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For Everyone -
2 h.
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English
The Electrical Energy of Life I: What Connects a Cockroach, a Venus Flytrap, and Us?
Special guest lecture by Tim Marzullo, American neuroscientist
Everything we feel, think, or do originates from the same source: electrical signals flowing through our body. But this is not unique to humans—it’s a universal language of life shared by neurons in our brain, cockroach legs, and even the leaves of a Venus flytrap waiting for its prey.
In this interactive workshop, American neuroscientist Tim Marzullo takes us behind the scenes of biology. Using innovative Backyard Brains equipment, we’ll transform invisible biological processes into sound and images, showing how nature uses electricity for movement, communication, and survival.
About This Workshop
What Will We Explore?
Live measurements: Using Backyard Brains equipment, designed specifically to bring science out of the laboratory, we’ll record the activity of muscles, heart, and brain in real time. We’ll be able to see and hear the electricity our body generates.
Electrical signals within us: We’ll learn how electricity powers biological systems, from a single cell to an entire organism. We’ll see how information in the body actually transforms into movement, reaction, or thought.
Bioelectricity in nature: We’ll go beyond human biology. We’ll compare rapid impulses in insects with the remarkable electrical responses of plants, such as Venus flytraps and basil.
Science through experimentation: The focus is on hands-on work and using measurement instruments. The goal is to see for ourselves how nature uses electricity for communication and movement.
The workshop is designed for everyone, from students and professionals to those who simply want to understand life functions.
About the Speaker
Tim Marzullo is a neuroscientist and co-founder of Backyard Brains. He graduated in biochemistry from the University of Texas at Austin and earned his PhD in neuroscience from the University of Michigan, where he worked on neuroprosthetic applications and brain electrode technology. He also worked at NASA Ames Research Center and NeuroNexus Technologies.
Together with Greg Gage, also an American neuroscientist, he founded Backyard Brains in 2009 with the mission to make neuroscience accessible to everyone through affordable and innovative educational tools. Today he works full-time developing these technologies, which are used in over 50 countries worldwide, including projects such as RoboRoach and fully portable electrophysiological systems.
His goal is to bring brain science closer to everyone through simple tools and practical experiments. He has developed and implemented his projects in America, Chile, South Korea, and Spain, and this is his first visit to Serbia.
Tim combines serious science with engaging experiments, making even the most complex topics clear and interesting to everyone: from experts to those encountering this field for the first time.
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