Now in our 13th year of bringing you beautiful imagery from biomedical science every day

Search the archive of over 4000 images

Enter the Arena
26 November 2017

Enter the Arena

Doing neuroscience research doesn’t have to involve lots of flashy expensive machines – all it takes is a few cheap bits of kit and a little imagination. The machine on the left is an ethoscope, which is used to study the behaviour of tiny fruit flies or other animals. The flies enter an ‘arena’ at the bottom of the device and are automatically tracked by a computerised video camera embedded in the top. To make this technology available to scientists on any budget, researchers have developed open-source instructions to make an ethoscope using 3D printing, a cheap video camera and a simple Raspberry Pi computer. For those on a tight budget, such as school labs, there are even instructions for LEGO and cardboard versions. By comparing animals that have been genetically modified or treated in different ways, any budding neuroscientist can start to unpick the complex interplay between genes and behaviour.

Written by Kat Arney

Search The Archive

Submit An Image

Follow on Tumblr

Follow on Instagram

What is BPoD?

BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

Read More

BPoD is also available in Catalan at www.bpod.cat with translations by the University of Valencia.