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Implants for Sensing Magnetic Fields
Okian Warrior writes "Wired is running a story about people who have magnets implanted in their fingertips. As a result they can sense ambient magnetic fields, including whether AC wires are carrying current. From the article: 'The fingertip was chosen because of the high nerve density, and because the hands are constantly interacting with the environment, increasing the chances of sensing electromagnetism in the world.'"
This would be the next step for cyber sex, you could let the person you are chatting with manipulate the EM around your cock.
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How long before I can get my 802.11 sensing fingertip implants?
Windows in 6 Bytes (IA-32) : 90 90 90 90 CD 19
So now you'll be able to literally feel the power?
----- You know you have ego issues when you register a domain in your name.
if they touch my crt screen, they'll lose those implanted fingers!
So, what happens when you get too close to another rare earth magnet? I would expect bad things.
Being near a big transformer gives the implant-bearer a vibrating fingertip. Just saying is all.
Oh, and going through an MRI might be a little painful.
I saw this article several days ago. It was very interesting, but I don't think having the magnet implanted is ready yet for prime time. Apparently the magnet can break, it can also cause problems if the coating on it wears through. That said, it would be interesting to have an additional sense, but I wonder if it would hurt (after the surgical wounds heal). Probably not - I guess ear rings don't "hurt" after the piercing heals.
Interesting, but creepy.
Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
Walk into the doctor's office wherever you are, just walk in, say "Doc -- you can mod any parts you want at Cyberdyne Restaurant" -- and walk out.
You know, if one Slashdotter, just one Slashdotter does it, they may think he's really sick and they won't take him.
And if two Slashdotters do it -- in harmony -- they may think that they're both TROLLIN' and they won't take either of them.
And if THREE Slashdotters do it! Can you imagine three Slashdotters walkin' in, singin' a bar of "Cyberdyne Restaurant" and walkin' out? They might think it's a HACKER CONSPIRACY.
And can you imagine FIFTY Slashdotters a day? I said FIFTY Slashdotters a day -- walkin' in, singin ' a bar of "Cyberdyne Restaruant" and walkin' out? Friends, they may think it's a movement, and that's what it is.
The Cyberdyne Systems T-800 Model 101 Trans-Humanist Movement!
And all you gotta do to join it is to mod me (+1, Funny) the next time the mod points come 'round on the thread view. With feelin'.
Don't forget to tell the doctor before you go in for that MRI.
-Grey
Silver Clipboard: Time Management Tips
Why implant a magnet? I can only imagine what kind of hassle that would be if you ever needed an MRI. Couldn't a ring or some sort of fingertip cap be created that transmitted signals through the skin to nerve endings, so you could take it off as needed? I imagine it might be less effective due to the skin barrier, but it seems like it would be a much safer alternative that would work nearly as well.
using namespace slashdot;
troll::post();
Until something happens to the magnet, as documented here. (don't click if you don't want to see a finger being sliced open to remove the magnet)
I love it - a low tech solution to what Kevin Warwick of Reading University in the UK has been trying to do. Or rather, he has been trying to make a lot of PR with crap science. It's nice to see a simple solution provide the same basic science.
Augmenting our senses is nothing new. Pigeons can sense magnetic fields, so why not us?
Open Source Drum Kit, LPLC deve board - mjhdesigns.com
I took a trip to Phoenix to have Haworth implant a magnet in me last September. Because body-mod artists are not medical practitioners, ice was the only anesthetic available.
And you didn't think to get really, really drunk before why...?
-Grey
Silver Clipboard: Time Management Tips
Shit, I want one!
:-)
Got two steel bars in my back already - shame I don't get any extra sensory information from them, apart from "hey, your back aches!"
You wonder if this will be on the pre-MRI questionaire soon. I guess as soon as a patient's hand flys through the window and smacks the operator in the face.
You might erase your credit cards everytime you hand one to someone.
And you'll never get rid of those damn iron filings.
G.
Seems like every crackpot new agey therapy today revolves around magnets or IONS!!!! Yes, IONS!!!!!
Here's a good magnet FAQ
Oh, and no MRIs either.
