Scientists Levitate Mice for NASA

sterlingda writes to tell us that scientists have built a mouse-levitating superconducting magnet, working on behalf of NASA to study variable levels of gravity. The group hopes to ascertain what physiological impacts prolonged exposure to microgravity might have. "Repeated levitation tests showed the mice, even when not sedated, could quickly acclimate to levitation inside the cage. After three or four hours, the mice acted normally, including eating and drinking. The strong magnetic fields did not seem to have any negative impacts on the mice in the short term, and past studies have shown that rats did not suffer from adverse effects after 10 weeks of strong, non-levitating magnetic fields."

Comments

bipolar mice?

[TheGratefulNet]

are some of them north-oriented and some south?

can you make a compass out of them?

if you put one of those mickeys near a HDD, does it erase some of the data?

and finally, where do you find ferrous-enriched cheese to feed them?

Re:bipolar mice?

[Kratisto]

What is the curie temperature for a mouse?

Re:bipolar mice?

[Anonymous Coward]

If you can build a bridge out of them, then at least they're not witches. ... or are they? I forgot how that goes.

Re:bipolar mice?

[x_IamSpartacus_x]

Ok... I know I should be more attentive but when I first read that headline I thought;

Scientists Levitate Miss USA

That would be something... Maybe they can just levitate that dress...

Re:bipolar mice?

[Hurricane78]

Why does everyone think it's normal for mice, to eat partially digested and rotten (with the help of bacteria) cow milk? What do you think they do without humans? Suck on tits of dead cows? ^^

Re:bipolar mice?

[joaommp]

That's easy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jT5vssOnPI

Re:bipolar mice?

[Sir_Lewk]

I don't think anyone thinks it's normal but from what my "experimentation" (mouse traps in the attic) seems to indicate, they certainly do like it. Of course, peanut butter works far better.

[Queue: "Why does everyone think it's normal for mice to eat mashed up, mechanically processed peanuts...]

Re:bipolar mice?

[TaoPhoenix]

Some of them behaved with excessive enthusiasm, and then couldn't be bothered to breathe.
Others turned their back on Disney and struck out in a protest for independent Rodent rights.

Re:bipolar mice?

[Schemat1c]

Why does everyone think it's normal for mice, to eat partially digested and rotten (with the help of bacteria) cow milk?

Yes, it's very unusual for a scavenger to like processed food.

Re:bipolar mice?

[Ironica]

Why does everyone think it's normal for mice, to eat partially digested and rotten (with the help of bacteria) cow milk? What do you think they do without humans? Suck on tits of dead cows? ^^

For that matter, why does anyone think it's normal for humans to eat cow secretions?

Re:bipolar mice?

[rtfa-troll]

For that matter, why does anyone think it's normal for humans to eat cow secretions?

Ah; now that's a more interesting one. Once upon a time it wasn't normal however, (almost certainly, unless you are a freak or are Chinese) you and your genetically dominant have been taking advantage of a recent gene mutation to make that normal.

Re:bipolar mice?

[Anonymous Coward]

Video absolutely needed.

Re:bipolar mice?

[Rei]

Ok... I know I should be more attentive but when I first read that headline I thought;

Scientists Levitate Miss USA

I personally believe that U.S. scientists are unable to do so because, um, some scientists out there in our nation don't have magnets and, uh, I believe that our, uh, research like such as, uh, Caltech and, uh, the Harvard and everywhere like such as, and I believe that they should, uh, our research over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., uh, should help Caltech and should help the Harvard and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future.

Re:bipolar mice?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, it is historically counterintuitive for humans to obtain nutrition from animals.

Re:bipolar mice?

[h4rr4r]

I have kept mice as pets and while they will eat cheese they prefer nuts,fruits and breads.

Re:bipolar mice?

[2names]

Oh my effin GOD that was good! Bravo.

Re:bipolar mice?

[Quothz]

I wonder if it hurts the mice to be lifted by their livers. I wonder if the liver warms and cooks while they're still alive.

You could satisfy your curiosity by simply reading the article.

Re:bipolar mice?

[Hurricane78]

Oh boy, you can’t believe how much I do agree on that one.

But why does anyone think preparations like white flour, sugar or that liquid of heat-wrecked proteins called "UHT-milk" (no matter from what mammal) are even food?

Re:bipolar mice?

[Jerry Smith]

Oh I just can HEAR the nasal pronounciation. Excellent!

Re:bipolar mice?

[rubycodez]

rotten? cheese is made with help of enzyme, fruit juice can be used. not all cheeses are ripened with bacteria

Re:bipolar mice?

[Tablizer]

For that matter, why does anyone think it's normal for humans to eat cow secretions? [cheese]

I eat cheese all the time, and I feel perfectly normooooo.
   

Re:bipolar mice?

[Evil Shabazz]

I wonder if it hurts the mice to be lifted by their livers. I wonder if the liver warms and cooks while they're still alive.

You could satisfy your curiosity by simply reading the article.

Is this where we say, "You must be new here." ;)

Re:bipolar mice?

[flynt]

That's begging the question. By definition, whatever humans do as a species is ipso facto *normal*. What is considered normal will change over time though.

Re:bipolar mice?

[2names]

I like tater tots.

Re:bipolar mice?

[gnupun]

For that matter, why does anyone think it's normal for humans to eat cow secretions?

Yes, why do you think cows are domesticated? Because humans have been sucking at their teats for centuries (or millennia).

Re:bipolar mice?

[Anonymous Coward]

Cheese is traditionally used in traps because as it sits there and rots in the trap it becomes smelly, attracting mice/rats. Fun fact, rats can't vomit so if they eat too much peanut butter at once and it gets stuck in their throats they can suffocate/choke to death.

Re:bipolar mice?

[Anonymous Coward]

Because humans eat human secretions for years when they are growing up (until the event of Formula and the use of Cow's milk meant we didn't need to breastfeed (or to do so for as long).

Cows are mammals just like humans, and produce a milk that is somewhat similar, but in much greater volumes. It's really not that strange once you make the leap to keeping domesticated cattle for food and material(skins).

There are even some human cultures (in mongolia) that depend greatly on cows milk, and others (Massai tribesman) whose diet is a large part cows blood.

Re:bipolar mice?

[Cornflake917]

What world do you live in?

Re:bipolar mice?

[K. S. Kyosuke]

Why does everyone think it's normal for mice, to eat partially digested and rotten (with the help of bacteria) cow milk?

It's called "anthropomorphism".

Re:bipolar mice?

[Anonymous Coward]

Humans eat food and can make milk that humans eat. Cows eat grass and make milk that cows can eat.

Humans also eat cows, so it makes sense that they can also eat cow milk.

Human milk is made by humans eating food, so it's more efficient for humans to eat food than human milk. But cows make milk from grass, and humans can't eat grass. And you if you eat the cow, you don't get more cow milk. And grass grows faster than cows. So for humans, cow milk is a net win all around. And cheese is just a form of milk that stores better, just like flour is wheat that stores better.

Note that the same general chain of logic applies to humans drinking livestock blood too. They consume grass, and make blood faster than they grow meat, so it's a food source more efficient than eating the animal.

I suppose this also makes vampires superior to werewolves, doesn't it...

Re:bipolar mice?

[Martin Blank]

Sounds more like an impromptu speech by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. He's OK with prepared words, but if he has to speak spontaneously, it's painful to hear.

Re:bipolar mice?

