Intro to BN open textbook

Just a few more day to submit to the undergraduate Art in Neuroscience competition! Students, get your art work submitted. Winners are published on the Intro to BN textbook website!

Art in Neuroscience Competition Guidelines Announcing the inaugural 2025 Art in Neuroscience competition for undergraduates! The editorial team for Introduction to Behavioral Neuroscience, an open-access textbook resource, is inviting submiss...

Attention, undergrad neuro enthusiasts! We are excited to announce our first annual Art in Neuroscience competition. We are seeking art submissions related to #neuroscience from current undergrads.

Winners are published on our textbook website!

Due Nov 1.

Guidelines here: tinyurl.com/AiNrules

Re-upping this post as a reminder for all those instructors starting to realize (read: panic) that Fall is almost here. Intro to BN has great (and free!) in class application problems you can add to your Neuro classes.

Open educational resources, student efficacy, and user perceptions: a synthesis of research published between 2015 and 2018 - Educational technology research and development Although textbooks are a traditional component in many higher education contexts, their increasing price have led many students to forgo purchasing them and some faculty to seek substitutes. One such ...

Open educational resources are free, but are they any good?

Checkout this metanalysis! link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Overall:
1) Students in classes that used OERs achieved the same or better learning outcomes as those in classes without OERs
2) Students and faculty liked using OERs!

Data reuse represents an opportunity to accelerate the pace of science, reduce costs and increase the value of our collective research investments. Data reuse represents an opportunity to accelerate the pace of science, reduce costs and increase the value of our collective research investments. New tools that make open data easier to use—and new…

If you're planning a study, search DANDI or OpenNeuro first to see if relevant data already exists. If you're teaching, incorporate open datasets into your curriculum, writes @bendichter.com

#neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/open-neurosc...

Average Cost of College Textbooks [2023]: Prices per Year We examined all the factors involved with the average cost of college textbooks and materials to find out why they're so expensive.

Did you know:

25% of US college students worked extra hours to pay for textbooks; 11% skipped meals!

65% didn't get a textbook because of cost!

Instructors, you can stop this madness. Use open ed resources. Eliminate book cost as a barrier to education.

Source: educationdata.org/average-cost...

YouTube video by OpenStax Meet the author: Dr. Kevin Wilson (Introduction to Behavioral Neuroscience)

Bonus: Meet Dr. Wilson and hear some of his advice for undergrads in this meet-the-author video interview!

youtu.be/9_Z1UmkmC-o

Cartoon of students in a lecture hall watching a video with a gorilla in the middle of a crowd. One student has a thought bubble that says "What gorilla?"

Spotlight: How do you miss a gorilla in the room? How do you decide to skip the big party so you can study for an exam? These seem like different questions but they are both tied to Attention & Executive function. Learn about it in Ch 19 from author Kevin Wilson!

tinyurl.com/itobnch19

YouTube video by OpenStax Explaining calcium imaging (An OpenStax resource)

Calcium imaging. It kinda sounds like scifi to say you can see calcium. But it's real! Calcium imaging tools fluoresce when lots of calcium is around and watching these glowing waves can help tell us what brain cells are up to.

Check out this video by Jamie Jontes to see how!
youtu.be/xAmpopXWXuY

YouTube video by OpenStax Meet the author: Dr. Amy Griffin (Introduction to Behavioral Neuroscience)

Bonus: meet Dr. Griffin and learn more about her research and some advice she has for young scientists!

youtu.be/6kDovvk52I8

Diagram of a human brain showing the location of major systems associated with memory. Striatum in middle of brain: procedural memory. Amygdala in temporal lobe: emotion association. Hippocampus in temporal lobe: Episodic memory.

I can remember my preschool best friend's birthday but not where I parked my gosh darn car. What's up with that? Memory is weird. And cool! Learn more about it in Ch 18 Learning and Memory by Amy Griffin.

tinyurl.com/ItoBNch18

#Neuroscience

Bonus: check out our methods video appendix to help explain core neuroscience techniques and see them in action.

We've also got author interviews. You can learn about the authors of each chapter. Their science journey. Their golden nuggets of advice.

And yes, that's all completely free too!

OpenStax | Free Textbooks Online with No Catch OpenStax offers free college textbooks for all types of students, making education accessible & affordable for everyone. Browse our list of available subjects!

Looking for a textbook for your fall course in #Neuroscience? How about a free one? Intro to Behavioral Neuroscience is a completely free, online text perfect for many introductory, college-level neuroscience classes. Use one chapter or all 19.

openstax.org/details/book...

YouTube video by OpenStax Meet the author: Dr. Staci Bilbo (Introduction to Behavioral Neuroscience)

Bonus: Hear from Dr. Bilbo herself in this Meet-the-Author video:

youtu.be/EeLwYdx8QIA

a group of people sitting in a theater with the words so hot right now written on the bottom Alt: a group of people sitting in a theater with the words so hot right now written on the bottom

Spotlight: That Neuroimmunology, it's so hot right now. But how can you teach it to students who may not be ready to dive into a Nature paper? We've got you covered! Ch 17 by @sbilbo.bsky.social covers #neuroimmunology basics for entry level undergrads.