Women get boob-jobs and men get hand-jobs?
... interesting... interesting I tell ya!
Yam, yam, uga booga, yam, yam, yade, yade, uga booga, yam, yam, yade, yade
If only chicks were made of metal...
You can't handle the truth.
Do you get a powerful orgasm from your fingertips if you stay near a 3 Tesla magnetic resonance machine ?
For(k;;)(Fork();)
... towards becoming Borg.
Anyone thinking of having this done should check this out first. Ouch...
....yet it still feels like a dupe. Why doesn't it suffiently bother editors and/or story submitters to just avoid playing this game?
"If you don't have eyes you shouldn't have wings" -- Carl Pilkington
from the kind-of-a-crappy-superpower dept
And how many superpowers do you have Zonk? If it could be made safer (I'm a science teacher and have a few magnets in the lab that could rip this out of my finger) I'd get one in a second.
-Grey
Silver Clipboard: Time Management Tips
... there are also people who do piercing and studding.
What is wrong with having the device in your pocket?
I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
As if my love life isn't awkward enough
:)
Oh well, at least then I would have an excuse
"Gentlemen, You cannot fight in here, this is the War Room...." - Dr Strangelove
FTFA:
Jarrell puts it more bluntly, writing about the procedure in a BMEZine article from March: "'If you had to lose or seriously damage one of your fingers, which would it be?' This was our answer." But nobody's finger fell off, and Huffman's results were better than they'd imagined.
Other scientists should really learn from those guys.
It's not.
Direct away from face when opening.
A far better approach, albeit more complex, would be to build a microchip - powered by induction like RFID circuitry - that could generate signals in the right voltage and frequency range to stimulate nerves. A surgeon would carefully place the chip along a nerve inside your hand somewhere, placing the electrode side parallel to the nerve. The chip would have signal processing abilities and could be used to :
1. detect the signal pattern for pain and cancel it out
2. interact with novel gadgets like a magnetic or radio field sensor, or a geiger counter
3. Pick up signals from one part of the body, and transmit them to another chip located in a damaged limb somewhere that the nerves have been cut from
All of this is basic signal processing, simpler than the state of the art in radio by a considerable margin (nerve signals are MUCH, MUCH slower)
I don't understand why this sort of thing isn't routinely done. I know there are implantable nerve stimulators to stop phantom limb pain, I know that surgeons don't need FDA approval to perform trials on gadets like this - they just need a researcher to create a prototype that is appropriately coated with bioneutral materials and sterile, and the surgeon can implant it into any consenting adult. Surgery is not a medical procedure that has to be specifically approved : this is how the variants of the gastic bypass were developed, such as the bands around the stomach approach. A particular surgeon decided to try it, and others adopted it.
Should be a whole thriving industry by now.
Phone home.
Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
These new finger-magnets sure are nice, but why do none of my floppy discs work anymore?
I for one welcome our new electrician overlords. Just think, to be able to tell wether a wire is live or not, where wires are in a wall without cutting the wall open. This should also open up a whole new slew of tricks magicians can use. Too bad it's not reccomended for the general public.
Ok let's think about it. Magnets react to magnetic fields, right? But what about metallic coils? After all, electromagnets are made with coils and metal.
So imagine a future where nanoscopic coils, or maybe thin-film nanomagnet arrays can be implanted under your skin. Or behind your ears, so you can sense magnetic fields in 3D.
Let's not forget that some animals are sensitive to magnetic fields, and others can sense electricity miles away.
Even just a forgotten part of a dentist' drill in a tooth could pull the tooth rught through your scull in an MR scanner!
Come to think about it, this could be a potentially powerfull sixth sense...
That would be "cue", unless you're trying to be clever and just failing.
It sounds like it'd be a usefull tool for electricians or audio engineers, but it'd be far more practical if it were an external device that you could take off. I don't know many people that want to permanently place something in their body that could easily lead to damage to your finger. How would a thin stick-on magnet that you could attach to a finger work?
AccountKiller
The implant is good idea until a really strong magnet rips it out of the skin from your fingertip and then it just hurts.