[geekoid]

WTF are you taling about? there is nothing wrong with UHT-Milk.

Fucking ignorant fear mongers.

Re:bipolar mice?

[GeekLove]

Why does everyone think it's normal for mice, to eat partially digested and rotten (with the help of bacteria) cow milk? What do you think they do without humans? Suck on tits of dead cows? ^^

For that matter, why does anyone think it's normal for humans to eat cow secretions?

Because it is oh so yummy.

Re:bipolar mice?

[Anonymous Coward]

O'Reillimbeck World in Orlando FL apparently.

Re:bipolar mice?

[bill_kress]

> For that matter, why does anyone think it's normal for humans to eat cow secretions?

For that matter, why does anyone think it's normal for humans to eat anything?

We try something, we eat it and either we die or adapt to it.

Sometimes we eat bugs, sometimes it's cow milk or chicken eggs. Pretty much anything that can be eaten will be.

Many animals eat chicken eggs (Including mice, I'm sure), which isn't any more or less "Natural" than cow milk.

Nothing is "Natural" or "Not Natural" to eat. You can have an "Unnatural" diet like eating ALL meat or ALL vegetables (We are neither carnivores nor are we herbivores), so we would never restrict ourselves to one or another "In Nature", but it's not like it hurts anything.

I don't really care much one way or another--I'm not pro or anti milk (or whatever the hell the GP&P was pro or anti), but saying it's unnatural for mice to eat something is just one of the silliest arguments I've ever heard.

Life eats anything that doesn't make it dead. Period. That's natural.

I'm pretty sure the Milk is mostly out of convenience (Cheaper, easier to store and/or more accessible than most alternatives that would not make the mouse dead)--that's all.

Re:bipolar mice?

[gmrath]

"And cheese is just a form of milk that stores better, just like flour is wheat that stores better." And whiskeys are various grains that store better. Seventeen years, twenty years, give or take some . . .

Re:bipolar mice?

[jonadab]

> For that matter, why does anyone think it's
> normal for humans to eat cow secretions?

Maybe because they've been a major dietary staple in most human cultures throughout all of recorded history?

Re:bipolar mice?

[jonadab]

> Life eats anything that doesn't make it dead. Period. That's natural.

Actually, most life forms prefer to eat things that provide energy or some other nutritional benefit. Humans don't generally eat grass, for instance. It's not toxic, but it provides no significant benefit either, so we don't eat it. Cows eat it because they have the ability to digest the cellulose and get energy out of it. Dogs only eat grass when they need to throw up.

Re:bipolar mice?

[jonadab]

Indeed. They love anything made from grain. They're also quite fond of peanut butter. As for fruit, my dad taught me that if the mice keep taking the bait from a trap and getting away, you can take a raisin and sew it to the hole in the trigger pad. Works every time. (Incidentally, this trick of sewing the bait to the trigger pad also works with squirrels; even though squirrel traps are a different and less fatal design, getting them to tug on something that's tied to the trigger is still a good way to make sure they spring the trap.)

Re:bipolar mice?

[jonadab]

"rotten" is an emotionally loaded term, but fundamentally cheese is a cultured food.

I like it anyway, though. (Well, to be honest, I really only like "hard" cheeses, i.e., the ones that are solid at room temperature: colby and cheddar and muenster and motzarella and provalone and pepperjack and so on and so forth.)

Re:bipolar mice?

[Fieryphoenix]

Doubtful. Most animals can't choke on food, human beings have an altered larynx shape that helps us talk but leaves the airway lower in throat.

Re:bipolar mice?

[Walt Dismal]

Mr. A. Dumbledore, of Little Tweeting, England, writes to say "I fail to see why magnetic fields are necessary to levitate mice. I personally make them fly using a hand wave and the incantation 'sudo rodentus soarus'. Befuddling the owls sometimes, of course."

Re:bipolar mice?

[Anonymous Coward]

Looking at Miss USA can levitate parts of my body...

Re:bipolar mice?

[Sir_Lewk]

Perhaps it has something to do with the consistency/stickyness of the peanut butter.

Re:bipolar mice?

[GNious]

Ahh, Intelligent Updates!

Re:bipolar mice?

[Arancaytar]

Because it's normal for rodents to eat everything, even paper. And because cheese is a very strong-smelling food, so the mice probably find it before anything else.

Also, without humans the rats and mice who live in cities would have a hard time, since they're adapted to living off our scraps.

Re:bipolar mice?

[bruce_the_loon]

What doesn't give energy/nutrition will kill if eaten exclusively. If you ate only grass for long enough, you would be dead. Just because it isn't in ten minutes, doesn't mean it falls on the not-dead side. Unless you adapt to digesting grass sufficiently before you stave to death.

Life's great, ain't it.

Re:bipolar mice?

[Carewolf]

WTF are you taling about? there is nothing wrong with UHT-Milk.

True, except the horrible taste of course.

Re:bipolar mice?

[tburkhol]

"rotten" is an emotionally loaded term, but fundamentally cheese is a cultured food.

No culturing necessary: milk proteins precipitate at low pH, and that's all you need to make cheese. A little proteolysis with papain, chymosin, etc, will change the character a little, as will pressing and culturing, but all you really need to do is precipitate the proteins. It's easy

Re:bipolar mice?

[Samah]

That's begging the question. By definition, whatever humans do as a species is ipso facto *normal*. What is considered normal will change over time though.

Stop right there... http://begthequestion.info/

Re:bipolar mice?

[Hurricane78]

Sorry, but first of all, your lack of arguments to back your statement, means that you obviously don’t know SHIT. Second, your writing style assumes that you’re an ass. But I will overlook that.

Now for the facts: UHT-milk is heated to 150 degrees Celsius. Something that most proteins and vitamins, etc, can not stand. The molecules denature.
If you remember: We humans take meds because above 42 degrees Celsius body temperature, our proteins denature to the point where it becomes deadly.
Then that cooked liquid is blended extremely fine, which destroys the lumps of fats, but unfortunately also some molecules.
So UHT-“milk” is as much milk, as your cooked and blended finger is still alive.

But I agree, that all this still does not have to be bad. (Although it is obviously very likely.)
Unfortunately those proteins, being complex molecular machines, (that would now be sparking and dragging parts behind them when they were normal machines,) work in a different way in our body, when they are destroyed in that way. The effects are very different. Of course we still can use them for energy. But where they are used as-is, they cause bad effects for our health.

One very real proof I got, is a good friend of mine. Who literally got completely free of his “incurable” asthmatic allergy, as soon as he stopped consuming such proteins. Usually he had to use the inhalator trough the whole summer. But that summer he used it exactly once. And the next summer, it was gone. Finito. That’s it. he couldn’t believe it.
But he got the idea from a German doctor called “Dr. med. M. O. Bruker” who was the head of a clinic for about 30 years. According to him, what I stated is proven through all the thousands upon thousands of patients he treated during his career. And, well, testing it for ourselves, and actually seeing it being true, is a convincing argument, wouldn’t you say?

But I do not even expect you to believe me. Test it yourself. But beware that many diseases caused by processed food result in diseases only after some decades of doing it wrong. It’s what we call “age-related diseases”. But really they don’t come because of the age, but only with the age.

So who is “fucking ignorant” here?

Re:bipolar mice?

[RockDoctor]

I don't think anyone thinks it's [mice eating cheese] normal but from what my "experimentation" (mouse traps in the attic) seems to indicate, they certainly do like it. Of course, peanut butter works far better.

