It goes without saying that most kids think bugs are cool. After all, there’s a reason why ant farms and insect jars have been popular toys for several generations now. Michigan’s Greg Gage is hoping to capitalize on this fasciation with bugs in order to spark a brain science revolution.
After a first career in electrical engineering, Gage fell in love with neuroscience and now he wants to share his enthusiasm with kids. While Gage was earning his Ph.D. in neuroscience at the University of Michigan, he and fellow student Tim Marzullo gave lessons about the brain to kids at nearby inner-city schools. “But it was never quite as cool as what we were doing in our labs,” Gage told Melissa Pandika of Ozy magazine.
So they started to build a machine that would allow students to record when the neurons of insects experienced a voltage spike, sending an electrical impulse to communicate the desire to move a leg, for example. Gage and Marzullo set a goal to only spend $100 and use materials available at hardware stores to build their SpikerBox. Even when the original prototype failed, it generated enough interest that they garnered sufficient donations to continue their quest.
The eventual result — dubbed Backyard Brains — offers a variety of kits and tools for kids to launch their own neuroscience investigations, including the EMG SpikerBox that amplifies the “hidden messages” of the user’s nervous system, and the Roboroach, a kit of tools that allows the user to attach electronics to a roach to briefly control its movements through the microstimulation of its neurons. (The Roboroach is based on a current treatment for Parkinson’s disease.) Backyard Brains also hosts workshops to teach kids how to build their own SpikerBoxes.
The Backyard Brains website outlines the mission behind these products: “The brain is complex, but extremely fascinating. We need more people interested in studying the brain because 20% of the world will have a neurological disorder…and there are no cures!” Gage told Pandika. “I want to find extremely smart people who typically decide ‘I want to be a doctor’ or ‘I want to go to Wall Street.’ We’re hoping to start a neuro-revolution.”
MORE: If You Want Your Daughter to Dream Big, Have Her Play with This Classic Toy
Tag: michigan
You Won’t Believe What This Veteran Received Upon His Homecoming
After serving overseas in Afghanistan as a Marine and sustaining a serious injury, 25-year-old Christopher Holcomb recently returned to his hometown of Taylor, Michigan, to be reunited with his wife, Darcy, and their 3-year-old daughter, Veyda. Little did he know that his community had planned an extra special homecoming for the military family — emphasis on the word “home.”
Last week, the Holcomb family showed up to a house that they thought they were finalists to win through a local contest. But when they walked through the door and saw family pictures hanging on the wall, they discovered that it was theirs.
For weeks, volunteers from various organizations gathered together to get the house ready for the big reveal. The Taylor Veterans Home Program awarded the home and allowed for structural improvements, such as a new foundation, a new roof and a hot water system. Volunteers from the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters and Millwrights handled the renovations, using funds from the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program and donated materials from the Home Depot Foundation and its local stores. Enchanted Makeovers furnished the home and added the final touches, such as personal family photos.
MORE: This Innovative Program Found Housing for 200 Homeless Veterans in 100 Days
But the house wasn’t the only surprise in store for the Holcombs. A local construction company, Barton Malow, gave Chris something he truly needed: a good job. Through the national organization Helmets to Hardhats, Holcomb will soon begin a paid apprenticeship where he’ll be trained as a carpenter. Darcy received a closet full of new clothes, thanks to CAbi Clothing. And for his young daughter? She received a chance at a promising future, with full-ride scholarship to Schoolcraft College.
“It really feels good to have the community you grew up from since a little kid, to have the community reach out like this and help your family like this,” Holcomb told the small group gathered at the home. “It really is truly amazing, and I truly am blessed.”
ALSO: These Veterans Rallied to Save a Fellow Vet From the Cold
How This Third Grader Makes Sure None of His Classmates Go Hungry
We’ve heard about fathers getting behind the cause. We’ve heard of entire states getting behind it, too. Now, an elementary school student is also making sure no kid at his school goes without a hot lunch.