Your brain seems to be able to adapt senses to what it knows is going on--for instance, if you wear glasses that invert your vision for a couple weeks, your brain will compensate and you will start seeing things "upright" again. If you take off the glasses, you will then see everything upside-down for a while.
So what other kind of input could this give you. If you implanted one in each hand of a def person, might he eventually be able to hear if he put his fingers near to a speaker magnet? If I were def, I'd totally give that a try--you never know! I wonder if such an implant could be placed inside the ear, maybe returning the ability to hear completely (as long as the sound was broadcast via magnetism like if the user was wearing headphones.
How about an extra input from your computer. Placing tiny electro-magnets under some of your keys could allow the keyboard to give you a little buzz that nobody else could perceive.
Any others?
Will it also sense Future Bible Heroes? Gothic Archies? The 6ths?
Hey folks -- I had a similar idea, if there are crystals or some substance that can be tuned to vibrate with musical scales. If they were small enough, you could implant the scale some place on your head -- say, in your lips or under your scalp -- and when you sing and hit the note precisely, you feel a small tingle. Over time, you learn to hit notes based on the tingling.
Could this work?
Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.
-- Pablo Picasso
Neat concept, but there are quite a few things that this could mess up. Well, maybe not. Who listens to cassettes, or uses floppies? Why use a compass when you can get GPS, unless there's no electricity around. Sensitive circuites could get wonky, and yea, any CRT you'd have to stay away from. "Hey buddy, can you wipe the dust off my screen? I've got mag-fingers."
How difficult would it be to get iron filings (or something similar) off your fingers? Oh yea, anyone realize that magnets are usually quite brittle? Smash your finger with a hammer and end up with chunks of metal floating around. I guess if you hit it hard enough it'll lose it's magnetic properties. Keep fingers away from any genital piercings... unless you're a masochist. Oh yea, that's why you got piercings in the first place.
Okay, I guess there aren't very many negative consequences, unless you're a pilot.
feel the force luke
There was an article about this in the last issue of Make
http://makezine.com/06/platform/ (subscription required to view the article)
Boy, that'd sure make 'em perky. Sounds hot to me.. How long before all the porn stars have 'em?
If by powerful you mean painful, and if by orgasm you mean wound, then yes!
Ohh yea, this is a completely cool idea, atleast till you need to get an MRI, or until the coating breaks down like (NSFW) this guy.
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
Its really part of a bigger plan: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1616088001 333580937
Great, now men will be even more adamant about not asking for directions.
..." *waves hand around* "... that way!"
"Dammit! I know where we are! We just need to head north, which is
Dutch blog "Retecool" tried it out and calls it a hoax. Translation of highlights:
I still need to install a ceiling lamp in the bedroom. There's no current flowing there now. The electricity company therefore doesn't charge me anything for the power being hooked up there. If there's no current, no magnet will vibrate, because it is the current (in Amperes) that causes the magnetic fields. But the electricity company does deliver me the required power for the lamp. Therefore, the connection has countless electrons waiting charged with anticipation before I poke a screwdriver into the hole. Without telling my magnet that they are so charged with anticipation, they wait for the moment that they can jump onto my well-conducting finger, to run to earth through my body. Free at last!
One slight drawback remains to be mentioned. My iBook has a magnetic detector on the right of the keyboard which detects when the screen is closed. I now have to press "Enter" with my left hand, because approaching the magnet with my right hand puts my iBook to sleep. So while my bionic magnetic finger doesn't detect anything, my iBook does detect it.
With every other sense, humans (or human culture) have evolved to consider some pleasant and others unpleasant. Good tastes, bad tastes, etc. Would there be pleasant and unpleasant magnetic fields?
You just happen to have the same polarity they do
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
why are they implanting it?
It works by stimulating via vibration "somatosensory apparatus" (ie touch), which to the best of my knowledge IS available on the outside of the finger -it should work by being strapped to the outside. Albeit it is not as cool and cyberpunk sounding, but it does remove EVERY SINGLE NEGATIVE POINT associated with the device (painful surgery, risk or rejection, no more MRIs, etc)
The magnetic arm is next. I want to implant a solenoid into my lower arm and hook it up to unused nerve endings. With enough coils in the solenoid, it is theoretically possible to direct a magnetic field straight out from one's arm powered only from the nerve pulses. Imagine the possibilities...
