Science Makers: Neurobiology

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Probing the electrical systems of living things is easier than ever thanks to readily available open source technologies and commodity electronics. In this Science Makers we’ll explore open hardware for electrophysiology and measurement of behaviour in plants and animals for both education and research. Then we'll control machines using our minds (or at least muscle movements).

12:30 - Presentations and demos

• Pakpoom Subsoontorn on OpenPlant Fund projects developing open hardware for plant electrophysiology.

• Yi Zhou from OpenIOlabs on open hardware for neuroscience imaging.

• more TBC

13:30 - Pizza (kindly sponsored by OpenIOlabs)

14:30 - Making!

We’ll then get hands-on with a few experiments from Backyard Brains after constructing their kits:

• WormStretch (https://backyardbrains.com/experiments/wormstretch) - experiments with conduction along nerves using earthworms.

• EMG (https://backyardbrains.com/experiments/muscleSpikerbox) - measuring muscle activity

ADVANCED activity (https://backyardbrains.com/experiments/muscleSpikerShield) - can we control a device using only our muscle movements?

Further reading:

Portable conduction velocity experiments using earthworms for the college and high school neuroscience teaching laboratory (link (http://advan.physiology.org/content/38/1/62))

The SpikerBox: A Low Cost, Open-Source BioAmplifier for Increasing Public Participation in Neuroscience Inquiry (link (http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0030837))