2-Channel SpikerBox Now Available. Measure Neuron Speed in Earthworms.

We hereby announce our 2-Channel SpikerBox. What can you do with it? Why, you can measure the speed of spikes as they travel down a nerve, in a truly “backyard” preparation using Earthworms. See our full experiment write up on how to do it! How fast is a spike? Faster than a car, faster than a plane, faster than a speeding bullet? Find out!

Posted: 2012-Jan-10 — Filed under: Education,Hardware,Marketing — Tags: earthworm conduction velocity neuron speed

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High School Students Hack Our RoboRoach Kit, Make it Better

We have been slowly rolling out our RoboRoach kits (we started shipping our beta units in late March 2011, and we have shipped 14 so far), and today we received some reports from the field. Robert Uglesich, a Professor at Cooper Union in Manhattan, used our RoboRoach kits this summer to teach high school students about microstimulation, analog electronics, and the neural basis of behavior. He reported today:

“I wanted to write to let you know that the summer program ended today and the students had a blast working with the RoboRoach kits. These last few weeks they were so enthused that they were getting to campus and starting to work before I even came in.”

There was a brief write-up today in the New York Times, but, more interestingly, the students made their own website summarizing their results. Their chief findings were:

1) The cerci nerves adapt more slowly to the stimulation than the antenna nerves. Also, stimulating cerci enables forward motion (our current antennal prep only allows right and left).

2) Randomizing the stimulation to the antenna nerves by using music patterns (instead of the constant 55 Hz stimulation we have set on the circuit) causes habituation to occur more slowly as well.

Thus, a three channel stimulator, with more heterogeneous stimulation patterns, would enable a RoboRoach system with forward, left, and right turning control that adapts more slowly. Nice work students! Impressive! Can we join your lab?

Our current efforts on the RoboRoach are to make the circuit lighter and reduce assembly time. Our current production version (gen3) weighs 6.25 g, an improvement from our first (9 g) and second (8 g) prototypes. It still takes about 6 hours to build however, so we are researching circuit configurations and interconnects that take less time to assemble and test.

Posted: 2011-Aug-11 — Filed under: Education

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“Circuits to Circuits II” workshop on June 24th. Teachers, sign up today!

It’s time for our second teacher workshop! In collaboration with the great folks at the SquareOne Education Network, we are hosting a teacher workshop on June 24th, 2011, whereby if you are a teacher within driving distance of the greater Detroit area, you can spend a day building your own SpikerBox amplifier and running experiments to take back to your classroom. You will also gain a wealth (the greatest wealth) of knowledge on how to do easy neuroscience with your students. Sign up is $25 and includes all the gear, materials, and lunch. To apply, fill out the very brief application and send to Barb Land at SquareOne! Space is limited (20 max), and yes, we do have SBCEU’s available! Welcome to the NeuroRevolution!

This workshop is subsidized by Backyard Brains, the SquareOne Network, and the Michigan Society for Neuroscience to give secondary school teachers access to tools to improve teaching about the brain. If you are a science professional (graduate student, professor, physician), you are welcome to come as well, but the fee is the normal $90 charge per attendee.

Date: Friday, June 24th at the Macomb Intermediate School District

Schedule:

8:30 – 8:45: Introductions

8:45 – 9:00: Brief lecture on electronics

9:00 – 10:00: SpikerBox Building Session I

10:00 – 10:30: Deeper Discussion on electronics

10:30 – 12:00: SpikerBox Building Continues

12:00 – 12:30: Lunch

12:30 – 1:15: SpikerBox Building Finish/ lecture on neuroscience

1:15 – 2:45: Experiments

2:45 – 3:30: Data Discussion/Feedback