It's the fat content ; many species of mice habitually survive on a lot of seeds ; nuts are just large seeds ; nuts have quite high fat content (varies in detail, but broadly true ; "Brazil nuts are 18% protein, 13% carbohydrates, and 69% fat." ; "One ounce of English walnuts has 18.5 [about 66%?] grams of total fat and 2.6 grams of omega 3's [about 10%]").
Mice that like the taste of fatty foods will get better fed than those that don't and have more offspring ; cue evolution.
Probably, mice that can smell fatty foods from a distance will be similarly selected. Until someone comes along and invents the mousetrap.

Re:bipolar mice?

[zonker]

Perhaps because rodents have evolved along humans and tend to eat the things we eat? Humans make rodents lives easier. Rodents would just have to work harder without humans.

Re:bipolar mice?

[Anonymous Coward]

So that's what the huge hardon collider is for!

Re:bipolar mice?

[metamechanical]

Some cheese is not ripened at all, but just curdled:

Paneer

Re:bipolar mice?

[verbalcontract]

Well played, sir. I'm not sure which is geekier: the Harry Potter reference, or the fact that you gave Dumbledore sudo privileges.

Re:bipolar mice?

[Anonymous Coward]

Umm .. someone actually gets the usage of "begging the question" right, and you still refer to that website?

"It is normal for a human to do this because humans by definition do normal things" is begging the question.

Re:bipolar mice?

[brkello]

Actually, Obama's speeches are actually really well done. Not only does he deliver it well, they are full of logic and reason that has been sorely lacking in our leader's speeches the past 8 years. But people refuse to actually listen because they are so polarized. Very sad.

The GP was obviously making fun of the Miss USA pageant contestant that blew the questions/answer portion. Maybe you were just trying to be funny, but if you were serious, I really feel sorry for you.

Re:bipolar mice?

[Ozlanthos]

Sorry I am not partaking of the same kool-ade as you. When I here the man speak in specifics, I will start to think he is actually saying something. Until then it all looks like smoke and mirrors to this cynic. So yeah I am serious (I was kind of joking until you insinuated that there is something "to feel sorry for" because you and I don't share the same perspective about Obama). Since Clinton I have watched our elected officials with a questioning mind, and I feel healthier for it. I am not sucked in by socially-biased characterizations, because frankly I don't give a damn what color you are, where you were born, what ethereal being you worship, or what you do with your genitalia. Hence, when I hear Obama speak, it often dawns on me that I have never heard a world leader say less with so many words.

"If you love your country, pick independent candidates who resonate with your "thinking" and vote for THEM in 2010!"

-Oz

Re:bipolar mice?

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, the article just says says to find out what happens, fund the experiment. So reading the article won't tell you.

Been done before...

[damn_registrars]

Look for The Flying DutchFrog to see electromagnet experiments in levitation on other vertebrates.

Re:Been done before...

[SOdhner]

I saw footage of a spider being levetated as well, I think by the same people who floated the frog (can't follow the link right now, but it may be there). It flailed around for just a split second, and then folded its legs around itself so that it was just a ball. Kind of a cool reaction.

Re:Been done before...

[Anonymous Coward]

From TFA:

Other researchers have made live frogs and grasshoppers float in mid-air before, but such research with mice, being closer biologically to humans, could help in studies to counteract bone loss due to reduced gravity over long spans of time, as might be expected in deep space missions or on the surfaces of other planets.

Re:Been done before...

[vertinox]

Well it has been done before but this is the first mammal and largest animal so far and is closer to a human than a frog.

Re:Been done before...

[BradleyUffner]

it can't be the first time for a mammal. It specifically mentions past experaments with rats.

Re:Been done before...

[Anonymous Coward]

Read more carefully. It said experiments with rats in strong, but non-levitating magnetic fields showed no adverse effects (over some time span).

Re:Been done before...

[Anonymous Coward]

It specifically mentions blasting them with magnetic rays, not levitation.

Re:Been done before...

[rikennedy]

The part you quote contains a link to another article describing levitating "ants, beetles, spiders, ladybugs, bees, tadpoles, and fish," but that levitation was done using ultrasound, not magnetism.

Re:Been done before...

[Anonymous Coward]

I guess scientists are at the point where they can actually produce a viable chick magnet of their own making. Unfortunately, nobody ever intended or implied that they take the concept that literally.

Sounds fun!

[Garridan]

When will this scale up to human size? I wanna play!

Re:Sounds fun!

[Kjella]

Probably, but so will the magnetic field. It says the mouse weighs 10 grams, so a ~10000x increase in the magnetic field might get rather nasty.

Re:Sounds fun!

[phantomfive]

You can try indoor skydiving right now. A bit windier, but doable right now. Actual skydiving might be closer to the experience of weightlessness, though.

Re:Sounds fun!

[Xiterion]

It is, but only for the first few seconds until you hit terminal velocity. Scuba diving also comes pretty close, since you have the range of motion. Your inner ear is still certain which way is up though, so you don't get quite the same sensation.

Re:Sounds fun!

[Lord Pillage]

Is that how it works though? Does adding another magnetic elements to a magnetic field weaken the field's push on another element? Or does it apply equally strong to all things at an equal distance. In such a case, the mass would matter less than the physical size (more specifically, the distance of the furtherest part of the human from the field). Any scientist / engineer care to elaborate?

Re:Sounds fun!

[Bakkster]

It took 16 Tesla to float a frog, so it would take about 150kT to levitate a human. The strongest field created by man was 2.8kT, but was a single pulse and created with explosives. The strongest continuous field was 45T so good luck waiting for the scale-up.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders_of_magnitude_(magnetic_field)

That said, I'd wait to see the long term physiological effects on the mice. It's possible that any cellular damage would scale up as well...

Re:Sounds fun!

[John Hasler]

That isn't how it works. The same fieild intensity that levitates a mouse would levitate a person. However, the volume throughout which the field is of constant intensity would have to be scaled up and the energy stored in the field is proportional to volume so your number may not be too far off if seen as a measure of the size and cost of the magnet.

Re:Sounds fun!

[Publikwerks]

Just re-route power through the main deflector.

Re:Sounds fun!

[daveime]

The engines'll no take it capn'

Re:Sounds fun!

[Publikwerks]

FLY HER APART THEN!

Re:Sounds fun!

[zygotic mitosis]

Like a balloon, and...something bad happens!

Re:Sounds fun!

[Gilmoure]

What about being tumbled in the dryer?

And if we just shrank people down to the size of flying frogs...

Re:Sounds fun!

[Cedric Tsui]

Wait? Wha? Highschool physics much? How was this post modded 5+ informative when it's so wrong?

With 16T, you can levitate an object of any size so long as it predominantly consists of water. It's not like a 1g frog will float, but a 2g frog will fall in the same magnetic field. The reason why the things floated are small is because its easier to make small magnetic fields. If you have a current going around a loop, and you double the radius of that loop, your peak magnetic field drops by a factor of 4. You do not need 150kT to levitate a human. You just need a magnet that is physically larger with the same field strength and geometry.

One more thing. It's not just the magnitude of the magnetic field that controls whether something will levitate or not. The key is that the magnetic field gets weaker as you move up. Wikipedia tells me that levitation power is proportional to B*dB/dZ. (the magnitude of the field times how quickly it diminishes as you move upward) That is to say, if you had a 150kT magnetic field, and it was constant everywhere, you wouldn't float in it.

Re:Sounds fun!