Free to anyone here: tinyurl.com/itobnch17

Hey, that's us! Read more here about our open access neuroscience textbook and what we have to offer for your courses.

Have you ever wondered how #OpenStax books are made? Anthony Palmiotto, our director of higher education, describes each step from author recruitment to review to publication: openstax.org/blog/how-ope...

YouTube video by OpenStax Meet the author: Dr. Matt Carter (Introduction to Behavioral Neuroscience)

Bonus: Meet Dr. Carter and hear about his science journal in this meet-the-author video:

youtu.be/aDL4cCfr99g

Image of human torso with text “Homeostasis is the maintenance of a stable environment for factors necessary for survival” Icons to present balance in blood oxygen levels, body temperature, caloric intake and fluid intake are shown."

Spotlight: Balance is important. From the levels of oxygen in our blood to our caloric intake, maintaining a stable internal environment is critical for our survival. Learn more about this process of Homeostasis in Ch16 by Matt Carter. #neuroscience #homeostasis

tinyurl.com/itobnch16

Using this textbook for my Biological Psychology course this semester and can highly recommend. Open educational resources are the way to go!

YouTube video by OpenStax Explaining Chemogenetics (An OpenStax resource)

Video 3(of 3) in our series on changing brain activity in animal models: #Chemogenetics.

This video by Corina Damian & Juan Song explains how small molecules coupled with genetically modified receptors can activate or inhibit neurons and thereby teach us about the brain!

youtu.be/LOIlPlfB8u8

YouTube video by OpenStax Explaining optogenetics (An OpenStax resource)

Video 2 in our series on changing brain activity in animals models: Optogenetics!

This video by Belgin Yalcin explains how we can use light to activate or inhibit neurons and thereby learn about the brain and what it does!

youtu.be/5wlmO8TTjhE

Today we start a method series focusing on ways to change brain activity in animal models.

Let's start with neurotoxic lesions. Watch this video by Daniel McCallum to learn about how we use lesions of tiny bits of brain to figure out what behaviors different regions support.

youtu.be/EqQwjmsktbA

Reposting with the regular reminder that if you are a #neuroscience instructor, you likely have the power to choose what textbooks you use. Assigning open educational resources like this is one way we can make the way clear for students to succeed.

Bonus, meet the authors and hear how they got into science and why they think bio rhythms and sleep are so fascinating:

Dr. Mahoney: youtu.be/0MTDfSJ0Kn8
Dr. Mintz: youtu.be/1hRNIN2GUI4

Top is a diagram of a sagittal human brain with projections from the TMN (histamine), raphe nucleus (5HT), locus coeruleus (NE) in brainstem. Projections extend widely throughout the cortex. LDT/PPT (ACh) sends projections to the thalamus. Bottom shows a cartoon of a balance with VLPO/sleep on one side and TMN, Rn, LC and PPT/LDT with Wake on the other side. Sleep transitions are regulated by this 'flip flop switch'.

Spotlight: Are you sleeping well nowadays? Sleep is an integral part of our #circadianrhythm. Organisms that don't sleep also show biological rhythms, even bacteria! Learn more in Ch 15 Biological Rhythms & Sleep by @mahoneymeg.bsky.social & @docofclocks.bsky.social

tinyurl.com/itobnc15

YouTube video by OpenStax Explaining transmission electron microscopy (An OpenStax resource)

Synaptic vesicles are ~40 nm wide. How do we even see something that small, much less measure it? Transmission electron microscopy! Learn more about TEM in this methods video by Samuel Kim and Louisa Dal Cengio. #electronmicroscopy #neuroscience
youtu.be/FtVvpRKGJsw

YouTube video by OpenStax Meet the author: Dr. Shivon Robinson (Introduction to Behavioral Neuroscience)

Bonus: Meet Dr. Robinson and hear about her science journey and current research in this meet-the-author video:
youtu.be/ls_rJ3EuTRM

Cartoon representations of drugs being administered intravenously (1min), intranasally (1-2 min), via inhalation (1-2 min), orally (20min-1hr) and transdermal (hours)

Graph of plasma concentration (ng/L, y axis) versus time (hours). 3 curves show the plasma concentration of a drug over time for low, middle and high dose, revealing different absorption rates. Only the middle curve shows plasma concentrations within the therapeutic range (above “ineffective”) without inducing toxic effects.

Spotlight: Drugs can powerfully change the brain. Sometimes this is a medical miracle, relieving pain or anxiety. But too much of any drug can be toxic and some drugs lead to addiction. Learn more in Ch14 Psychopharmacology by Dr. @shivonrobinson.bsky.social!

tinyurl.com/itobnch14

We almost let the day slip away without posting about an open ed. resource in #Neuroscience. Almost! Check out this Neuroanatomy lab:
nba.uth.tmc.edu/neuroanatomy...

It's got oodles of illustrations and self-quizzes where you click on pictures of brains! Appears to be for undergrad-level neuro.