• Slime Craze Goes on: What Slime Molds Can Teach Us About Decision Making
    Fellowship
    — Written by Milica Milosevic & Amanda Putti — Considering the slime craze of 2016, we’re pretty sure we have all played with slime – or at least know what it is. Have you ever heard of slime molds though? Slime molds, scientifically referred to as Physarum polycephalum, are a type of single-celled protist that is […]
  • 2023 Summer US-Serbian Neuroscience Research Fellowship Kicks Off!
    Fellowship
    The Summer Fellowship of the Brain is back — with a twist! A cohort of seven STEM undergraduates from the US and Serbia will be spending the whole of July in Belgrade, Serbian capital. There, in the Center for Promotion of Science‘s lab makerspace, they’ll conduct their neuroscience research. Best of all, the resulting experiments […]
  • Taiwanese Student Organizes Outreach
    Education
    Neuroscience has a way of inspiring people from all walks of life. After all, we all have brains, no matter where we come from! This story comes to us from Taiwan, where Chiao-chi,Chou studies, a 21-year-old student and interactive installation artist in the Department of Communications Design of Shih Chien University. Chiao-chi discovered our products […]
  • Tech Trek and Fellow Updates
    Fellowship
    Fresh, organic, locally sourced meditation researchLast Friday, Backyard Brains once again opened our doors (even wider–they’re always open during business hours!) to our fellow and aspiring citizen scientists as a part of this year’s Ann Arbor Tech Trek!  Dozens of local tech companies had their doors open to the public that evening and we, like […]
  • BYB World Tour IV
    Education
    Hello my friends, This is the 4th edition of the Backyard Brains World Tour. Just a short reminder: my name is Etienne ‘ÉT’ Serbe and I’m currently travelling in South America to spread the word of Neuroscience. After nearly 20 presentations, workshops, or demonstrations of Neuroscience basics in Brasil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, and Peru, I found […]
  • Chilean High School Interns Say Goodbye (For Now!)
    Education
    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 […]
  • Harvard Study Reveals Our Hands-On Remote Labs Really Work
    Education
    Fully remote, fully in-person, or somewhere in a sweet spot between the two. Those are the main safety concerns that are being laid right now in front of the decision makers, on behalf of students, parents, teachers and everyone around them, right at the kickoff of the new academic year. But whichever model prevails, it […]
  • Highschoolers use Backyard Brains tools to perform DIY Neuroscience Research at Rockefeller's Summer Neuroscience Program
    Education
    Last summer, we shared details about how the Summer Neuroscience Program at Rockefeller helped make an impact on a group of high schoolers from different backgrounds across NYC. The Summer Neuroscience Program (SNP) is self-described as “a two-week course aimed at introducing talented and enthusiastic high school students to the brain,” but could more affectionately be described as […]
  • Meditation Data Or Bust
    Fellowship
    Hello dear reader! It’s Maria again and my meditation project is picking up speed. I’ve now recorded ~brain waves~ from 20 different people! If I’ve learned anything so far, it’s that in science it’s data or bust. I’ve been soliciting people over email and clipboarding more than a Jehovah’s Witness. If this science thing doesn’t […]
  • “Cerebros del patio trasero” visita a Tejas del Oeste y lleva potenciales de acción al desierto
    Education
    We are proud to have run many workshops in the Midwest, but co-founder Tim has longed to bring spikes to the Texas plains he recalls from his early years (he graduated from high school in El Paso and went to college in Austin). Thus, it was with great delight when Emily Verla Bovino, artist-in-residence with […]
  • Hacking Sleep, Memory
    Fellowship
    So memory hacking during sleep is a thing? With endless runs back and forth to Om of Medicine chasing down my subjects, to countless hours staring at the Mona Lisa of sleep: Delta waves, and many other ups and downs during this summer… I can finally tell you it is quite possible!! As August is here, […]
  • High School Students Publish a Paper on Plant Physiology in a Notable Journal
    Education
    In an article we previously published in June 2022 about our scientific paper that dealt with play behavior in fish, I concluded at the end of the article: “I think it is possible for novices and high school students to publish papers (and it is the dream and goal of our team)… That is why we […]