Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Backyard Brains Can Help Satisfy Your Inner Frankenstein (Video)

Posted by Roblimo on from the do-not-try-this-on-your-little-brother-or-sister dept.

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.

6 of 199 comments (clear)

  1. That's not funny by Gothmolly · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Sticking an electrode into a creature and have it twitching to music is not funny, it's cruel.

    --
    I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
    1. Re:That's not funny by slimjim8094 · · Score: 5, Informative

      That's what I thought, but they cut off the leg (not do it on the cockroach), use juvenile cockroaches that can grow their legs back, and they anesthetize the roach with icewater first.

      --
      I have developed a truly marvelous proof of this comment, which this signature is too narrow to contain.
    2. Re:That's not funny by codewarren · · Score: 5, Interesting

      If you stuck a venus fly trap for the same purpose, or you stabbed a maple tree for the purpose of making it bleed, is that also cruel? Practically everyone can see that it is cruel to do this to a human, while practically everyone can see it is not cruel to do this to do it to a plant. Somewhere between these, we went from cruel to not cruel. Is there a line, on one side of which is cruel, and on the other is not cruel, or is there a spectrum of cruelty here? And what property of these "creatures" makes it crueler to do so to some, than to others?

    3. Re:That's not funny by codewarren · · Score: 5, Insightful

      A human analog is irrelevant. Humans are not analogous to cockroaches in this way. Humans feel pain through nociceptors. Cockroaches don't have these.

      Besides that Humans can feel horror and misery that a brain as simple as a cockroaches almost certainly cannot. They do not have higher emotions and higher functions. They don't even have memory. Whatever it is like to be a cockroach, it is almost certainly nothing like what it is like to be a human.

  2. Cockroaches by scubamage · · Score: 5, Informative

    At first the animal lover in me was wondering about the ethics of randomly cutting apart cockroaches without any clear scientific benefit outside of learning (at least dissections tend to teach more than one person - disclaimer, I was on a human subject review board for scientific studies at my college). However it looks like they go out of their way to actually keep everything humane. And, its also important to note that the cockroaches are anesthetized, and their legs do in fact grow back. They get a thumbs up!

  3. Slashvertisement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Did you know that nerds have such large deficiencies in their brains that you can post Slashdot articles almost at random so you can stimulate that advertising revenue with advertisements disguised as badly edited articles and watch them squirm? And that you can easily order the editors to do this at home or at work? You can. And supplies to perform many other psychology experiments, too. Amaze your investors! Learn how marketing works! Alienate your readers! All that (and more) is what Slashvertisement is about.