ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Greg Gage - Neuroscientist
TED Fellow Greg Gage helps kids investigate the neuroscience in their own backyards.

Why you should listen

As half of Backyard Brains, neuroscientist and engineer Greg Gage builds the SpikerBox -- a small rig that helps kids understand the electrical impulses that control the nervous system. He's passionate about helping students understand (viscerally) how our brains and our neurons work, because, as he said onstage at TED2012, we still know very little about how the brain works -- and we need to start inspiring kids early to want to know more.

Before becoming a neuroscientist, Gage worked as an electrical engineer making touchscreens. As he told the Huffington Post: "Scientific equipment in general is pretty expensive, but it's silly because before [getting my PhD in neuroscience] I was an electrical engineer, and you could see that you could make it yourself. So we started as a way to have fun, to show off to our colleagues, but we were also going into classrooms around that time and we thought, wouldn't it be cool if you could bring these gadgets with us so the stuff we were doing in advanced Ph.D. programs in neuroscience, you could also do in fifth grade?" His latest pieces of gear: the Roboroach, a cockroach fitted with an electric backpack that makes it turn on command, and BYB SmartScope, a smartphone-powered microscope.

More profile about the speaker
Greg Gage | Speaker | TED.com
TED-Ed

Greg Gage: The cockroach beatbox

Filmed:
831,513 views

By dissecting a cockroach ... yes, live on stage ... TED Fellow and neuroscientist Greg Gage shows how brains receive and deliver electric impulses -- and how legs can respond. This talk comes from the TED-Ed project.
- Neuroscientist
TED Fellow Greg Gage helps kids investigate the neuroscience in their own backyards. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