Considering how most people are squicked when they see my modifications, tho', I guess this is more a reflection upon me than upon any procedure. :/
Stroller.
So now what ?
Read radical news here
in the forms of very trace amounts of magnetite in brain tissue. Whether or not this magnetite is actually used at all in human beings or not, there is no clear concensus on, however, at the moment it is believed that this magnetite has no effect on human beings and if this magnetite was ever used for sensing magnetic fields, it was in an ancestor of the human species going back many millions of years.
I believe the original source for my knowledge of this was some television program, but to save you some Googling, here is one of the first hits that came up.
...how can we use this for sex again?
Am I the only one who finds it a bit absurd that nobody is talking about how they've tried wearing a magnet around their finger for a few months? Or maybe tried to make a superthin mesh sleeve made out of something magnetic to wear around their finger?
I also think it's no coincidence that we don't see any reports of anyone using these implants for any particularly clever purpose. Anyone that did would probably have the sense to use a better designed implant or at least considered that multiple implanted magnets in one finger would eventually migrate towards one another. I supposed it's fitting that the most level headed write up is penned by someone whose signature line includes a photoshopped photo of himself with his eyes glowing blue.
Sure, this could be an awesome idea and I would even consider getting an implant like this one day. But right now it's nothing more than a bunch of hipster posers who can't find any better application than using it as an aid when wiring their house. (which you can just test with your hands if you're running normal lines, or oh I don't know, shut off the circuit breaker. Or maybe use a 3 ounce tool to detect live wires). When one of these pale posers uses their implant to navigate their way out of a desert without looking at stars or something interesting, let me know.
I remember reading somewhere - and Gary Mitchell knows how cannon it is - that Vulcans can see magnetic fields. Always thought that would be cool.
I tell ya though, we geeks need better options. I mean, suppsoing my hand were to get chopped off tomorrow in a bizzare gardening accident.
Now, I'd want a full set of cybernetic impants - who wouldn't? But if this is the best there is to offer...
~~~~~ BigLig2? You mean there's another one of me?
So how long until these magnets are used to detect their wearers?
Maybe that's desirable. Think about it, you could create locks that require you to move your fingers in various ways to unlock them; like a keypad without push-button "keys". A computer keyboard could be developed like this too. The possibilities are endless.
Now I can be like a pseudo-Magneto
Wolverine: Hey bub. *snict*, I got adamantium coated bones and claws.
Magneto: *bzzt* Now you don't.
Wolverine: Don't knock me out, I'll be knocked out enough when I hit the big sleep (bleeds everwhere).
LATER...
Woverine: *splurch* Hey bub, I got bone claws...
*snap* now you don't...
Karma: Chameleon (mostly due to the fact that you come and go).
that are coming up all around the world.
... and we will be able to know we are being tapped or not.
*Feel Feel* *Sense Sense*
Read radical news here
Keep your friggin' magnetic hands of my bank-card you idiot!
If you mod this up, your slashdot background will turn into a beautiful sunset!
"The fingertip was chosen because of the high nerve density"
I guess they could have chosen a worse high nerve density area.
really annoying.
It would primarily be used to outdoor survivalists/military (I'd think), but I thought of a small compass implanted in the back of a persons neck. Something very very subtle so that a person could just slightly percieve the direction of magnetic north. Personally I can't wait till there are a bunch of usefull body modifications, I never understood jabbing steel into your arm (or worse) but I'd totally get a implant that performed a usefull task.
:wq
Magnemite! Thundershock NOW!
http://www.TheGamerNation.com/Forums
Twenty odd years ago in a el-mech development lab, I accidentally had a set of magnetic fingers... I was attaching some rare earth magnets to a prototype device. As the substrate was non-magnetic, I was using a sample of PermaBond/LocTite's replacement for Eastman 910--super glue. Well, super glue being super glue, it never seems to stick parts to parts, it just sticks the parts to your fingers... lil' magnets on two left fingers. shyt. then my thermostatic Weller solder iron clicks on-- ewoo, interesting.
