In case you’re unfamiliar with Backyard Brains, we like Cockroaches. You might even say we love them. Cockroach’s are hardy insects with a knack for neuroscience and performance. The cockroaches we work with are known as Blaberus Discoidalis or False Death’s Head cockroaches (among many common names). They are often bred for reptile food but we […]

Summer is finally shining rays of sunlight on our lovely hometown of Ann Arbor, Michigan, and with it Backyard Brains is welcoming its newest bright minds from Michigan State University’s Undergraduate Neuroscience department. Marta, Olivier, Alex, Cort, and Dylan met in the BYB office at the early hour of 10am (well, early for a college […]

We are in Boston at NSTA (National Science Teacher’s Association), booth 1432, from Thursday 11 AM – Saturday 5 PM. We also have workshops Saturday in room 107A at 8 AM and 2 PM. Come by, say hello, and see some new SpikerShield and Microscope Inventions.

Of the many problems that exist in this world, many would agree that at a personal level… the most drastic problem is the lack of connection between people. The probability of a marriage ending in divorce is 40-50%, with many divorcees claiming that “the feeling simply went away,” disappearing into the ether of space.  The […]

If you are nearby Oaxaca this coming weekend (March 22-23), we will be at the Maker Faire demonstrating neuroscience and also running Make and Take Workshops.  ¡Vamos a la tierra de Nahuatl y Chapulines! ¡Vengan ustedes para ver las espigas de neuronas y músculos!

Over the past year, we have worked on writing up our earthworm conduction velocity experiments for formal scientific publication. After one round of peer-review, we are pleased to announce the paper is now out! It is in the journal Advances in Physiology Education, published by one of our favorite organizations, the American Physiology Society. Read […]

If you came by our booth at the Society for Neuroscience meeting last November in San Diego, perhaps you saw (and participated in) our newest experiment – the “human-human-interface.” When one person contracts their muscles, we use our EMG SpikerShield amplifier paired with an Arduino to cause a partner’s muscles to contract as well. Our […]

During the days of January 8,9, and 10, 2014, Backyard Brains ran its most ambitious workshop yet – three days of teaching high school teachers how to build their own labs and teach neuroscience in their classroom. During this workshop, 6 teachers from Dunalistar High School in Las Condes, Santiago, learned: -How to record electrical activity from […]

We are big believers in the power of 3D printing to allow labs and scientists to share their inventions around the world, making experiments easier and scientific progress faster. We bought our first MakerBot in April of 2012, and our current “Fleet” of 3D printers at Backyard Brains now numbers three (two MakerBot Replicator Originals […]

These past few months we’ve been hard at work adding more experiments to our online library. We just released two new ones! New Experiment I: Why do your muscles get tired?, illustrated by Cristina Mezuk, our resident favorite artist in Ann Arbor New Experiment II: What is the effect of temperature on conduction velocity?, illustrated by a Chilean Comic Book […]

We recently spent 2 days at SONA, the Society of Neuroscience Africa conference that occurs every two years. This year, it was in Rabat, Morroco, and we had a talk on low cost ways to do high tech neuroscience. We brought a ton on inventory with us, and we are happy to report we have scientists in […]

Years in the making, we officially launch our “Completo,” which combines our Manipulator, RoachScope, SpikerBox, and beautiful poplar wooden steel table into a single rig for those neuroscientists on the go. We have successfully used it to record muscle potentials from fruit flies, carefully position electrodes on earthworm nerves, and measure adaptation rates in cockroach sensory neurons. What […]