[32771]

Maybe near a neutron star you could find a proper spot to test this. Damn we need spaceflight - oh wait! Just getting into orbit costs you a few million whereas your big fat magnet costs what? Maybe you are better off with plain old free fall in an orbit or the vomit commet.

Re:Sounds fun!

[drummerXander17]

Large and costly magnets? Why don't we just start levitating things at the LHC?

Re:Sounds fun!

[Arthur Grumbine]

It's not like a 1g frog will float, but a 2g frog will fall in the same magnetic field.

I just want to know where you're getting such tiny frogs.

Re:Sounds fun!

[DrLudicrous]

Large and costly magnets? Why don't we just start levitating things at the LHC?

magnets aren't nearly strong enough, that's why

Re:Sounds fun!

[Jane Q. Public]

She kinna hold oot much longer!

Re:Sounds fun!

[budgenator]

I tried that once on my little brother, he actually got bigger from all of the bruises and swelling, and boy was my mom pissed.

Re:Sounds fun!

[cheekyboy]

One question, if you can levitate for argument sake 1 kilo of water or matter, say 1 cm, inside a chamber, does that mean if you do this inside a rocket, you can lift off with more 'mass' or does the 'floating' matter still exert force downwards ?

Re:Sounds fun!

[Cedric Tsui]

The force exerted upward on the objects in the field will be matched with a force of the same magnitude downward on the magnets. So as long as your magnets aren't inside the spaceship, it would work. But if you had giant magnets outside your ship, there are better options than using the diamagnetic (very weak) property of some materials as opposed to ferromagnetic effects (this is how normal magnets work).

Re:Sounds fun!

[Cedric Tsui]

:p

Here's one.

Re:Sounds fun!

[Bakkster]

Good call, I wasn't particularly putting much thought in. I'm too far into applications (Electrical Engineering), I've kinda forgotten my basics.

/. scooped by Conan O'Brien on a science subject

[Anonymous Coward]

That's some kind of interesting. Hot scoops...

For those who like pics...

[Anonymous Coward]

From one of the earlier experiments.

Looks more like a cheese shredder than a large, scientifically purposed apparatus.

I've done similar experiments before...

[TommydCat]

...using a 3-man slingshot and dead squirrels.

The dead squirrels did not seem to suffer adverse effects while they were levitating, though it must be said they were in this state only for a few moments and there were adverse effects after they struck their respective targets.

Re:I've done similar experiments before...

[eldavojohn]

...using a 3-man slingshot and dead squirrels. The dead squirrels did not seem to suffer adverse effects while they were levitating, though it must be said they were in this state only for a few moments and there were adverse effects after they struck their respective targets.

Dear sir or ma'am, I am a colleague of yours in the respected field of Airborne Necromancy and would like to see your records and raw data. Specifically I am interested to see trajectory and ballistics data on said deceased squirrel and would like to know targets, their reaction and splash radius (if any). Also, I require data on the haired appendage attached to the posterior of the squirrel and would like to know if it emitted a satisfactory trailing manifold while said furry body traveled along its arc. Also, if you have raw data on the reactions of homo sapiens of the homogametic sex upon realization of said ballistic squirrel, I would be eternally grateful for it and any footage of shear horror and/or terror. I look forward to peer reviewing your research in next month's issue of Bodies in Flight. Good day!

Re:I've done similar experiments before...

[TommydCat]

Dear eldavojohn - thank you very much for your interest in our research.

Unfortunately data collected on targetted facial responses is strictly limited to third-party hear-say information since the data collection stopped shortly after levitation was achieved due to personal safety risks to the research team if they were to have remained on-site. The time period of this research predates the "YouTube" era, and indeed no video recording devices were available that wouldn't prove too bulky for safe movement during the personnel evacuation window.

While my submission cannot be considered authoritative in this subject by peer review, it is refreshing to see other researchers interested in this field of study.

Good day to you and keep your head down!

Re:I've done similar experiments before...

[Hurricane78]

But one must say, that levitation because of gravitational effects is not the same as that of (electro)magnetic effects. One can not use the one to study the other, for example. (Although some "scientists" attempt it nonetheless.)

Re:I've done similar experiments before...

[CarpetShark]

...using a 3-man slingshot and dead squirrels.

Really? That sounds pretty cool. How did you get the dead squirrels to operate the slingshot?

Re:I've done similar experiments before...

[eldavojohn]

Refusal to relay your data to me?! I'll have you know I am the professor emeritus eldavojohn from Peter Wiggin's School for the Demented Brothers. Perhaps you've heard of it? Yes, well, I'm kind of a big deal there.

Your unwillingness to share crucial data to our pain-staking squirrel research not only upsets me but mars the very foundation upon which we have built our esteemed ideals and research. Furthermore your lack of savvy in the sub-field of post experiment egress and planning belie your innocence and naive dabbling in such a rewarding and rich genre of science.

In short, I recommend you put the squirrel slingshot down before you fail to hurt someone and leave the research to those of us properly equipped with chinchilla Gatling guns. Your work may make for a great show on the Discovery Channel but there's no place for you in my school.

Re:I've done similar experiments before...

[Krneki]

Dear sir or ma'am the squirrel rocket bomb is an ancient ritual performed during the new year festivals. It was used in EU in the '80 and '90. It consisted in putting a rocket petard inside a squirrel ass. The ritual eventually become banned, but the older people still remembers it.

Re:I've done similar experiments before...

[TommydCat]

While I cannot understand why you are so emphatic, I can empathize your position in this matter. We can expedite recreation of said research data and deliver it by air courier. Kindly prepare to receive a few drops presently, as soon as we fortify our research site with duct-taped cats and a tarp.

Re:I've done similar experiments before...

[Zerth]

Not sure about the squirrels, but others have great success putting Linux on dead badgers. That may be cross-compilable to squirrels, but you'd definitely need the memory stick version, just from space concerns.

Re:I've done similar experiments before...

[Anonymous Coward]

Your ideas intrigue me and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

Re:I've done similar experiments before...

[Anonymous Coward]

Select a response: Perhaps in exchange for some of your valuable research data? I will need 75 credits to recover my costs of pursuing the research. Your faction is no longer significant.

Re:I've done similar experiments before...

[Anonymous Coward]

We can expedite recreation of said research data and deliver it by air courier.

Have you considered Pigeon-Mail, the new-and-improved version of Squirrel-Mail? Latest research has shown that Pigeon-Mail delivers your packets much faster than existing technology, and has been receiving worldwide acclaim by the scientific community.
If you would like further information about Pigeon-mail, don't hesitate to contact me.
Thank you for your time
-ISP Telkom sales rep.

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's...

[dontspitconfetti]

MIGHTY MOUSE!

No video?

[genner]

Why no video?
Flying mice on youtube would bring more media coverage of this.

Cheesey Jokes

[Monkeedude1212]

Thats Gouda

but it'll be cheddar when they make it work on humans. Then it would be truly Marble-ous.

Re:Cheesey Jokes

[Anonymous Coward]

please go away

Re:Cheesey Jokes

[Anonymous Coward]

Camembert levitate any better than a mouse? Because that would Brie-ly spectacular.

Gruyere think we should end this silliness now? While you and I may be amused by such Stilton puns (and I'm not so sure I am), I'm pretty sure Mozzarella don't think they're funny at all.

Quantum levitation

[argent]

What happens when you create a quantum superposition of levitating mice?