Saat kita belajar tentang otak,
00:13
When you think about the brainotak,
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cukup sulit untuk memahaminya,
00:15
it's difficultsulit to understandmemahami,
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bandingkan jika saya bertanya,
bagaimana kerja jantung,
00:17
because if I were to askmeminta you right now,
how does the heartjantung work,
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00:20
you would instantlysegera tell me it's a pumppompa.
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kamu bisa segera menjawab
seperti sebuah pompa.
00:23
It pumpspompa blooddarah.
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Jantung memompa darah.
Jika ditanya tentang paru-paru,
00:24
If I were to askmeminta about your lungsparu-paru,
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jawabannya untuk pertukaran oksigen
dan karbon dioksida. Sederhana.
00:26
you would say it exchangespertukaran
oxygenoksigen for carbonkarbon dioxidedioksida.
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00:28
That's easymudah.
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Tetapi jika ditanya tentang kerja otak,
sulit untuk memahaminya
00:29
If I were to askmeminta you how the brainotak worksbekerja,
it's hardkeras to understandmemahami
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karena kamu tidak bisa langsung
paham hanya dengan melihat otak.
00:32
because you can't just look
at a brainotak and understandmemahami what it is.
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Otak bukan benda mekanis,
bukan pompa, bukan kantong udara.
00:36
It's not a mechanicalmekanis objectobyek,
not a pumppompa, not an airbagairbag.
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Otak itu, jika kamu pegang dengan tangan
saat sudah mati,
00:38
It's just like, if you helddiadakan it
in your handtangan when it was deadmati,
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otak hanyalah seonggok lemak.
00:41
it's just a piecebagian of fatlemak.
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Untuk tahu bagaimana otak bekerja,
kamu harus masuk ke otak yang hidup,
00:43
To understandmemahami how the brainotak worksbekerja,
you have to go insidedalam a livinghidup brainotak.
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00:47
Because the brain'sotak not mechanicalmekanis,
the brainotak is electricallistrik and it's chemicalbahan kimia.
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Karena otak tidak mekanis,
tetapi bersifat elektris dan kimiawi.
00:51
Your brainotak is madeterbuat out of
100 billionmilyar cellssel, calledbernama neuronsneuron.
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Otakmu terdiri atas 100 miliar sel,
yang disebut neuron.
00:53
And these neuronsneuron communicatemenyampaikan
with eachsetiap other with electricitylistrik.
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Dan neuron ini saling berkomunikasi
menggunakan listrik.
00:57
And we're going to eavesdropmenguping
in on a conversationpercakapan betweenantara two cellssel,
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Dan kita akan menguping
percakapan antara dua sel,
01:01
and we're going to listen
to something calledbernama a spikepaku.
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dan kita akan mendengarkan sesuatu
yang disebut spike.
01:03
But we're not going to recordmerekam my brainotak
or your brainotak or your teachers'guru brainsotak,
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Tetapi kita tidak akan merekam otak saya
atau otakmu atau otak gurumu,
01:07
we're going to use our good
friendteman the cockroachkecoa.
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kita akan menggunakan
teman baik kita, si kecoa.
01:10
Not just because I think they're coolkeren,
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Selain karena saya pikir mereka keren,
01:12
but because they have brainsotak
very similarserupa to oursmilik kita.
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otak mereka juga sangat mirip dengan kita.
01:14
So if you learnbelajar a little bitsedikit
about how theirmereka brainsotak work,
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Jadi kalau kamu pelajari otaknya,
01:17
we're going to learnbelajar a lot
about how our brainsotak work.
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kita belajar juga tentang kerja otak kita.
01:19
I'm going to put them
in some iceEs waterair here
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Saya akan celupkan
kecoa ini dalam air es.
01:22
And then --
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Lalu --
01:24
AudiencePenonton: EwEw!
GregGreg GabeGabe: Yeah ...
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Penonton: Aw!
Greg Gabe (GG): Ya...
01:26
Right now they're becomingmenjadi anesthetizedmembius.
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Lihatlah sekarang mereka sudah terbius.
01:28
Because they're colddingin bloodedBerdarah,
they becomemenjadi the temperaturesuhu of the waterair
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Karena kecoa berdarah dingin,
suhu tubuhnya menyesuaikan air
01:31
and they can't controlkontrol it
so they just basicallypada dasarnya "chillaxchillax," right?
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dan tak bisa mengubahnya
jadi mereka "chillax" saja, kan?
Mereka tidak akan merasakan apapun,
01:35
They're not going to feel anything,
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dan sekarang kamu jadi tahu
apa yang akan kita lakukan,
01:37
whichyang maymungkin tell you a little
about what we're going to do,
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yaitu percobaan ilmiah
untuk memahami otak.
01:39
a scientificilmiah experimentpercobaan
to understandmemahami the brainotak.
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01:42
So ...
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Jadi ...
