Every time I hold a brain, I am struck by the thought that this tissue contains the entire memories, sensations, behaviors, and motivations of a creature. This poem was my attempt to capture that feeling of wonder at the brain during an electrophysiology experiment. In between stanzas are the methods for an experiment involving extracellular recording of action currents, which records the electrical activity of a neuron. With the chaotic imagery I hoped to describe the indescribable and inspire a sense of awe at these truly incredible brain cells.

This poem was written from the collective perspective of neurons to convey my own scientific wonder the brain. I contrasted scientific prose with poetry to highlight the magical moments of experiments you don’t see in a scientific paper. I repeated images of the ocean and space, two other expanses that inspire awe, are complex, and are mysteries to science. I used chaotic and vivd imagery, hoping to create a sense of being overwhelmed and capture the failures of language to describe what it is to be a neuron.

The poem describes an electrophysiological experiment. The italicized lines are the methods I used for extracellular recordings of action currents. Neurons convey information through electrical currents. In an extracellular recording, a small glass pipette is positioned on the cell membrane. This pipette then records the changes in the electrical current of the cell, which is a proxy for activity.

The first stanza describes the electrical nature of neurons. I reference the fact that the electrical charge is carried in part on sodium (salt) ions and channels open like gates to let ions into the cell. The texture of brain is similar to jello, which is why I described neurons as electric jello. In electrophysiology, the brain slices are kept in solutions where oxygen is bubbled through the liquid, hence soda-pop dish.

The second stanza describes the physical structure of neurons. The end of the neuron that receives signals is a dendrite, which comes from the Greek word for tree. These structures are branched like treetops. Neurons communicate at points called synapses. Many of them are three-part tripartite synapses consisting of two connecting neurons and an astrocyte, a star-shaped cell that inspired some of the imagery. This stanza also refers to the process of creating memories. While the exact details are unknown, we know that memories are physical changes to how these cells act. I reference one mechanism, long term potentiation, where a synapse or response of a neuron grows stronger with more frequent or stronger stimulation.

The third stanza describes the use of genetically encoded fluorescent markers. For my experiments, I used neurons that expressed green fluorescent protein (GFP). This protein glows bright green and is derived from jellyfish.

The fourth stanza describes neurons firing action potentials and how they are recorded. Old electrophysiology rigs had a speaker attached to them that would translate electrical current into sounds like crackling white noise, so the scientist could hear when their neurons fire. The action currents are also recorded on graphs, which to me are like translating the language of the neurons into something we can understand.

In the final stanza, the collective voice of the neurons addresses the experimenter. This stanza references a meaningful memory of being overwhelmed by the universe, mirroring how overwhelming the brain can be. Finally, an emergent property is a feature of an entire system that the individual components of the system do not have. Consciousness and a sense of self are emergent properties of these incredible neurons.