When was the first time you heard the sound of a brain cell? Was it in elementary school, high school, or college? Chances are your answer is "never," as we neuroscientists have typically had to go to major research universities and use expensive equipment to learn about and investigate the brain.

With the SpikerBox (available open-source from http://backyardbrains.com) you can now listen to living neurons from insects. With this android app, you can view what the spikes of neurons look like and record it to your phone for later analysis. What used to take up a whole room you now have in your hand, and for cheap. Think of it!

Our first Android release includes both long continuous and threshold views, and you can also tell us about the first time you heard a neuron that updates directly on our website. Join the Neuro-Converts! Do let us know us know about your experiments.

Note: The application normally picks up input through your Android's built-in microphone. If you want to plug directly into your SpikerBox, or any audio device, you need a custom male-to-male headphone cable (a normal one won't work), available from our website. It has to do with routing an output channel to an input channel. We also have instructions if you want to build one yourself.