Re:Quantum levitation

[argent]

That's because of entanglement?

Re:Quantum levitation

[amplt1337]

...Funding?

you hope?

Re:Quantum levitation

[Anonymous Coward]

To levitate and not to levitate, what was the question?

no side effects?!

[ILuvRamen]

So, wouldn't it generally levitating the mouse using the iron in its blood? So if your blood cells are yanking your body around, wouldn't that sort of interrupt the normal flow of blood and cause damage to the walls of your veins and capillaries and arteries and all that?

Re:no side effects?!

[bcmm]

No, it works on the water in the animal. Red blood cells aren't ferromagnetic; all the iron is in haemoglobin, not little metallic bits.

Re:no side effects?!

[ILuvRamen]

Then how did Magneto escape from his prison by ripping all the iron out of a guy's body after he took iron supplements or whatever? Explain that documents scientific experiment to me lol.

I for one...

[eviloverlordx]

...welcome our new mouse-levitating scientific overlords.

Re:I for one...

[Anonymous Coward]

To prove their mousy worth, they'll overthrow the earth!

Re:I for one...

[Yvan256]

No, they can't mess with their experiment that much.

Re:I for one...

[Anonymous Coward]

you can't just apply this joke to every story... /rolls eyes

Re:I for one...

[genner]

you can't just apply this joke to every story... /rolls eyes

I for one welcome our repeating meme overlords.

Re:I for one...

[religious freak]

I for one welcome our recursively redundant links! (or would that be redundantly recursive?)

http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1365497&cid=29392291

B-b-b-but, EM radiation!

[Wireless Joe]

"The strong magnetic fields did not seem to have any negative impacts on the mice in the short term, and past studies have shown that rats did not suffer from adverse effects after 10 weeks of strong, non-levitating magnetic fields."

Sure, but put a cell phone next to their cage, and they have cancer in a week, right!?!

Re:B-b-b-but, EM radiation!

[Anonymous Coward]

Light is EM radiation. Shine a flashlight onto a mice and they have cancer in a week.

Re:B-b-b-but, EM radiation!

[mrsquid0]

Cell phones operate at different frequencies and different power levels than the apparatus used in this experiment, so the lack of adverse effects on the mice does not really say anything about the effects of a cell phone on mice (or humans).

Re:B-b-b-but, EM radiation!

[Hurricane78]

On the other hand: Put them in a microwave and shoot them with a industrial-strength laser, and they will not have cancer too... because they will be a heap of ashes.

I understand your argument and I specifically agree with it. But by putting yourself in the opposite extreme position, you're not much better than them. Even if it happens for dubious humoristic purposes. ^^

Re:B-b-b-but, EM radiation!

[Bakkster]

The field in this experiment isn't EM radiation at all. It's just a (really big) magnet. There is no time varying component (it has no frequency) so it does not have an electric component (look up Maxwell's equations). This has as much to do with EM radiation as a cup of water on your desk has to do with the waves on the ocean.

That said, if you move a wire through it, you'll generate one hell of an electic field, but only while the strength of the magnetic field through the wire is changing.

Re:B-b-b-but, EM radiation!

[jeffb (2.718)]

This was a static field. A static field is like resting your head on the floor. An oscillating field is like beating your head against the floor.

Of course, nothing will stop some people from claiming that strong static magnetic fields cause cancer. Maybe they can fight it out with the people who say that they cure disease.

Re:B-b-b-but, EM radiation!

[jeffb (2.718)]

That said, if you move a wire through it, you'll generate one hell of an electic field, but only while the strength of the magnetic field through the wire is changing.

Wait, if you move a wire through an unchanging field (perpendicularly), you'll induce a current, right? You'll also induce one if you hold a wire still in a field whose strength is changing.

On a related note, axons are in many ways like long wires. Move around in a high magnetic field, and you'll notice odd effects. It's more of a problem for people than for mice -- our axons run longer, and so inductive effects are stronger.

Re:B-b-b-but, EM radiation!

[Omestes]

Axons aren't quite like wires, though. Its been awhile, but don't they use current via ion channels, and not an actual current? When activated they suck up a bunch of positive ions (I think calcium, might be wrong though), and expel the negative ones (potassium, might be wrong though) creating a charge. They aren't llike little wires.

If they were, I imagine that MRI's would be much more interesting though.

Re:B-b-b-but, EM radiation!

[Bakkster]

Wait, if you move a wire through an unchanging field (perpendicularly), you'll induce a current, right? You'll also induce one if you hold a wire still in a field whose strength is changing.

A voltage is induced only when the magnetic flux (aka, the strength of the magnetic field) in the wire changes. If the wire is moving perpendicular to the field in such a way that the wire 'sees' a constant magnetic field strength (in theory), there will be no voltage. In practice this is very difficult to do (the wire will move at least a little bit).
Per the definition you are correct that a time-varying magnetic field will also induce a voltage (this is how the secondary on a transformer works). However, the field in the article is stationary.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_induction

On a related note, axons are in many ways like long wires. Move around in a high magnetic field, and you'll notice odd effects. It's more of a problem for people than for mice -- our axons run longer, and so inductive effects are stronger.

As my sibling post mentions, axons do not act like wires in terms of electromagnetism. It is possible that the mechanism could be affected by very strong magnetic fields, but they shouldn't induce a current in neurons.

Re:B-b-b-but, EM radiation!

[jeffb (2.718)]

Oh, but they do get interesting, if you disable the rate-of-field-change safeties that are integrated into clinical scanners. Our lab does high-resolution MR imaging in small animals, and if we don't disable those safeties, we can't get the gradients we need. (In this field, "gradient" refers to a varying magnetic field that's overlaid on the nominally constant and uniform field from the main magnet.)

Even without involving the gradients, if you move your head too quickly near the bore of our 7T magnet, it can have very odd effects. I'm not sure of the mechanism, but I've assumed it has to do with currents induced in axons. They aren't wires, but they are conductive channels, and as Volta showed, they do respond to purely electrical stimulation.

(I hope someone better versed in MR physics will chime in here. I'm just a lowly computer guy, relying on what I've soaked up from my co-workers due to curiosity and overheard discussions.)

Re:B-b-b-but, EM radiation!

[electrostatic]

If the wire is moving perpendicular to the field in such a way that the wire 'sees' a constant magnetic field strength (in theory), there will be no voltage.

No, not the strength per se. If a moving wire crosses lines of [constant or varying] magnetic flux, a voltage is induced in it.

Example: imagine a large circular magnet with a narrow slot that forms a pair of parallel poles. The fiend strength in the central region of the poles is essentially constant (and perpendicular to the plane of the poles). If you move a wire through the slot it will cut through the flux lines. Consequently a voltage is induced in it.

Indeed, in the central area the field strength is not only more constant, it is also the strongest, and the induced voltage will be highest (assuming constant wire speed).

Re:B-b-b-but, EM radiation!

[Chris Burke]

That said, if you move a wire through it, you'll generate one hell of an electic field, but only while the strength of the magnetic field through the wire is changing.

Wait, if you move a wire through an unchanging field (perpendicularly), you'll induce a current, right? You'll also induce one if you hold a wire still in a field whose strength is changing.

Yes you're right. What actually induces the current isn't exactly the magnetic field, it's magnetic flux. The induced voltage is proportional to the change in magnetic flux over time, and flux is magnetic field times area, and so flux per unit time can also be described as a length times a velocity. Think of it as the moving wire carving out an increasing area, constituting a change in flux. You don't have to actually vary the magnetic field strength itself.