Eight-year-old Cayden Taipalus from Howell, Michigan’s Challenger Elementary was inspired to take action after seeing a schoolmate getting denied a meal because he didn’t have adequate funds in his meal account, Detroit-based ABC affiliate WXYZ reports.
“I was in lunch one day getting lunch and a kid in front of me didn’t have enough money and they had to put their tray down and that made me sad,” the generous boy told the TV station. “So I went home and asked my mom what I can do to help.”
MORE: Meet the Chef Who Believes Everyone Deserves a Five-Star Meal
To raise funds, Cayden accepts donations and recycles bottles for money, too. In just two short weeks, he was able to pay for a whopping 295 lunches. In addition to paying off delinquent lunch accounts, he also adds money to them as well, so no one has to worry about whether or not they can afford future meals.
Denying a school child a hot meal is not only humiliating, for some children, it could be the one nutritious meal he or she gets for the day. And while Cayden’s elementary school never allows someone to go hungry, the youngster wants to make sure that no kid ever has to settle for the reduced lunch option of a cold cheese sandwich.
To help Cayden’s cause, you can donate on his online fundraising page, fundrazr.com/campaigns.
Meet the CEO Who Wants to Bring 50,000 Immigrants to Detroit
Tim Bryan, the CEO of Detroit software company GalaxE Solutions, is passionate about the good he thinks new immigrants bring to America. After all, his own dad is a Czech immigrant. He’s so keen to reinvigorate Detroit that he thought up the slogan “Outsource to Detroit,” and hung a huge billboard with these words on his company’s downtown office building, hoping to encourage companies to hire workers in Detroit to do jobs they might consider outsourcing overseas. Bryan gives his whole-hearted support to Michigan Governor Rick Snyder’s plan to ask the federal government to grant the state 50,000 visas for skilled immigrants who are willing to move to Detroit over the next five years.
Bryan told Khalil AlHajal of MLive Detroit, “I believe that this country prospers when people come from other countries to work here. Our immigration rules need to be revised both on the practical level, based on the fact that we need certain skill sets for our economy to remain competitive, but also the fact that our country was built on the backs of immigrants.” And if those visas come through, Bryan just might put up a billboard to welcome his new workers.
MORE: Meet The Undocumented Immigrants Who Created An App To Press for Immigration Reform
How a $300 Million Donation Kept These Classic Artworks in Detroit
The Detroit Institute of Art is home to some of finest works in America. But with the city embroiled in bankruptcy proceedings, some creditors are arguing that it’s not an “essential municipal asset.” If they have their way, many of the institute’s most valuable pieces, some of which were recently valued north of seven figures, would go on the auction block.
MORE: How soda cans and computer fans keep Detroit families warm.
But a recent $300 million donation, pooled from the Ford Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, and others, will help Detroit pay off its pension debts, allowing the Institute of Art to hold onto its collection. Below are the works that received the highest valuations from Christie’s auction house in December; they would’ve been the first ones to go.
1. “The Wedding Dance” ($100-200 million), Pieter Bruegel the Elder
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2. “Self Portrait with Straw Hat” ($80-150 million), Vincent van Gogh
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3. “The Visitation” ($50-90 million), Rembrandt
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4. “Le guéridon (the Window)” ($40-80 million), Henri Matisse
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5. “Danseuses au foyer (Dancers in the Green Room)” ($20-40 million), Edgar Degas
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6. “Gladioli” ($12-20 million), Claude Monet
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7. “Scheme for the decoration of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel” ($12-20 million), Michelangelo
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8. “Tobias and Three Archangels” ($8-15 million), Neri di Bicci
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9. “Madonna and Child” ($4-10 million), Giovanni Bellini
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MORE: Why don’t more poor kids get to see art?
All images courtesy Detroit Institute of Art.
