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Backyard Brains Can Help Satisfy Your Inner Frankenstein (Video)
Did you know that cockroaches have such large nerves in their legs that you can poke into their legs almost at random and hit a nerve with an electrode so you can stimulate that leg with hip-hop music and and watch it move? And that you can easily order the parts to do this at home or at school? You can. And supplies to perform many other neuroscience experiments, too. Amaze your friends! Learn how neurons work! Gross out squeamish people! All that (and more) is what Backyard Brains is about.
I'm pretty sure that insects are not covered by any animal cruelty laws and regulations, building a cockroach-sized medieval torture chamber is as such entirely legal although perhaps somewhat eccentric.
can we repeat this experiment with the leg of a PETA member?
No, unlike roaches, PETA members lack the functional nervous system required for this to work.
Don't be too surprised if, after you die, there's a roomful of oversized roaches waiting for you with jumper cables and a car battery.
Whatever it is like to be a cockroach, it is almost certainly nothing like what it is like to be a human.
Excuse me, but a Mr. Franz Kafka says he would like to have a word with you.
So you're okay with torturing something as long as your end goal is to kill it? Because all those things are closer to torture than what they did in this experiment.
If I find a cockroach in the kitchen I make sure to set up my tiny crucifixion of him in the middle of the kitchen floor. Sure it may be months before he dies, but it serves as a warning to the rest of the bastards in hiding.
"Quote me as saying I was mis-quoted." -Groucho Marx