The Journal of Visualized Experiments

For technically demanding protocols in neuroscience (or any other science) research, a printed protocol is often insufficient to capture all the essentials of a method.  There are usually numerous ‘tricks’ or things that one must pay attention to that are not included in the printed page.  Or, if they are included, they still lack a vivid description. Many techniques require the novice to be taught the technique from a more experienced colleage. Unfortunately, it is not always easy to find someone skilled to be trained from.  Labs which pioneer the techniques have only a limited amount of time and resources available to train outside scientists. How can advanced scientific skills be distributed more broadly and efficiently? A good place to start is the Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE). It’s a YouTube for science protocols.

So that's how you do it!

JoVE is a growing collection of video protocols that walk a researcher through the procedure, allowing one to actually see the steps used, rather than just imaging what performing the protocol might be like. Want to know how to glue a live fruit fly to a stick?  Just watch the video! Wonder how to load calcium dyes onto the cortex of a mouse? Just watch the video!  This looks to be a fantastic resource for people that are learning a technique, that want to see other possible ways to do a procedure, or those who are simply curious about what a neuroscientist actually does at work.

I should make one for glutamate imaging!