Although people are generally interested in how the brain functions, neuroscience
education for the public is hampered by a lack of low cost and engaging teaching materials.
To address this, we developed an open-source tool, the SpikerBox, which is appropriate for
use in middle/high school educational programs and by amateurs. This device can be used
in easy experiments in which students insert sewing pins into the leg of a cockroach, or other
invertebrate, to amplify and listen to the electrical activity of neurons. With the cockroach leg …