This year, we were excited to release two new kits in concert with our Muscle SpikerBox Pro, kits that are designed to help capture very precise data about reflexes (The Reflex Hammer) and reactions (The Reaction Timer). It didn’t take long for students to start getting their hands on these tools, and we are excited […]

Scientific publications are a bit more formal than our preferred mode of “sharing the good word” of DIY Neuroscience–our TED videos are a great example of our normal route. But, scientific publications are a currency of authority, and they do offer the opportunity to lay out, very precisely, why we think that students around the […]

A simple Neuroprosthetic may be made with anything and everything! Recently, I’ve been working with an 8th grade STEM teacher – Ms. Amy Farkas, from Riverview, MI – as she guides her students through a unit on prosthetics, neuroprosthetics, and other assistive technology. She began her unit having her students learn about hand articulation, tendons, and the […]

You never know what might capture a students’ attention and passion… Maybe the recent photo of a black hole inspires a student to learn about astrophysics, or maybe an experiment involving cockroaches inspires a student to want to learn more about neuroscience! Recently, we heard word from two graduating high school seniors in Ohio who started […]

Is DIY Neuroscience the best way to end the school year?* The end of the school year… as we all say, summer is “nearest unto heaven.” ** Students and teachers agree, when we enter that last week of school, it is easy to start checking out. Working with a friend’s class at a local Middle School, BYBer […]

In honor of Brain Awareness Week this month, we want to spotlight an organization fighting the good fight and working to bring the NeuroRevolution to as many schools as possible! NW Noggin (Northwest Neuroscience Outreach Group: Growing in Networks) is a neuroscience outreach group based in Portland, Oregon that has been introducing students to electrophysiology across […]

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 snail recording was my […]

Hi! Juan Ferrada here from the University of Santiago again to give you an update on my project with Backyard Brains. Main Project – Single unit recording from Snail Neurons First mission – Isolate the Neurons As we spoke of a month ago, we are trying to record the individual neurons of the giant pacemaker cells of […]

My name is Greg McMurtry. I am a sophomore at the University of Michigan studying mechanical engineering, and I have been working with Backyard Brains for the past four months. Currently, I am working with cockroaches and their descending contralateral movement detector “DCMD” neuron. Current research suggests that this neuron is correlated with the detection […]