Meet the Landlord Whose Rentals Include a Second Lease on Life
Twelve years ago, Sidney Moore of Battle Creek, Mich., was working at a grocery store when he broke his finger trying to stop a shoplifter. The store offered him work he could perform with his injury, but Moore had a better idea: He cashed out his 401K and bought his first rental property. He earned enough money as a landlord that he continued to buy more properties, and as his business took off, he decided he would only rent to low-income and homeless families. Moore now owns 32 properties, and with the help of the Red Cross, the city of Battle Creek and private donations, he keeps rents low and provides families with the necessities they need to live. He even waives security deposits for those who can’t afford them. Moore’s generosity hasn’t been easy — he’s not sure whether he’ll be able to pay some property taxes that are due this year. But as he told Chuck Carson of the Battle Creek Enquirer, “The more I got into it, I found it’s what made me happy when I looked at a person who didn’t have a chance in the world, when everybody turned them down except me. They just need another chance and I’m that second chance.”
Want a Free House? Write Two Paragraphs to Win It
It’s like a writer-in-residence program, only permanent. A clever new nonprofit called Write-a-House is giving away homes in Detroit to a select few writers, in the hopes that it’ll entice them to come to the city and stay.
The goal is to support writers in need and, ultimately, to bolster Detroit’s growing creative community. At the same time, Write-a-House hopes to revitalize Detroit’s neighborhoods: it purchased abandoned homes in a high-vacancy part of town and it’s working with another nonprofit, Detroit Young Builders, which gives at-risk youth training in construction, to renovate the houses before giving them away.
Low-income writers of any stripe — journalists, authors, poets, etc. — and from anywhere are eligible to apply for the residency. The winners, chosen by a panel of literary types, will be asked to finish the renovations, live in their house for two years, blog about it for Write-a-House and actively participate in the local literary community. Then, they’ll get the deed.
The first three houses under renovation are all within walking distance of each other in a working-class, mostly Bangladeshi and African-American neighborhood north of Hamtramck. If all goes as planned, Write-a-House will fix up another three homes in another neighborhood the following year and then do it all over again the year after that.
“Our long, long term goal involves building a literary colony in Detroit,” Write-a-House says on its website. Who knows? Maybe years from now kids will be studying the Detroit Literary Renaissance in English class.
This School Turned Itself Upside Down to Help its Students
Test scores at Clintondale High School near Detroit ranked in the bottom fifth of all schools in Michigan until the principal decided to try an untested idea called “flipped classrooms.” Now students at Clintondale work on “homework” in class with the help of their teachers, and watch videos of their teachers’ lectures, Khan Academy math instruction, and other digital resources at home. They can review the lectures as many times as they need to understand the concepts. Since many of the students at Clintondale can’t afford computers, the school provides them extra time in the school’s media lab each day. One senior who raised his GPA from a 2.5 to a 3.5 since the flip is able to watch the videos on his phone during his long bus commute home. The principal reports that since the school flipped its classrooms three years ago, graduation rates have soared to 90 percent, college acceptance rates are now at 80 percent, and ACT scores have gained at a rate that’s double the national average. Now that’s worth doing a handstand over.
Yoga for Youths?
Yoga isn’t just for grownups anymore. In Detroit, Danialle Karmanos came up with a plan to fight the childhood obesity epidemic by establishing a yoga program for young kids. She’s working with physical education instructors and other pros to build a network of volunteer yoga instructors for the Work It Out program, which brings yoga classes to kids at underserved schools in the area. She started in 2005, formed a non-profit organization in 2008, and since then has brought yoga to more than 3,000 kids in and around Detroit. The lessons of the class go far beyond basic stretching. Kids are learning breathing exercises, so they’re coping better with stress and anxiety. And they’re also developing healthy eating habits; 69% of students are already reporting changes in their diet.
Poetry Program Offers Hope to Detroit Schoolchildren
Poet Terry Blackhawk founded the InsideOut Literary Arts Project as a way to help public schoolchildren and teenagers in the struggling city of Detroit express themselves and assure them that their voices matter. InsideOut brings volunteer teacher-poets into 27 Detroit public schools and serves 5000 kids each year through writing workshops during classes and after school. At the end of the year, InsideOut gives each student a published book featuring their work. InsideOut also hosts regular poetry readings by students, some of whom continue to write poetry after graduation.