Re:B-b-b-but, EM radiation!

[Chris Burke]

All that is required is a change in flux, and a wire moving through a constant magnetic field is a change in flux. You can think of a 'change in area times field over time' as 'length times field times change in position over time'. The wiki page on Faraday's law of induction shows how you arrive at the velocity-based component of induced emf.

Re:B-b-b-but, EM radiation!

[Omestes]

Damn you, explain "interesting" and "odd"! Don't leave us all hanging.

Re:B-b-b-but, EM radiation!

[nstickney]

The interesting axons are oddly interesting due to interestingly odd effects.

Re:B-b-b-but, EM radiation!

[jeffb (2.718)]

Thank you. I don't think I ever saw it explained in quite those terms, and they were apparently just the terms my brain was looking for.

Re:B-b-b-but, EM radiation!

[Anonymous Coward]

On a related note, axons are in many ways like long wires.

Not really. When a signal propagates along an axon, it isn't conducting a current along its length. The signal is a transfer of sodium and potassium ions across the cell membrane, perpendicular to the axon. And across a distance less than the diameter of the axon - you aren't going to get any interesting inductive effects over that distance.

I suppose that an axon is conductive - it contains salty water - but so is a blood vessel.

Re:B-b-b-but, EM radiation!

[jeffb (2.718)]

I don't have firsthand experience, but here's one example study. No mention of what kind of "discomfort" the patients experienced, but I'd expect pins-and-needles sensations. This is from high gradient rate-of-change.

For head motion, again, I don't have first-hand experience, and I'm having a harder time Googling up examples. I have the impression that it's mostly dizziness/vertigo. As I said, I'd assumed that it was an induction effect on axons, but thinking about it more, I wonder if it's diamagnetic force on the fluid in the semicircular canals. 7T isn't enough to levitate, but it's certainly enough to exert force.

For proof that magnetic fields can influence neural activity, you need only look at the burgeoning field of transcranial magnetic stimulation. Those field rates of change are orders of magnitude beyond anything you can coax out of an MR scanner, though.

got half of it right

[Tablizer]

No no no, bad scientist. I told you to work on flying cars, not flying mice.

Re:got half of it right

[mrsquid0]

I would rather see flying mice. Come to think of it, that is essentially what bats are, so nature beat us to it,

Re:got half of it right

[maxume]

Now I'm curious about which mice are predatory.

Re:got half of it right

[mrsquid0]

Mice are omnivores. They will happily eat insects The Northern Grasshopper Mouse, for example, has a diet that consists almost totally of insects.

Re:got half of it right

[Ironica]

Why? Bats are mostly herbivorous.

Re:got half of it right

[maxume]

The bats I commonly see eat insects. I didn't say mice weren't predatory, I wouldn't bet on nature being so constrained.

Re:got half of it right

[h4rr4r]

All of them.
They eat insects and smaller rodents.

Re:got half of it right

[Anonymous Coward]

No, no, you've both got it wrong. The priority, obviously should be placed on flying pigs!

Re:got half of it right

[geekoid]

You need flying mice to power the flying car, duh.

Re:got half of it right

[Tablizer]

Kind of like Santa's reindeer, eh?

Video?

[11_biznatch_11]

Video anyone?

Re:Pics?

[Yvan256]

Here's your pic.

Right...

[Monkeedude1212]

past studies have shown that rats did not suffer from adverse effects after 10 weeks of strong, non-levitating magnetic fields.

Right. Non-levitating has no negative effects in the short term. Actual Levitating has no immediate effects in the short term. The effects of levitating magnets in the long term could be catastrophic, and if thats the case I hope we observe it and know not to put ourselves through it.

However, we've seen first hand that astronaughts who don't get exercise in 0 gravity have had some side effects like Atrophy, so I hope they have zero gravity mouse wheels to keep these mice in shape while testing them for prolonged periods.

Re:Right...

[Red Flayer]

so I hope they have zero gravity mouse wheels to keep these mice in shape while testing them for prolonged periods.

Where's your sense of imagination? If it's zero G, we're not limited to mouse wheels and/or hamster balls. How about a hamster tetrahedron? I mean, not to be one-sided, but surely a mouse mobius strip is the least we could hope for?

Re:Right...

[Lord Ender]

The effects of levitating magnets in the long term could be catastrophic

What reason do you have to make such a claim?

I hope they have zero gravity mouse wheels to keep these mice in shape

How do you expect a mouse wheel to work without gravity? Strap the little guys down with elastic?

Re:Right...

[dissy]

How do you expect a mouse wheel to work without gravity? Strap the little guys down with elastic?

Personally I just place the official scientific-taunting-food-bite to float about 3 inches from where the floating mouse is, sit back, and watch him run!

They are so cute when hungry weightless and scared :D

Re:Right...

[Lord Ender]

Dude... that's awesome. I hope that, before I die, I see a video of a mouse hovering in mid air, fruitlessly kicking his legs with all his might in order to reach a piece of cheese dangling inches from his nose.

In fact, I assume those running the Matrix enjoy a similar sort of humor whenever they arrange for me to be introduced to a beautiful, intelligent woman.

Re:Right...

[SoupIsGoodFood_42]

How do you expect a mouse wheel to work without gravity? Strap the little guys down with elastic?

They could still pull themselves along the bars of the wheel (or could they not grip it?), they'd just spin around a bit.

Re:Seriously, Slashdot?

[Red Flayer]

I was going to mod you down, then I decided to respond instead.

Slashdot has always been behind the "news" cycle.

This is fine. Most people don't come here for breaking news, they come here for (sometimes) informative, enlightened, or humorous discussion of the article and related topics.

I'll just add that your griping is none of those things. If what you care about is being the first to read about something, then please feel free to go elsewhere. And feel free to not bother with the discussion on Slashdot when the same item is up a day or two later... you won't be missed if what you post is similar to the post I'm responding to.

Oh, and one last thing... Slashdot is a news aggregator. There is very, very little original content in the items posted to the main page. However, it is a community-driven site. If you're unhappy that items come through later here than elsewhere, one thing YOU can do to improve it is to submit articles yourself in a timely manner.

Obligatory jokes

[ryanvm]

Can I get a shark/laser joke here?

Re:Obligatory jokes

[prometx42]

The key question here, being largely and glaringly overlooked, is; will the strength of a magnetic field strong enough to suspend a Laser-Shark, induce enough current in it's laser targeting system to cause an accidental activation, thus drastically increasing the risk involved in this experimental vein. i.e., is the target experimental area laser-shielded? Are experimenters wearing the proper eye-shielding for the specific frequency of shark lasers? These are the thing we really need to know...

Re:Obligatory jokes

[don_carnage]

Who do I have to kill to get sharks with fricken lasers on their heads? Throw me a bone here.

Not really zero-G

[dbet]

This sounds like a very stable environment. In free-fall you can move this way and that and your internal organs will sort of eventually catch up. Other than rotating, which the article does discuss, they can't really push off and fly across the room, coming to an abrupt halt at some point. Things like that.

Obligatory Dave Barry Joke

[Anonymous Coward]

Levitating Mice would be a good name for a rock band.

Neo is a Mouse

[Anonymous Coward]

someone tell Morpheus.

Re:/. scooped by Conan O'Brien on a science subjec

[Anonymous Coward]

That's some kind of interesting. Hot scoops...

