it's that time of year again....

for those of you who submitted your abstracts in may (and possibly forgot about them), it's time to fire up your powerpoint and get cracking on your posters and talks, because the annual meeting for the society for neuroscience is just around the corner! with the academic year almost underway, october will be here before we know it, and this year we can all look forward to sharing our ideas and findings before the backdrop of one of the most exciting and culturally rich cities in the USA - new orleans!!

i have been looking forward to this year's meeting since 2009, where i saw the list of future locales listing 2012 as the year of NOL. unfortunately i wasn't able to get an abstract in this year, but i look forward to seeing all of the latest developments in neuroscience, which will feature topics as far-reaching as molecular and genetic research, to clinical work on alzheimer's and parkinson's and autism, to sensory-motor control and more. click here for a full list of themes and topics, and click the link above for the annual meeting homepage.

and if you need some fodder for procrastination while coming up with points for your introductions and discussions, why not make the most of your time and plan your trip with the neuroscience meeting planner; you can browse all abstracts here, plan your itinerary, and even save it to your iPad or smartphone for paperless access to everything you want to see. you can also follow along on the action on Twitter by following me @paulineddra (hopefully i will be selected as a neuroblogger and you can read more about my adventures here too!), and also follow the society for neuroscience and their official meeting twitter handle for to-the-minute happenings and features for the meeting. don't forget to hashtag your posts at the meeting with #SfN12 to share your ideas with the rest of us.

if you haven't already, register now before prices go up in september, and so that you can get your badge in the mail and avoid the crazy lineups (neuroscientists can get unruly....).

i'll also be roadtripping it down to new orleans all the way from toronto, and we plan on doing a diners, drive-ins, and dives tour on the way to sample some of the good ol' fashioned american soul food of the south, and maybe some other crazy restaurants too. you'll have to stay tuned here to find out where you should go, and where to avoid...

looking forward to soaking in all of the sciency goodness, not to mention chowing down on some po'boys and jambalaya.

p.