We are trying some new educational techniques at UMM


Electrodes! Electrodes everywhere!

student

That’s my student, Carter Young. They are skipping class today to get weirdly wired up to figure out what’s going on in their brain, so they sent me this photo as an excuse. I guess I’ll accept it.

This is not yet a routine practice at my university.

Comments

  1. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    Hmm.

    Only one WHAT live? That’s what I’m curious about.

    Well, that and brains, I suppose. I’ve always enjoyed a good brain or two. I got a good one from Abby.

  2. slithey tove (twas brillig (stevem)) says

    a walking EEG, to monitor the brain, live, doin actual stuff and not just meditation? why not. sounds informative. Like a continuous EKG to monitor for irregularities.
    I would think such a device would demand schooltime, to monitor learning activities, but what do I know.
    .
    interesting

  3. blf says

    See! I keep telling you perfessor poopyhead is a mad scientist — he just needs an Igor to go with his zebra-crossed-with-fish vats and electrofried students…

  4. kaboobie says

    Looks like the way I was wired up for a sleep study several years ago. Fortunately that study revealed a lot and led to effective treatment. I hope your student has a good outcome.

  5. komarov says

    Yet more proof that colleges are a liberal conspiracy to assimilate the youth to turn them into godless atheists. Behold the Borg drone MK I! If only she’d been sent to a monastery so she could grow up to be a godbot instead. It’s proven technology, although admittedly noone is quite sure what it’s good for.

    P.S.: Moarscienceplz, you can probably change the hair colour by adjusting the frequency of that box. Thus subject’s personal preferences in hair colour directly affect the quality of the data that can be collected. Since this subject’s hair is still in the visible spectrum she clearly wasn’t prepared to go the extra mile (for science!) and should loose marks.

  6. Zmidponk says

    You mean this isn’t what goes on in your classes anyway? I was picturing row upon row of students wired up like this with a control panel in your hand, ready to give a little jolt to anyone not paying attention.

    Or have I just given you an awesome idea?

  7. edmond says

    @Crip Dyke #1… The shirt says “Only One Can Live” and shows a picture of the Deathly Hallows symbol from Harry Potter.

  8. DonDueed says

    I need to know — was the photo flipped, or is that shirt intended to be viewed in a rear-view mirror?

  9. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    I need to know — was the photo flipped, or is that shirt intended to be viewed in a rear-view mirror?

    I noticed that too. Makes me wonder if the Zebra Fish are running a mind control experiment on PZ. *more shrimp*

  10. John Phillips, FCD says

    According to Google it is flipped as all the t-shirts I saw had the print the right way round.

  11. SqueakyVoice says

    (I think the t-shirt is inside out.)

    On a point of grammar nazism, if one is referring to a person as they (and I have no issue with a person choosing he/ she/ they or anything else, for that matter), should the rest of the verb be is or are?

    Before PZ’s clarification I’d assumed there was more than one student (“they are”), but they is sounds really wrong ( to me at any rate).

  12. says

    I think there’s a certain amount of ambiguity in PZ’s use of the singular “they”. I certainly thought that Carter was just an exemplar of multiple students referred to in the second sentence. To remove the ambiguity, PZ could have started the second sentence with “Carter is [..]”. Shrug. Not a biggy.

  13. John Phillips, FCD says

    If you flip it horizontally, enlarge it and fiddle with some of the image settings some of the letters and numbers on the sensor connector box become apparent. E.G. the red R and 1.2 22 top right corner. Yes I’m bored and can’t sleep, what gave it away :).

  14. llyris says

    I once canceled a date with the totally lame excuse of having a baby.
    Skipping class to become a robot, sure, why not!
    I hope Carter had a good day and got some helpful answers.

  15. claratimo says

    @15: thats a complicated topic. Some people going by they dont really care, some insist on singular they (distinguishing it from the case of unknown/unspecified gender)

  16. Reginald Selkirk says

    a walking EEG, to monitor the brain, live, doin actual stuff and not just meditation? why not.

    Lack of electromagnetic shielding, that’s why not. I had my scalp wired up once for a neighbor’s project, and I got placed in a Faraday cage for the experiment. Electrical signals that make it outside the skull are actually pretty weak.

    The electrode in their nose looks particularly painful, and wireless.

  17. John Phillips, FCD says

    The electrode in their nose looks particularly painful, and wireless.

    LOL

    Also, sensitivity of equipment and signal processing/filtering capabilities have increased dramatically over the years along with reducing dramatically in size and cost.