It is probably because the typical slashdot user would call anyone who would make such a claim a conspiracy theorist, kook, tin foil hat wearer, etc...

"All truth passes through three stages: First, it is ridiculed; Second, it is violently opposed; and Third, it is accepted as self-evident."

Re:Seriously, Slashdot?

[flyingfsck]

It is because Roland Piquepaille passed away...

Re:Seriously, Slashdot?

[John Hasler]

> It seems that these days, slashdot takes all of its news from gizmodo, wired,
> and ars.

And therefor I miss nothing important by not reading those sites while avoiding a great deal of crap.

Re:Seriously, Slashdot?

[Lord Ender]

This is actually a discussion site, not a news site. We come here for the discourse and the surprisingly effective moderation system.

Picture???

[wzinc]

How can they have an anti-grav story with no picture?!?

Re:Picture???

[muntis]

Looks authentic to mee

but...

[Anonymous Coward]

will they blend?

Re:but...

[Ironica]

No, because they're levitating above the blades.

When Pigs Fly

[sarlos]

May come sooner than we all thought...

Re:When Pigs Fly

[lwsimon]

You're late to that party.

Swine Flu.

Re:When Pigs Fly

[Anonymous Coward]

Contrary to popular myth, pigs fly just fine, given sufficient initial thrust.

42

[Anonymous Coward]

I am sure there is a reference to HHGTG here somewhere...

Re:42

[Sulphur]

The mice are trying to float a loan to start a Swiss account. BTW They prefer gumdrops http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0F1FF83F5E107A93C6A91782D85F4D8485F9

Creepy image

[Anonymous Coward]

Since it's just levitating the water I got this image of a mouse shaped mass of water hanging above a dried up mouse. Now that would be a stupid pet trick!

SCIENCE?

[Phoenixlol]

Maybe someone knows, can this tech be used to simulate gravity in space (without crumpling the vessel)?

Re:SCIENCE?

[PRMan]

This is what I wanted to know as well. It seems like a carefully directed magnetic field could do a poor simulation of gravity (but better than nothing).

An interesting experiment

[malevolentjelly]

To be honest with you, when you reach this level of awesome in your experimentation, you don't even need a premise. The NASA scientists could have simply announced that they did it for the lulz and it would be okay.

I think the public would excuse it.

Song in my head...

[digitalhermit]

"Heeere I come to save the daaaayy.. Mighty Mouse is on his waaaay!!"

Flying mice. Sheesh.

Electrocution?

[JSBiff]

Hmm, If I remember correctly from my physics class, any time electrons move through a magnetic field, don't they produce electric forces in a direction perpedicular to the motion through the magnetic field? Or something like that. Anyhow, electric generators, I remember, are just coils of wire that you rotate inside a strong magnetic field.

So, the question is, could exposure to magnetic fields strong enough to levitate you, also cause electric currents in your body, if you move through the field, strong enough to do things like cause currents across vital organs/nerves/brain strong enough to cause damage, irregular heart beats, or disrupt normal nervous function?

Re:Electrocution?

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, that's what this research is about.
And as the mice seem to be acting "normal", I guess the answer is "No, for short to medium exposure time".

Re:Electrocution?

[Bakkster]

Hmm, If I remember correctly from my physics class, any time electrons move through a magnetic field, don't they produce electric forces in a direction perpedicular to the motion through the magnetic field?

An electrical current generates a magnetic field surrounding it. In the presence of another magnetic field, the two push against each other (as magnets do) and produce a physical force on the condustor.

And as TFA mentions, rats suffered no ill effects from long-term exposure to strong (probably several Tesla) magnetic fields. It is possible that intensely strong (hundreds or thousands of Tesla) could cause issues, though, but that's what research and experiments are meant to determine.

Re:Seriously, Slashdot?

[bmckeever]

they come here for (sometimes) informative, enlightened, or humorous discussion of the article and related topics.

I come here for the depressingly predictable jokes. Where's my "I for one..."? Ah, there it is.

Better yet...

[CRiMSON]

when can I get one for the bedroom, I'm seeing endless potential fun with this!

Re:Better yet...

[Tablizer]

when can I get one for the bedroom, I'm seeing endless potential fun with this!

Girlfriend left you again?
       

Re:Seriously, Slashdot?

[Red Flayer]

I come here for the depressingly predictable jokes. Where's my "I for one..."? Ah, there it is.

In Soviet Slashdot, depressing predictable joke comes for you?

Gravity != Magnetism

[Anonymous Coward]

Since when does floating the water in a creature qualify as microgravity? The water (and the critter) are still in and affected by gravity. This is bunk and should be called as such. I would be willing to bet that if you measured the gravitational force above that magnet it would be EXACTLY the same as before(OK, maybe a small bit different). Gravity != Magnetism!!!!

Re:Gravity != Magnetism

[Anonymous Coward]

But if you're 3/4 water (or some such), and each water molecule is experiencing an upwards force due to magnetism 1/3 greater than the downward force, the effect should be similar to microgravity, modulo some internal forces due to non-homogeneity. Any large-scale effects are likely to be similar, for sure...

More to the point, even if the effects are significantly different, experiments on this are potentially useful, as this offers an effective means of applying "artificial gravity" with a magnetic field in a spaceship, and it's important to know whether this will solve the biological problems of microgravity, and also whether it creates any new problems.

Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Pinky?

[TheLoneGundam]

I think so, Brain, but the implementation is left as an exercise for the student.

Magnetic Field to add Gravity in Space

[tromtone]

From the other perspective, could this technology be used to add "gravity" (or a downward force equal to the Earth's gavity at the crust) in space? ...an alternative to centripetal force?

Re:Magnetic Field to add Gravity in Space

[cbhacking]

I was just thinking this, and was surprised nobody had commented. Theoretically, yes, I think it could. However, it would be very difficult to make a sufficiently large magnetic field with sufficent strength, and I think you could only do it on one deck at a time - the magnetic field would otherwise probably prefer to go through the deck, rather than the corridor or whatever.

Much worse, however, is what happens when anything strongly ferromagnetic enters the field. *You* might get accelerated download at something approximating 1 G (or even a fraction of it) but that wrench you're carrying might become very hard to hold onto, and I strongly suspect it would destroy a computer hard drive. Solid-state storage might be OK, but the induced electric field as the wires enter or leave the magnetic field could do some pretty awful things.

Re:Magnetic Field to add Gravity in Space

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes! But only if you glue the superconductor to the rat's ass.

with winter coming soon

[kpjlfm]

So, when is the anti gravity levitational mouse trap gonna be ready for market?

To apply a force..

[Anonymous Coward]

"It actually kicked around and started to spin, and without friction, it could spin faster and faster, and we think that made it even more disoriented," said researcher Yuanming Liu, a physicist.

Really? A physicist said that? Yikes.

Re:Seriously, Slashdot?

[Anonymous Coward]

I miss nothing important by not reading those sites while avoiding a great deal of crap.

You come to /. to avoid crap?! How's that working out?

Re:Seriously, Slashdot?

[Anonymous Coward]

lol, I love sarcasm

Levitating Mice ?

[Anonymous Coward]

Douglas Adams was right ! Mice *are* the most intelligent life form on the planet !

So ...

[PPH]

... the whole jumping up on a chair and screaming strategy may no longer be effective?

I'd better warn the wife.

pr0n

[Tablizer]

As usual, the pr0n industry will be the first to commercialize this technology.
       

Select your sleep number....

