Spikes on a Plane!

Flying back from a successful trip from California, Tim and Greg of Backyard had decided there was time for one more experiment…

Thanks to the kind TSA folks at the San Francisco International Airport and Delta airlines, we were able to record spikes in flight. Quite possibly the first neurons ever recorded on a commercial airline!

With the exception of one dissenting voice, the passengers on board were a great audience. By coincidence, the person sitting in the seat next to Tim and Greg was a neuroscientistfromBritain! He helped design our working hypothesis for the experiment: spikes will fire less with decreased O2 pressure in the cabin. Here are some of the photos from the historic flight.

The stow-aways take in thescenery of Californiafrom 37,000 feet.

Remember when doing surgery, to keep the operating room well lit.

Our flight attendant was gracious enough to loan us anaesthesia in the form of a cup of ice and a Coke Zero (and a bag a peanuts).

Fellow passengers were given a science lesson while roaming thefuselageor waiting for the restrooms

While we failed to determine if decreased air pressure changed the spiking rate of insects, we determined that the overall experiment was a big success!