Try it at home with a few bits of old hard drive magnets.
ya know the secret service guy cliche with the earpieces?
put a small speaker on the jawbown.. run a wire under the skin to the thigh or armpit..- then a small coil close to the surface of the skin...
now put another coil (transformer) on the outside.. and you have two-way radio with no coil coming out of the ears...
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
How long before certain other bundles of nerves attract their attention. Imagine the potential market here. I can see crowds of people hanging around auto wrecking yards and major power distribution lines like so many extras from the set of Dawn of the Dead.
The problem with quotes on the internet, is that nobody bothers to check their veracity. -- Abraham Lincoln
Person with this tech embedded in their fingers:
Waves their hand,
"The force is strong in this one."
#Hopefully this is not too redundant.
Finishing your post in the subject is
The text above the images in TFA says "Click thumbnails for full-size image".
Do you think they really mean it this time?
If you look into they guy who wrote that article further you'll find that he is actually the guy who runs bmezine.com, and the so called body-hacker that did the procedure has done over 1000 implants (Including mine last year). He also has very good medical skills, he designs the tools that plastic surgeons use to separate the sub dermal layers of the skin. He is considered the best of the best in the body mod community. If you wanna say he's a body-hacker just because he learned on his own and doesn't have a surgical license fine, but don't call him stupid. It's been my experience that hackers (the kids how trained them selves) generally have as good if not far better skills. Realize what this body-moder did has experimental at worst, but so where breast implants at one point. One last thing, he doesn't just do this on some desk, he has is own fully sterile operating room.
I met Todd at a dinner party, he also has a magnetic implant in his arm which bottle caps will stick too. Anyways here is part of that conversation from that evening:
Some friend of his whose a girl: The magnet in his arm gets him laid all the time, ask him.
Me: So do you get laid a lot because you have the magnet.
Todd: It isn't like I get laid from it everyday, but yeah once in awhile.
All my friends in near unison: I want a magnet in my arm.
"Super shocker!"
Anyone who understood this post or the parent's had very little to do with their time about say... 6 years ago.
i'd just attach the magnet to my fingertip with some sort of adhesive - superglue, even
:P
I'll still feel all the vibrations, plus the magnet would be removable and there wouldn't be worry about infection & so on...
advanced version - light gloves (latex?) with small embedded magnets
maybe not 100% effective, but much safer
Did you know that "FTW" ("for the win") is a direct translation of "Sieg Heil"?
... on second thought ...
I wear two hearing aids with telecoils. They give me the ability to sense osciliiating magnetic fields at say 100 to 3000 Hz.
The ability is overrated. Most people don't have this ability, so our culture and surroundings are not designed to "take advantage" of this ability. When I had my CRT on I'd get a buzz in my telecoils - telling me that my crt was on - something I already knew. The buzz was a nuisance.
Assuming the fingertip implants are successful, all their owners will get is odd tingles in their fingers at odd moments. Not worth the trouble.
This people can wiretap your dirty chat by touching your cat5 cable? mmmm cool.
I'm sure Magneto would certainly want these.
w00t
just keep in mind your making it easier for magneto to get you to punch yourself in the face
Mike
I heart the RIAA & MPAA, im sure its mutual...
man,
I'd really like to be able to "feel' such things as
E-M fields and the like. in a way, this could be, in some ways,
better than those who can use their eyes to see.
how this for an idea.
take these same implants and use them along with glove like
devices that can tale light and sound and convert them to
e-m pulses in such a way as to make a will "feel-able"
as a distance. you would almost be able to "see" the
world in much the same way as anyone else.
I'd be willing to try this, being blind for close to
15 years.
Understanding is much like a 3-edged-sword. in this: there are always 2 sides and the truth.
lameness filter, how I loathe you.
GENERATION 26: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation.
The problems encountered with the breakdown of the magnet in the body are considerable, but seem to result from protecting the metal with only a thin film of silicon. They might be avoided by putting the magnet inside a small "can" of bio-compatible metal, such as gold. Since gold can also be worked extremely well, it should be possible to make such protection.