[Anonymous Coward]

Select your sleep number....0g or 1g. Now at our select number retailers.

Still believe the mice are expermenting on us?

[Anonymous Coward]

Ha! Take that Vroomfondel. Try to drop dead of myxomatosis on me will you?!

water is magnetic?

[AndyTheSE]

According to wikipedia, "Substances that are negligibly affected by magnetic fields are known as non-magnetic substances. They include copper, aluminium, water, and gases.". Note that negligible is not none - its just very small. So I wonder - how much less magnetic is water, than iron?

Now for the pigs . . .

[Anonymous Coward]

And once they make pigs fly, scientists can work on freezing Hell. Then lots of stuff people have put off can get done. Ain't science grand?

Tom & Jerry

[Tablizer]

Now levitate cats, and let the fun begin.
     

No Problems Until...

[Nom du Keyboard]

No problems at all, until it sucks the hemoglobin right out of your blood!

Not Shit Sherlock

[lbmouse]

The researchers first levitated a young mouse, just three-week-old and weighing 10 grams. It appeared agitated and disoriented, seemingly trying to hold on to something.

You'd be a little agitated and disoriented too if some asswipe played a joke like this on you without telling you first. Jeez!

Re:Not Shit Sherlock

[Anonymous Coward]

Reminds me of the story...back in the early days in Hollywood, apparently one of the movile moguls had a room built that was upside down, with carpet and furniture attached to the ceiling and a plastered floor with a lamp sticking up from it. If someone passed out drunk at a party, they would cart them in there and leave them to sober up. Apparently the results could be quite entertaining.

Re:Seriously, Slashdot?

[religious freak]

I come here for the slight tweaks that make a stale old joke taste new again... Ah, there it is

study variable levels of gravity?

[Anonymous Coward]

Since when does a magnetic field negate gravity one? I would guess the gravity down is being held by the magnetic one. So the mouse should still be under one gee. Or did I miss something?

How this works

[DrLudicrous]

Disclaimer: I'm an MR Physicist.

Regarding gradients: The gradients used in MRI vary in *position*. Yes in time, as well, but only because they are pulsed. We can ignore ramping issues to first order. Since the field varies as a function of position, when you move around, indeed the flux is changing which can induce currents in looped conductors so as to oppose the change. This is called induction. Many people, my self included, notice a strange sensation when first entering an MRI magnet. This is because the field is only homogeneous over a relatively small volume, outside of which there are once again field gradients (these are different than the intentional field gradients used to obtain an MRI image). It is probably not axons but something in the ear that is picking this up, I am not sure. Also, field strength has *nothing* to do with this effect. It's how fast the field changes as a function of position, i.e. the gradient, combined with the velocity of the pickup object.

Regarding repulsion: Water is diamagnetic. That means that the little spins (i.e. electrons) orbiting the atoms of a water molecule tend to align *against* the applied field direction. These spins will experience a repulsive force, hence the levitation.

Slow News ... Site?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why did I see this on Conan O'Brien two days ago before it showed up here? Slow news site.

I for one...

[nstickney]

...welcome our new levitating mouse overlords.

Lets turn this on its head...and benefit!

[Anonymous Coward]

No one here seems to think a little out of the box with this. This principle here proved can be used also as an artificial gravity field on a human crew within the confined spaces of rooms of a spaceship. Since a large part of the problems of crew health seems to be the lack of gravity, then this system may provide a solution. The only problem will be the hazard to Russian crewmen/women from the affects of magnetic fields on their stainless steel fillings in their teeth. Truly space crews may have an easy trade-off. Just take out the metal tooth fillings and replace with plastic type materials. All kind of benefits flow from simply reversing the levitating field to become an artificial gravitational field. Superconducting magnets would be necessary to maintain the field with a high efficiency. The cold of space would lessen the cooling requirements for these magnets. Make the system ship already discussed by the NASA panel, the same ship that I wrote President Bush about back in 2002 or so, of a similar morphology to the 'Vulcan' ship in Star Trek 'Enterprise'. That is a long thick torus within spins living quarters and other spaces at near one 'gee' surrounding a long central fuselage containing propulsion, fuel, navigation, observation, and other activities. Within the central fuselage that will not rotate can be installed the artificial gravity 'generators' to make living and working aboard the new first Human 'Enterprise' comfortable, healthful, and productive. Then man will be well able to use atomic propulsion to truly go out and explore where no man has gone before! Of course only the Chinese will actually DO this, as Americans no longer have the guts to be man enough to build and use and occupy nuclear powered spacecraft. Actually no democracy can, as external elements will always be able to exploit the essential internal conflicts and confusion attendant with all democratic regimes to frustrate, delay, and finally defeat any true innovation that would compete with autocratic regimes' space programs. Look what happened to the American SST! To shoot down deluded fools by the thousands if necessary is not in our national psyche, so we are doomed to failure and eventual domination by political forces, external political forces....that can! Our successors who will write our political and social epitaphs will simply call it: "Survival of the Fittest!"!

Field Strength

[rdnetto]

Does anyone know what the magnetic field strength was? It would be interesting to try and reproduce this, maybe even scale it up to humans ;)

Tessla Coils ROCK!

[LifesABeach]

I remember some years ago that a frog was levitated using a Tessla Coil. Which begs the question, "how could one create a Tessla Coil that could levitate itself? Ignoring the electricity requirements...

no pigs?

[cheekyboy]

I would love to have seen a flying , i mean levitating pig by nasa.

Now does that mean nasa has UFO technology without even knowing it?

Instead of a mouse, turn the device upside down, make a matrix of of 200x200 of them, powered by
a 50 megawatt ractor thats the size of a fridge, so that it can fit inside the 'spaceship'

Hello nasa, any create balls between your legs? Not just minor iterations. Or are the elite bankers with their trillions funding a secret nasa base in the arctic.

Re:no pigs?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'll believe that NASA has UFO technology when pigs are---

Oh.

Disoriented? Who wouldn't be...

[Demerara]

"The researchers first levitated a young mouse, just three-week-old and weighing 10 grams. It appeared agitated and disoriented, seemingly trying to hold on to something. 'It actually kicked around and started to spin, and without friction, it could spin faster and faster, and we think that made it even more disoriented,' said researcher Yuanming Liu, a physicist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. They decided to mildly sedate the next mouse they levitated, which seemed content with floating. "

I'm generally disoriented when spinning without friction. And generally content once mildly sedated.

Re:Seriously, Slashdot?

[Anonymous Coward]

Well that's it! I'm going to create my own news aggregator! With blackjack! And hookers! In fact, forget the new aggregator!

SWEET! Flying cars here we come.

[web design seo mo]

Does this mean we will have flying cars and those cool skateboards from Back To The Future? I am excited for the generations to come.

Re:Seriously, Slashdot?

[moonbender]

I come here for the predictable "I come here for..." jokes. Oh, and the recursive ones.

Inertial Dampeners! - Where are Trekkers!?

[StCredZero]

NASA scientists develop the functional equivalent to Star Trek Inertial Dampeners. Slashdot's reaction -- upskirt jokes!? Where did all the Trekkers go!? What about any Sci-fi fans who understand the 2nd and 3rd order implications of stuff like this? This is actually pretty amazing! How about being able to launch manned spacecraft into orbit at really high accelerations? Could we get enough acceleration out of this thing to compensate for the g forces of firing a capsule out of a cannon? That would enable *really* cheap spaceflight. (Though perhaps only Elbonians would like to travel that way.)