The Body Electric: Signals and Systems
Like Duolingo, but for The Body Electric: Signals and Systems. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
For the part of you with thirty open tabs that never became anything.
A short one: 24 levels across 3 sections, about 48 minutes end to end, roughly 10 days at five minutes a day. It moves through Mastering the Body's Control Center, Sensing the World Through Waves, and The Science of Internal Forces. It assumes you already know the basics.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in The Body Electric: Signals and Systems
- A nerve cell prepares to fire by moving charged particles to create a state of high pressure
- The physical gap is an impassable barrier for the pulse
- To trigger a signal, the nerve cell must allow particles to move by opening tiny gates
- Chemicals act as a bridge to restart the signal in the next cell
- The process of neural signaling
- Nerve signals are waves of charge, not moving physical objects
- How a nerve cell generates its own electrical charge for a pulse
- The signal moves instantly while the atoms in the nerve stay in place
- The sequence of events when a signal crosses the gap between neurons
- Opposite charges create a pull that can drag other molecules along
- Cells build up a 'battery' of ions on one side of a membrane
- Muscles require a specific 'push' from charged particles to move
- Minerals provide the raw materials for the body's electrical signals
- Stored ions act like a dam waiting to be released
- How the body uses charge to move specific molecules into cells
- The movement of charge is what actually does the work
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives The Body Electric: Signals and Systems the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
When a signal reaches the end of a nerve cell, why doesn't the electricity simply spark over to the next one?
Get it right to open this lesson and 23 more in the app.
Where The Body Electric: Signals and Systems takes you
Discover how your body uses the laws of physics to move, think, and sense the world. Explore the hidden electrical circuits and wave patterns that keep your biological systems in sync.
- 1
Mastering the Body's Control Center
- Biological Circuits: How Nerves Send Signals
- The Push and Pull of Charged Particles
- Managing Flow and Resistance in the Body
- How Organs Work Together as a System
- 2
Sensing the World Through Waves
- Catching Vibrations: The Physics of Hearing
- How Light Bends to Create Vision
- When Waves Collide: Interference and Echoes
- The Invisible Spectrum: Beyond Visible Light
- Frequency and Pitch: The Music of Biology
- 3
The Science of Internal Forces
- Magnetic Fields and Medical Imaging
- How Muscles Generate Electrical Power
- The Energy Tradeoff in Complex Systems
3 sections · 12 units · 24 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
You pick the voice
The Body Electric: Signals and Systems is taught in the The Professor style: clear, structured, thorough. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
More Science on Tomo
The Laws of the Universe
Discover the mathematical elegance and physical laws that govern everything from falling apples to distant galaxies. Learn to calculate the forces of nature and see the world through the eyes of history's greatest thinkers.
Physics from First Principles
Master the fundamental laws that govern the universe by looking at the world through the lens of forces, energy, and scaling. Learn to predict how things move, break, and flow without getting lost in the equations.
Physics: Motion, Energy, and Waves
Explore the fundamental laws that govern the universe, from the mechanics of a moving car to the behavior of light and the power of the atom.
How the Physical World Works
Discover the hidden rules that govern everything from a falling apple to the stars in the sky. Learn to see the forces, energy, and waves that shape your daily life.
Quantum Physics in Your Pocket
Move beyond the mystery and see how quantum mechanics powers your everyday life. Discover how particles behaving like waves make your smartphone, medical scans, and future computers possible.
Biology in Your Daily Life
Discover how the invisible machinery of life explains everything from why you get hungry to how your body fights off a cold.
Start The Body Electric: Signals and Systems today.
Download Tomo, search The Body Electric: Signals and Systems, and play your first lesson in under a minute.