachers gathered at the University of Kentucky to learn about recent scientific discoveries in various fields. On Thursday, April 26, the College of Arts & Sciences will offer a psychological perspective on "What's New in Science."

Psychology Professor Susan Barron will lead the fourth lecture in the What's New in Science series, an outreach program aimed to strengthen UK's relationships with high school science programs. The lecture will take place in the Davis Marksbury Building at 7 p.m.

The series engages teachers and youth in various scientific areas by focusing specifically on emerging developments and discoveries. Using a discussion-style format, with a short presentation and ongoing questions and answers among a panel of professors and high school teachers, the events allow the participants to gain scientific knowledge not yet included in textbooks.

Barron's presentation, titled "Drugs and the Brain," will focus on some of the recent data about how the drugs that change the way we feel affect the brain.

The discussion will also cover why certain drugs are so addictive relative to other drugs, why adolescence is such a vulnerable time for drug use and some novel approaches and medications that may have real potential for treating drug addiction and other brain disorders.

To view an abstract of the talk, click here.

The talks are videotaped and made available for high school teachers to increase their own content understanding and to possibly incorporate into their lessons. As the series includes four different themes-- biology, physics and astronomy, chemistry, and psychology-- the teachers can choose from a wide variety of topics.

The series has limited seating, so reservations are required. To see the full schedule or to make a reservation, click here.