Datasets, software, books, courses, communities
Resources
Everything the lessons point to, in one place, with the phase where each first becomes useful.
Datasets
| Name | What | Phase |
|---|
| PhysioNet EEG Motor Movement/Imagery | 109 people, 64 channels, motor execution and imagery. Free, no application. The first real EEG you should load. | 1 |
| BCI Competition IV, dataset 2a | Nine subjects, four-class motor imagery, 22 channels. The benchmark everyone reports on. | 3 |
| DANDI archive | Neurophysiology data in NWB format, including human intracortical recordings behind BrainGate and speech-BCI papers. | 3 |
| MIMIC-IV | De-identified ICU records from Beth Israel Deaconess. Requires CITI training and a data-use agreement. For the clinical-data spine. | 3 |
| MOABB dataset collection | Dozens of public motor-imagery, P300, and SSVEP datasets, downloaded and formatted by one library. | 3 |
| OpenNeuro | Hundreds of BIDS-formatted EEG, MEG, and MRI datasets. | 3 |
| Sleep-EDF Expanded | Whole-night PSG recordings with expert sleep-stage labels. The training set for a sleep stager. | 3 |
| TUH EEG Corpus | Tens of thousands of clinical EEGs from Temple University Hospital, with a labelled seizure subset. Requires a signed request form. | 3 |
| Allen Brain Observatory | Large-scale mouse visual cortex recordings, Neuropixels and two-photon, with an excellent SDK. | 4 |
| CRCNS data sharing | Curated animal neurophysiology datasets, with the original papers. | 4 |
Software
| Name | What | Phase |
|---|
| MNE-Python | The standard EEG/MEG analysis library. Learn it in Phase 1 with the tutorials; you will use it for four years. | 1 |
| BrainFlow | One API for OpenBCI and most consumer headsets, with Python bindings. | 2 |
| KiCad | Free schematic and PCB layout software. The ADS1299 board is drawn here. | 2 |
| Lab Streaming Layer | Timestamped, synchronized streaming between devices and stimulus programs. Learn it before your first experiment. | 2 |
| Onshape (free for students) or Fusion 360 | Parametric CAD in the browser for headsets, electrode holders, and phantom molds. | 2 |
| PsychoPy | Stimulus presentation with millisecond timing, free. | 2 |
| Braindecode | Deep learning for EEG in PyTorch, with EEGNet and friends built in. | 3 |
| MOABB | Benchmarks classifiers across public datasets identically. Use it so your numbers mean something. | 3 |
| pyRiemann | Riemannian-geometry classifiers for EEG covariance matrices; the strongest simple baseline. | 3 |
| Brian2 | Spiking network simulator in Python; write the equations, run the network. | 4 |
| SpikeInterface | A common interface to every spike sorter, with quality metrics. | 4 |
| Open Ephys | Open-source acquisition hardware and GUI for animal electrophysiology. | 6 |
Books
| Name | What | Phase |
|---|
| David Eagleman, Livewired | Plasticity and sensory substitution for a general reader. Good motivation for Phase 5. | 1 |
| Kandel et al., Principles of Neural Science | The reference text of neuroscience. A chapter a week for four years. About $152 new for the sixth edition, about $70 used for the fifth. | 1 |
| Miguel Nicolelis, Beyond Boundaries | A first-person history of BCI research by one of its founders. Read for the story. | 1 |
| Horowitz and Hill, The Art of Electronics | The hardware spine's bible. Chapters on op-amps, noise, and precision circuits are directly about your amplifier. | 2 |
| Mike X Cohen, Analyzing Neural Time Series Data | The practical guide to time-frequency analysis, with code. Pairs with his free video lectures. | 2 |
| Webster (ed.), Medical Instrumentation: Application and Design | The classic on biopotential amplifiers, electrodes, and electrical safety. Old, still right. | 2 |
| Bin He (ed.), Neural Engineering | Graduate-level survey chapters across the field; read the chapters that match your spine. | 3 |
| Steven Luck, An Introduction to the Event-Related Potential Technique | Everything about running and analyzing ERP experiments without fooling yourself. | 3 |
| Rajesh Rao, Brain-Computer Interfacing | The best single textbook introduction to BCI, from signals to decoders to ethics. | 3 |
| Dayan and Abbott, Theoretical Neuroscience | The standard computational neuroscience text; dense, rewarding, about $40 in paperback. The authors' page has a sample chapter and the exercises, not the book. | 4 |
| Sterratt et al., Principles of Computational Modelling in Neuroscience | Gentler than Dayan and Abbott on the modelling side, with worked examples. | 4 |
| Zenios, Makower, Yock, Biodesign | The textbook of needs-driven medical technology innovation. Phase 5's spine. | 5 |
Communities
| Name | What | Phase |
|---|
| NeurotechX | Global neurotech community with a Slack, student clubs, and hackathons. | 1 |
| OpenBCI forum | Where hobbyist and research EEG problems get solved in public. | 1 |
| GOSH (Gathering for Open Science Hardware) | The open-hardware-for-science community; where instrument builders compare notes. | 2 |
| BCI Society | The field's professional society; cheap student membership, small biennial meeting. | 3 |