Predict, then test
Before each experiment you commit to an answer for pain and for contraction. The lab then shows whether your reasoning held.
Virtual Lab Systems · Nervous system
Cut a nerve root.
Cut a nerve root.
See what
the body loses.
Repeat François Magendie's 1822 experiments in a virtual lab. Stimulate and cut the roots of a spinal nerve, predict the outcome, then watch the nerve message travel to the brain or to the muscle.
Open the Magendie lab
Free for my students. Use the class password from Charbel Ghanem.
- 12 guided experiments
- Runs on any phone or laptop
- Nothing to install
Why a virtual lab
A textbook figure gives you the answer. This lab lets you find it.
Magendie's conclusion fits in one sentence, yet it is easy to memorise without seeing why it holds. Here you make every cut yourself, compare four preparations, and build the conclusion from your own observations.
Textbook
A still diagram with the roots already labelled sensory and motor.
Textbook
Results given in a table you copy into your notebook.
This lab
You predict, cut, stimulate and watch the message move, one experiment at a time.
This lab
Your own results table fills in as you go, so the conclusion is yours.
What you get
Everything a real dissection shows, without the dissection
See the nerve message
Sensory messages travel in blue, motor messages in orange. Show the neurons to follow each path, including the unipolar sensory neuron in the ganglion.
Your own bench
Every student works in a separate session. A whole class can cut and stimulate at the same time without touching anyone else's results.
Any screen, anywhere
Open it on a phone, tablet or laptop, in class or at home. No app, no account and nothing to download.
Cut the dorsal root and pain disappears. Cut the ventral root and movement does. The spinal nerve carries both.
How it works
From password to conclusion in three steps
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Step 1
Enter the class password
Charbel Ghanem gives the password in class. Type it once and the lab opens on your device.
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Step 2
Run the 12 experiments
Predict, act, observe. After each one the lab explains, step by step, where the nerve message went and why.
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Step 3
Read the summary
Compare the dorsal root, ventral root and spinal nerve in one table, then test your own ideas in Free lab mode.
Labs
Open now
Available
Open the Magendie lab
Magendie's experiments on the spinal roots
Discover which root of the spinal nerve carries sensation and which carries movement, the way Magendie did in 1822.
12guided experiments
4preparations to compare
2modes: guided and free lab
3neurons shown in colour
More labs in preparationNew labs will appear here as soon as they are ready for class.
FAQ
Questions students ask
Where do I get the password?
Charbel Ghanem gives the password in class. It is the same for everyone in the class.
Do I need to install anything?
No. The lab runs in your web browser on a phone, tablet or computer. There is no app and no account.
Can my classmates see or change my results?
No. Each student's session runs separately in their own browser, so a whole class can use the lab at the same time.
Are my results saved?
Your results stay on screen while the tab is open. Refreshing or closing the tab starts a fresh session, so copy your summary table into your notebook before you leave.
What does the lab simulate?
Magendie's 1822 experiments: stimulating and cutting the dorsal root, the ventral root and the spinal nerve, then observing whether the animal feels pain and whether the muscle contracts.
Why is the sensory neuron drawn with its cell body to the side?
It is a unipolar neuron. Its cell body sits in the spinal ganglion and joins the fibre by one short process, which divides into a peripheral branch coming from the skin and a central branch entering the spinal cord.
Which browsers work?
Any recent version of Chrome, Safari, Edge or Firefox, on a phone or a computer.
The lab says my password is incorrect. What should I do?
Check capital letters and spaces, then try again. If it still fails, ask Charbel Ghanem for the current class password.
Make the first cut.
Twelve experiments, one conclusion, and you reach it yourself.
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