Ini adalah kaki si kecoa.
01:44
This is the legkaki of a cockroachkecoa.
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01:46
And a cockroachkecoa
has all these beautifulindah hairsrambut
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Dan kecoa punya 'rambut-rambut'
01:48
and prickliespricklies all over it.
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dan duri indah di permukaannya.
01:50
UnderneathDi bawah eachsetiap one of those is a cellsel,
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Di bawah setiap duri itu terdapat sel,
dan sel itu adalah neuron
yang akan mengirim informasi
01:53
and this cell'ssel a neuronneuron
that is going to sendKirim informationinformasi
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tentang angin atau getaran.
01:56
about windangin or vibrationgetaran.
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Sulit untuk menangkap kecoa,
karena ia merasakan kedatanganmu,
01:57
If you ever try to catchmenangkap a cockroachkecoa,
it's hardkeras because they can feel you comingkedatangan
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kamu baru bergerak,
mereka sudah lari.
02:01
before you're even there,
they startmulai runningberlari.
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Sel neuron itu mengirim informasi ke otak
02:03
These cellssel are zippingzipping up
this informationinformasi up to the brainotak
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menggunakan akson yang membawa
pesan elektronik di dalamnya.
02:06
usingmenggunakan those little axonsAkson
with electronicelektronik messagespesan in there.
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Kita akan merekamnya dengan
menancapkan jarum pentul.
02:09
We're going to recordmerekam
by stickingpelekatan a pinpin right in there.
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Kita harus lepas kaki kecoanya --
02:11
We need to take off the legkaki
of a cockroachkecoa --
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tenang, kakinya bisa tumbuh lagi --
02:14
don't worrykuatir, they'llmereka akan growtumbuh back --
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02:16
then we're going to put two pinsPIN in there.
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lalu kita akan tusukkan
dua jarum di sana.
Ini jarum logam.
02:18
These are metallogam pinsPIN.
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02:19
One will pickmemilih up this electronicelektronik messagepesan,
this electriclistrik messagepesan is going by.
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Satu jarum akan menangkap pesan
elektroniknya, yang akan lewat situ.
02:23
So, we're now going to do the surgeryoperasi,
let's see if you guys can see this.
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Jadi, sekarang kita akan mengoperasi,
entah kalian tega melihatnya.
02:28
Yeah, it's grosskotor ...
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Yah, ini menjijikkan...
02:32
All right. So there we go.
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Baik. Ini dia.
02:35
You guys can see his legkaki right there.
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Kalian bisa lihat kakinya di sana.
02:37
Now I'm going to take this legkaki,
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Sekarang akan kuambil kaki itu.
02:39
I'm going to put it in this inventionpenemuan
that we camedatang up with
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Akan kuletakkan di alat yang kami temukan
kita sebut Spikerbox --
02:41
calledbernama the SpikerboxSpikerbox --
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dan ini bisa mengganti alat-alat
lab penelitian yang mahal,
02:43
and this replacesmenggantikan lots of expensivemahal
equipmentperalatan in a researchpenelitian lablaboratorium,
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02:46
so you guys can do this
in your ownsendiri hightinggi schoolssekolah,
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jadi kalian bisa lakukan ini
di sekolah kalian,
02:49
or in your ownsendiri basementsbasement if it's me.
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atau kalau aku di ruang
bawah tanah.
02:53
(AudiencePenonton: LaughterTawa)
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Penonton: (tertawa)
02:55
So, there.
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Jadi, begini.
02:59
Can you guys see that?
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Bisakah kalian lihat?
03:01
AlrightBaik-baik saja, so I'm going to go aheaddi depan
and turnbelok this on.
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Baik, akan kulanjutkan
menyalakan alat ini.
Saya colokkan.
03:06
I'm going to plugsteker it in.
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(Suara gemeresak)
03:08
(TuningTuning soundsuara)
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03:09
To me, this is the mostpaling beautifulindah
soundsuara in the worlddunia.
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Bagi saya, ini suara terindah di dunia.
Inilah aktivitas otakmu sekarang.
03:11
This is what your brainotak
is doing right now.
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Seratus miliar sel otakmu-lah yang
membuat suara seperti hujan ini.
03:13
You have 100 billionmilyar cellssel
makingmembuat these raindrop-typejenis raindrop noisessuara.
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Mari kita lihat penampakannya,
03:16
Let's take a look at what it looksterlihat like,
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kita tampilkan di layar iPad.
03:18
let's pullTarik it up on the iPadiPad screenlayar.
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Saya pasangkan iPad juga ke alat ini.
03:20
I pluggedterpasang my iPadiPad into here as well.
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Ingat tadi kita bilang di akson
muncul spike.
03:22
So rememberingat we said
the axonAkson looksterlihat like a spikepaku.
