• Investigating Cockroach Vision: An Intern Project by U of M Undergrad Greg M.
    Experiment
    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 […]
  • Spotlight: Measuring Reflexes Using the EMG Reaction Timer!
    Education
    Meet the EMG Reaction Timer! The EMG Reaction Timer will settle once and for all who has the fastest draw in the west… or you can use it to perform neuroscience experiments, in the home or classroom, exploring how we respond to different kinds of stimuli! The Reaction Timer works with our EMG SpikerBox and Spike […]
  • Spikes on a Plane!
    Outreach
    • March 30, 2010
    • by Greg
    Flying back from a successful trip from California, Tim and Greg of Backyard had decided there was time for one more experiment… Thanks to the kind TSA folks at the San Francisco International Airport and Delta airlines, we were able to record spikes in flight. Quite possibly the first neurons ever recorded on a commercial […]
  • SpikerBox v3 Prototype Complete!
    Hardware
    You spoke; we listened. Version 3 of the SpikerBox is complete and fully operational. New features include: built-in Speaker, Gain Control, rapid switching between audio and recording mode, and three standard outputs: BNC, mini-stereo, and RCA. We have a couple more improvements (smaller size, smaller batteries, etc) to make, but stayed tuned. We foresee Version […]