Without superpowers or a power drill there are only a couple ways we can observe brain activity and most of them require large expensive equipment:                                                                     Luckily, with the help of Backyard Brains, you can make the equipment yourself! This summer, I’m going to be using such DIY equipment to do some electroencephalography (or EEG) experiments to […]

Hi everyone! I’m Molly, a senior Biology major at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Since my school’s mascot is a Yellow Jacket, I guess it’s very on-brand for me to be working with a similar insect, honey bees! But ironically, I’ve always thought I was allergic to bees. I had a reaction to a sting […]

Remember Professor Charles Francis Xavier? The founder and leader of X-men has phenomenal telepathic abilities. But, alas, he only exists in fiction! Or so we thought. What if we had the technology to make a part of Professor X’s abilities reality? We could channel the superpower of looking into people’s minds to know what movement […]

“You are not controlling the storm, and you are not lost in it. You are the storm.” -Sam Harris   The previous quote originated in a book called Free Will by Sam Harris. I take it to loosely mean that we do not exert conscious control over our thoughts and actions (free will), though we do […]

Hi folks! My name is Dan and I am a student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst studying neuroscience and minoring in computer science. Back at school, I work in a songbird lab where I listen to neurons fire in zebra finches, and I’m on the ballroom dance team. Outside of working, sleeping, and eating, […]

Why buy, when you can build? Madhu Govindarajan of MathWorks recently used one of our old products to make his very own heart rate detector. The Heart & Brain SpikerShield (recently replaced by our Heart and Brain SpikerBox) was designed to help the user view and record the action potentials of their heart easily, and […]

Hi, I’m Ben. I just graduated high school and am planning on going to Michigan State University in the fall. I ran cross country and track and swam for my high school, but have decided to stop to focus on my studies. I am also an Eagle Scout and love to backpack or canoe when […]

Hey everyone, it’s Ilya again; if you remember me from last summer, I’m the octopus guy; otherwise, don’t worry, I’ll introduce myself again. I’m now a third year at UC Berkeley, studying Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and this summer I’m tackling the problem of making a fun brain-themed neurorobot! (For more information on this […]

Can robots think and feel? Can they have minds? Can they learn to be more like us? To do any of this, robots need brains. Scientists use “neurorobots” – robots with computer models of biological brains – to understand everything from motor control, and navigation to learning and problem solving. At Backyard Brains, we are […]

Hi I’m Yifan, a senior studying Computer Science at University of Michigan. I’m working on the Rainforest Wildlife Recording Project. This project is a continuation of 2017 fellow Zach’s Songbird program. Me and my teammates also worked on this during last semester, and will continue to improve it in the coming semester. We have already […]

Hi Everyone. Juan here! My two month tour with Backyard Brains has reached its end, and I’m really grateful to have had the opportunity to work on this project. I had three activites during the “practica” here at Backyard Brains: Recording from the Ganglia of Snails Helping on the Anemone Project Assisting in Outreach. The […]

Hi all! I’m Jess. I’m a senior neuroscience major from Westminster College in Salt Lake City, UT. It’s a small, private liberal arts school you’ve probably never heard of, but I promise you it’s the best small, private liberal arts school you’ve probably never heard of (with an awesome neuroscience program). Prior to my academic […]