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03:24
So we're going to take a look
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Kita akan lihat
03:25
at what one of them
looksterlihat like in just a briefsingkat secondkedua.
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penampakan salah satunya
untuk beberapa detik.
03:28
We're going to tapkeran here,
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Kita ketuk di sini,
untuk mengurangi noise-nya.
03:29
so we can sortmenyortir of averagerata-rata this guy.
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03:31
So there we see it.
That's an actiontindakan potentialpotensi.
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Nah kita bisa lihat sekarang.
Itulah potensial aksi.
03:34
You've got 100 billionmilyar cellssel
in your brainotak doing this right now,
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Kamu punya 100 miliar sel di
otakmu sedang melakukan ini,
mengirimkan semua informasi
tentang yang kamu lihat dan dengar.
03:37
sendingpengiriman all this informationinformasi back
about what you're seeingmelihat, hearingpendengaran.
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Kita bisa bilang sel ini
03:40
We alsojuga said this is a cellsel
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akan mengambil informasi
tentang getaran pada angin.
03:41
that's going to be takingpengambilan up informationinformasi
about vibrationsgetaran in the windangin.
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03:45
So what if we do an experimentpercobaan?
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Bagaimana kalau kita buat percobaan?
03:46
We can actuallysebenarnya blowpukulan on this
and hearmendengar if we see a changeperubahan.
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Kita bisa, lho, meniup ini dan
melihat pengaruhnya.
Apakah kalian siap?
03:49
Are you guys going to be readysiap?
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Jika kutiup di sini, katakan
kalau kalian dengar sesuatu.
03:50
If I blowpukulan on it you tell me
if you hearmendengar anything.
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03:53
(BlowingMeniup)
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(meniup)
03:55
(SoundSuara changesperubahan)
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(suara berubah)
03:57
Let me just touchmenyentuh this
with a little penpena here.
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Coba kusentuh bagian ini
dengan pena kecil ini.
03:59
(NoiseKebisingan)
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(gangguan bunyi)
04:02
That was the neuralsaraf firingpenembakan ratemenilai.
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Itu adalah laju tembakan saraf.
Butuh waktu lama sampai hal ini
dipahami oleh ahli neurosains.
04:04
That actuallysebenarnya tookmengambil a while
in neuroscienceilmu saraf to understandmemahami this.
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Ini disebut rate coding:
04:07
This is calledbernama ratemenilai codingcoding:
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yaitu semakin keras kamu tekan sesuatu,
semakin banyak spike-nya,
04:08
the harderlebih keras you presstekan on something,
the more spikespaku there are,
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04:11
and all that informationinformasi
is comingkedatangan up to your brainotak.
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dan semua informasi itu
mendatangi otakmu.
Begitulah kamu memahami segala hal.
04:14
That's how you perceivememahami things.
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Ini adalah satu cara
percobaan listrik pada saraf.
04:15
So that's one way of doing
an experimentpercobaan with electricitylistrik.
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Cara yang lain, otakmu tak hanya
menerima impuls listrik,
04:18
The other way is that your brainotak is not
only takingpengambilan in electricallistrik impulsesimpuls,
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kamu juga mengirimnya.
04:22
you're alsojuga sendingpengiriman out.
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Begitulah caramu menggerakkan otot.
04:24
That's how you movepindah your musclesotot around.
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Kita lihat yang terjadi jika kita
colokkan arus listrik
04:26
Let's see what happensterjadi if I've pluggedterpasang in
something that's electriclistrik
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04:29
into the cockroachkecoa legkaki here.
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ke kaki kecoa ini.
04:31
I'm going to take two pinsPIN,
I'm going to plugsteker them ontoke the cockroachkecoa.
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Saya pakai dua jarum,
kupasangkan pada kecoa.
04:34
I'm going to take the other endakhir,
I'm going to plugsteker in into my iPodiPod.
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Saya ambil satu ujungnya,
kupasangkan pada iPod.
04:38
It's my iPhoneiPhone actuallysebenarnya.
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Itu iPhone sih.
04:39
Do you guys know how your earbudsEarbud
work in your earstelinga?
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Kalian tahu cara kerja earbud
di telingamu?
04:42
You have a batterybaterai
in your phonetelepon, or iPodiPod, right?
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Ponsel atau iPod-mu terisi baterai kan?
04:45
It's sendingpengiriman electricallistrik currentarus
into these magnetsmagnet in your earbudsEarbud
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Ponsel mengirimkan arus listrik ke
magnet di earbud ini
04:48
whichyang shakemenggoyang back and forthsebagainya
and allowmengizinkan you to hearmendengar things.
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yang akan bergetar
dan menghasilkan suara.
04:51
But that current'ssaat ini the samesama currencymata uang
that our brainotak usesmenggunakan,
