Are you a teen or young adult (13-30 years old) who identifies as neurodivergent, ADHD, autistic, or having dyslexia — or do you know someone else who is?
If yes, the opportunity of spending July and August on a paid virtual internship with NeuroVivid could be something you’re looking for. As a co-designer for their museum maker program, you’ll dive into the world of brain differences, circuitry, brain-machine interfaces, coding and more, while helping ensure that the fun is accessible to all.
The internship lasts 8 weeks (from 7/5 through 8/30), but you may get a chance for an additional 15 weeks of internship this fall. The only requirement is a high-speed internet connection as all activities will be conducted online. Note that the deadline for applications is July 1!
NeuroVivid is a program ran by EdGE, a nonprofit ran by research and education enthusiasts whose aim is to broaden the STEM talent pool by empowering middle schoolers to engage in maker activities and make their own EEG headset. It’s funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
Editor’s note: This is Part II. You can read Part I here.
Danae
Hello, I am Danae Madariaga, a senior at Alberto Blest Gana high school. I have participated in a data collection project with Etienne, Tim, and Derek for three months. Throughout this time, I have learned many things such as the use of Google Colab to analyze my data that I uploaded to the cloud. This makes it easier for scientists from around the world to analyze my data as well.
Really though, the most important thing that I have learned is that being a scientist is not easy! It is a very hard job that requires perseverance and patience. I have also learned how to optimize my time to perform my experiments in a consistent manner. Working with Backyard Brains was my very first job and a very pleasant experience, especially with all the new tools and plants I have now!
My Home Experimental Setup with Basil Plants and Venus Fly Traps(more…)
I am Derek Arro, a senior student at High School Alberto Blest Gana in Santiago, Chile. Currently, I have been working at Backyard Brains for 2 weeks, and I’m in charge of helping to write the manuscript for the experiments my team did with plant electrophysiology last semester. Backyard Brains is an incredible team that designs very educational and eye catching experiments.
In our case, we recorded the electrophysiology signals of various plants to a flame stimulus. To register the signal, we used the Backyard Brains Plant SpikerBox (amplifier) by wrapping a silver electrode covered with conductive gel around a branch and with a ground electrode connected to the…. ground. Our stimulus consisted of a flame applied to a leaf next to the silver electrode (see pictures above and below). Last semester, my classmates collected data on 14 different plants, from the famous Chilean Araucaria tree to normal basil herbs. We observed responses between 5-20 seconds after the flame stimulus in about 50% of our observations. After that, we uploaded our data analyses in Google Colab. This model serves to allow more researchers more access to the data to make a catalog of physiology of plant electricity and projects for people who want to start something in science.
