• The Roach Race-Cockroaches on Wheels to study Circadian Rhythms!
    Education
    • August 19, 2015
    • by Greg
    Welcome to the cockroach world!     My work for these five weeks was to develop a novel low-cost system to study the circadian rhythm of cockroaches. I’m working with my beautiful friends discoid cockroaches (B. discoidalis).     Circadian rhythms are physical, mental, and behavioral changes that follow a roughly 24-hour cycle, responding primarily […]
  • Become a Cricket Pick-Up-Artist with Nick!
    Internship
    • August 12, 2015
    • by Greg
    So you’re trying to pick up Crickets? In this day and age there are services for everything; online dating for farmers, pastors, and anyone who’s looking for that special someone. Just nothing out there to help you find that very special cricket love. Well don’t worry, you won’t need a special site or even special […]
  • Are you conscious? Now with our consciousness detector, you can find out!
    Experiment
    • August 7, 2015
    • by Greg
    Hello again! This is the mind-reader reporting to you with updates on my project. I have had quite the scientific adventure since last sharing my research so sit down, grab your tea (or coffee or pop or kool-aide – I don’t judge) and prepare for a rollercoaster. With no success from LED oddball tasks, I […]
  • Lord of the Flies-Optogenetic Fruit Fly Conditioning
    Internship
    • August 5, 2015
    • by Greg
    You know what’s great about fruit flies? Nothing.                       fig. 1 Fruit flies suck Nothing, that is, other than their benefit as a model organism for simple and fast transgenic experimentation — but who really cares about all that. Drosophila melanogaster are butts, so what […]
  • Smells like teen spirit-Moth antenna pheromone receptors
    Internship
    • August 4, 2015
    • by Greg
    Greetings, this is Trevor coming live from Ann Arbor in a basement…             We have one week left in the internship and things are finally starting to come together. Last time I made a post, I was without a doubt on the struggle bus in terms of getting data worthy […]
  • What does the Fish say?  Electric fish spikes with Bailey
    Internship
    • August 3, 2015
    • by Greg
    Hello my name is Bailey! I am a junior majoring in electrical engineering at Michigan State University and am doing an internship at Backyard Brains this summer. Sorry I missed the first blog post, I was travelling in Japan with my sister! I know it doesn’t look like it from the picture, but I was […]
  • Galvanometer-the Retro SpikerBox
    Hardware
    • July 15, 2015
    • by Greg
    Name: Katelyn Rowley School: University of Michigan (Go Blue!) Major: Biomedical Engineering Hobbies: Running (I’ve run a half marathon and I hope to run a full one someday!), journaling, trying new restaurants in Ann Arbor, being outdoors, finding new music to listen to (Florence and the Machines, Bon Iver, classic rock, you name it) What’s […]
  • Mothman Spotted in Ann Arbor
    Internship
    • July 6, 2015
    • by Greg
    Hey! What’s up? My name is Trevor Smith, currently a senior at the fabulous Michigan State University, and I am lucky enough to be participating in an internship at Backyard Brains this summer. I am currently working on pheromone detection in moth antennae, specifically how sensitive male moths antennae are to the female pheromone used […]
  • Chirp Chirp-Crickets Armed to the ears!
    Internship
    • June 17, 2015
    • by Greg
    My name is Nick Weston and I am an intern in the summer program at Backyard Brains.  I’m an an undergraduate student studying neuroscience at Michigan State University and during this internship I plan on trying to capture neuronal spiking activity from the internal organs of a crickets ear while also trying to record and […]
  • BYB's Odd Consciousness Detector
    Education
    • June 15, 2015
    • by Greg
    Welcome! This is Kylie Smith, a Michigan State University undergraduate writing to you from a basement in Ann Arbor. I am studying behavioral neuroscience and cognition at MSU and have been fortunate enough to have landed an internship with the one and only Backyard Brains for the summer. I am working on The Consciousness Detector […]
  • Mind Control. With Lasers.
    Education
    • June 10, 2015
    • by Greg
    Coming soon to a backyard near you. At least, that’s the idea. We’re sure the technology will catch up if we give it enough prodding and throw an intern or two its way. And hey if not? There’s still lasers, sounds like a win/win to me. Wait we don’t get lasers either? This is really […]