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Arus itu sama dengan arus listrik
yang dipakai otak kita,
jadi kita bisa mengirim ke kaki kecoa itu
04:54
so we can sendKirim that to our cockroachkecoa legkaki
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dan semoga ini berhasil,
04:55
and hopefullysemoga if this worksbekerja,
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04:57
we can actuallysebenarnya see what happensterjadi
when we playbermain musicmusik into the cockroachkecoa.
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kita bisa mengamati yang terjadi jika
kita mainkan musik ke kecoa.
05:00
Let's take a look.
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Lihatlah.
(alunan musik)
05:03
(MusicMusik beatmengalahkan)
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05:05
Can we turnbelok it up? There we go.
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Bisakah kita keraskan? Ini dia.
05:07
(AudiencePenonton reactsbereaksi and gaspsterengah-engah)
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(Penonton bereaksi dan terhenyak)
05:10
GGGG: So what's happeningkejadian?
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GG: Apa yang terjadi?
05:11
AudiencePenonton: WowWow!
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Penonton: Wow!
05:13
(LaughterTawa)
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(Tertawa)
05:14
So you see what's movingbergerak.
It's movingbergerak on the bassbass.
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Lihatlah apa yang bergerak.
Kakinya bergerak seiring bas.
05:17
All those audiophilesAudiophiles out there,
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Kalian yang penggemar audio,
05:19
if you have awesomemengagumkan, kickingmenendang carmobil stereosstereo,
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jika kamu punya stereo mobil yang keren,
05:21
you know, the bassbass speakersspeaker
are the biggestterbesar speakersspeaker.
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tahulah, speaker bas adalah
yang paling besar.
05:23
The biggestterbesar speakersspeaker
have the longestterpanjang wavesombak,
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Speaker terbesar punya gelombang
terpanjang,
05:26
whichyang have the mostpaling currentarus,
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yang punya arus terbesar,
05:27
and the currentarus is what's causingmenyebabkan
these things to movepindah.
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dan arus itulah yang membuat kaki
bergerak.
05:30
So it's not just speakersspeaker
that are causingmenyebabkan electricitylistrik.
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Dan bukan hanya speaker yang
menghasilkan listrik.
05:33
MicrophonesMikrofon alsojuga causesebab electricitylistrik.
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Mikrofon juga menghasilkan listrik.
05:35
(BeatMengalahkan)
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(bunyi dentuman)
05:36
So I'm going to go aheaddi depan and inviteUndang
anotherlain personorang out on the stagetahap here
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Jadi saya akan lanjutkan dengan
mengundang orang ke panggung
05:40
to help me out with this.
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untuk membantu saya.
05:41
So there we go.
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Inilah dia.
05:42
(BeatboxingBeatbox)
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(musik beatbox)
05:47
This is the first time this has ever
happenedterjadi in the historysejarah of mankindmanusia.
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Ini pertama kalinya terjadi
dalam sejarah manusia.
Manusia ber-beatbox ke kaki kecoa.
05:50
HumanManusia beatboxBeatbox to a cockroachkecoa legkaki.
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Saat kalian kembali ke sekolah,
renungkanlah neurosains
05:53
When you guys go back to your hightinggi schoolsekolah,
think about neuroscienceilmu saraf
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dan bagaimana kalian bisa memulai
revolusi neurosains.
05:56
and how you guys can beginmulai
the neuro-revolutionNeuro-revolusi.
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Terima kasih. Sampai jumpa.
05:59
Thank you very much. ByeDah byeDah.
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06:00
(ApplauseTepuk tangan)
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(Tepuk tangan)
Translated by Deera Army Pramana

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Greg Gage - Neuroscientist
TED Fellow Greg Gage helps kids investigate the neuroscience in their own backyards.

Why you should listen

As half of Backyard Brains, neuroscientist and engineer Greg Gage builds the SpikerBox -- a small rig that helps kids understand the electrical impulses that control the nervous system. He's passionate about helping students understand (viscerally) how our brains and our neurons work, because, as he said onstage at TED2012, we still know very little about how the brain works -- and we need to start inspiring kids early to want to know more.

Before becoming a neuroscientist, Gage worked as an electrical engineer making touchscreens. As he told the Huffington Post: "Scientific equipment in general is pretty expensive, but it's silly because before [getting my PhD in neuroscience] I was an electrical engineer, and you could see that you could make it yourself. So we started as a way to have fun, to show off to our colleagues, but we were also going into classrooms around that time and we thought, wouldn't it be cool if you could bring these gadgets with us so the stuff we were doing in advanced Ph.D. programs in neuroscience, you could also do in fifth grade?" His latest pieces of gear: the Roboroach, a cockroach fitted with an electric backpack that makes it turn on command, and BYB SmartScope, a smartphone-powered microscope.

More profile about the speaker
Greg Gage | Speaker | TED.com