Backyard Brains Wiki
Welcome to the Backyard Brains wiki page, an open-source experimental how-to's for teachers and amateurs alike. If you are a high school teacher, you may be interested in what Educational Standards we adhere to as well as the lesson plans we are beginning to assemble below.
Experiments
Here is a list of experiments we are currently working on. If you see an error, or want to make it better/clearer, we encourage you to edit the section. To keep the spam robots at bay, please e-mail us if you want to get an account to this wiki.
| Exp | Name | Description | Lessons | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Getting Started with Spikes | In this module, you will listen to action potentials and view "spikes" in real time. An excellent starting point for your SpikerBox. | 
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| 2 | Introduction to Rate Coding | How do neurons encode information? One way is through rate coding. | ||
| 3 | Effect of Temperature on Neurons | Here, you can investigate the effect of temperature on the firing rate of neurons. | |
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| 4 | Somatotopy | By manipulating the barbs on the cockroach leg, you can learn basic principles of nervous system organization. | |
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| 5 | Microstimulation of Neurons and Muscles | It's the 1780's all over again. Investigate excitability of nervous and muscle tissue with this experiment. | |
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| 6 | Measuring Power Consumption in Neurons | Does the leg ever run out of ATP? Here's an advanced experiment to measure power consumption. | ||
| 7 | Referencing your Spikes | There's no such thing as a perfect ground, but some grounds are better than others, depending on what you are studying. | |
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| 8 | Anuradha Rao Memorial Experiment: Effect of Nicotine and MSG on Neurons | We now move to the cricket cercal preparation to investigate neuropharmacology. | |
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| 9 | NeuroProsthetics | What if we fed the neural activity of one cockroach leg into another? Neural Engineering 101 in session. | |
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| 10 | Oxygen and Spiking | Why do we need so much of that simple molecule oxygen anyway? Here you find out. | |
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| 11 | Speed of Neurons | With our 2-Channel SpikerBox, you can measure how fast action potentials travel down a nerve. How fast are they? | ||
| 12 | The Faraday Cage | A simple piece of metal screening can drastically reduce electrical noise. But how does it work? | |
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If you are a teacher looking for more extensive experiment materials, you can use the links above to formal lesson plans (
) and associated powerpoint slides (
). If you have used the SpikerBox in your classroom and have invented a new experiment, we would like to work with you to make your experiment available to others.
Note: Want answers to the discussion questions? E-mail us and we'll send them your way!
Useful Information
The following articles are not experiments, but rather good information to know.
| Note | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Getting Your Recordings on a Computer for Analysis | Here we explain how to get your SpikerBox recordings on a computer so you can begin making data discoveries. |
| 2 | Cockroach Husbandry | We explain how to care for your cockroaches and crickets. |
| 3 | Louder SpikerBox | If you are doing a demo in a large classroom, here's how to make the spikes loud enough for everyone to hear. |
| 4 | DIY Smartphone Cable | If you have some spare parts and cables, you can make your own smartphone cable instead of buying it from us. |
| 5 | Two Channel Test | Ready to begin two channel experiments? Fancy! First you need to see if your laptop can record two analog channels. |
| 6 | Spikes Library | Would you like some sample recording files to play with? Here we begin our library of spikes from various creatures. |
Cognitive Experiments
Want to also teach some basic human neurophysiology? We will be slowly adding guest experiments on how to learn how human brains work through basic behavioral tests.
| Note | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | How Your Eye Detects Color and Motion | What are the limits of color and motion detection by your eye? You can measure it with a friend. |
| 2 | How Your Skin Senses | How well does your skin and brain interpret touch information? Breakout the measuring tools and blindfold someone to find out. |