You could test to ensure the gold formed a proper barrier by first coating the magnet in dye. If, after being wrapped in gold and dropped in water, the dye doesn't leak, the device is probably as safe as it's going to get.
On the other hand, maybe a ring would be a better choice, but it wouldn't get nearly as good contact with the nerves.
actually, i have been trying to find a doctor willing to implant a bone anchored hearing aid (baha) for quite some time. the biggest problem is that i don't have a hearing problem. about the best advice i've gotten from just about anyone i've asked (from transhumanists to singulatarians), is to try and go overseas. i'd prefer tokeep it in the u.s., but if it comes down to it i'll end up doing just that...
i'm surprised that they are so leery about performing an operation i'm completely comfortable paying for, even if i sign any waivers that might be needed to protect themselves with.
in the end, all i want is a 3mm titanuim screw implanted into the mastoid bone behind my jaw. does anyone know of where i might be abel to get one of these? i've seen bone spikes, coral implants, glass beads and all sorts of things, but i've had very little luck finding anything thats not just cosmetic.
medgadget was even nice enough to give me a small writeup last year.
if any of you can help, it would be greatly appreciated.
bury the past(TM)
Wouldn't a prosthetic device be just as effective w/o the risk of infection and occasional need to be "metal free"?
Have you ever stopped an wonder why the heck do comments have subject at all.
Depending on your settings, some comments do not show up 'expanded' so the subject is the only clue you have as to what the reply is going to be about.
Optimist: The thumb drive is half empty! Pessimist: The thumb drive is half full...
So now you'll be able to literally feel the power?
Did MIT students come up with this?
Caveat Emptor is not a business model.
and ATM card, transit pass, and any other device with a mag strip. Not well thought out, was it then? The guy is definitely a bit off his axis there...
But if you have $$ to spend no matter how wacky your wishes there'll always be someone to sell it to you.
Ain't capitalism grand?
The human pineal gland contains lots of magnetite crystals, and external fields of a Tesla or two can have a significant mechanical effect on these. We also have piezoelectric calcite crystals. Next time you put your head in an MRI, try not to move your head too much !
GadIdeas, an Oxfordshire-based research company, announces the development of new signal processing techniques set to revolutionise our understanding of sensory perception. GSP is a breakthrough patent pending technology that can, for the first time, accurately discriminate the frequency and phase of the sinusoidal components of any given signal. Our research indicates that this is exactly how the human ear interprets sound; something we've long struggled to understand. GSP is set to replace the Fast Fourier Transform, a technique that is currently used in all areas of signal processing, but which has known limitations. Martin Simpson BEng., CTO of GadIdeas (www.gadideas.com), was drawn to the development of GSP after puzzling for many years over the final hurdle of aural perception 'How does the ear really work?'. So much published research seems to stop short of the explanation of the ear's remarkable ability to distinguish sounds with speed and clarity. Applying his background of medical electronics, a degree in electrical and electronic engineering, and a career in audio software development and audio engineering, he hit on an idea which gave him a Eureka moment that started his research. Turning the idea into a tangible signal processing system he demonstrated that his idea could be the start of something big, and what is exciting is that with help he has produced an analytical tool with applications far beyond those of human aural perception. "It is so fast and so efficient that it could be the system that has evolved in nature" is his outrageous claim. Jon Stuart, CEO of Manic Media Productions (MMP, www.manic.co.uk), is another member of the GadIdeas team. Applying MMP's background of 3D visualisation in games, CAD and 3D mapping, he has used the underlying technology to develop a stunning real time, 3D coloured visualisation, plotting a scrolling 3D landscape of amplitude and frequency against time. This software tool is called Stona (c). Anything that is being listened to on a computer is analysed. This allows anyone to "see" for the first time sounds as they are being heard, in the same way the brain does, to resolutions not seen before, even down to the individual sine waves in any signal. The user can fly around this amazing 3D landscape, zooming in to any areas of interest.
Please post a link to said "moving skeleton movies."
PS - Any chance some of these were porn?