Magnetism

The Times is reporting that Britain's National Health Service will now allow doctors to prescribe magnet therapy for pain.

The NHS Prescription Pricing Authority has decreed that magnets are a good use of NHS cash, and a better bargain than bandages and nurses’ time.

As well as including magnets on the official list of items that can be prescribed, the NHS has haggled suppliers down from £29 to £13.80.

Magnetism enthusiasts reportedly include Cherie Blair, Bill Clinton and Sir Anthony Hopkins.

But not everyone is convinced.

Professor Leonard Finegold, from Drexel University in Philadelphia, and Professor Bruce Flamm, from Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Riverside, California recently pooh poohed the treatment in the prestigious British Medical Journal.

Below is a magnet therapy device for horses.

Posted by Lodestone at 01:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Apple is finding neat ways of using magnets on its computers.

For a start there's MagSafe. As seen below on the new 15-inch MacBook Pro.

This innovation connects the power cord to the machine with nothing but a magnetic clamp. So when you trip over your power cord it simply breaks the connection instead of bringing your machine crashing to floor.

Sticky!

There was also the iMac G5, released in October 05, the first Mac to include an infrared remote that clamped magnetically to the side of the computer when not in use.

Now this story from Appleinsider claims the new iBooks will also feature a new use of magnets.

In these the spring latch lid mechanism will be dropped in favor of magnets only.

With all those magnets hanging around it's to be hoped the hard drive has some pretty good shielding.

Posted by Lodestone at 01:37 PM | Permalink

With functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) you can actually peer into the skulls of people and see how their brains are responding to various stimuli.

So how might brains respond to what is some of the most expensive stimuli in the world -- the commercials broadcast during the Superbowl halftime show.

To find out which commercials were the most and least effective, FKF Applied Research and the Ahmanson Lovelace Brain Mapping Center hooked a bunch of people up fMRI machines then showed them the ads.

You can find the results here.

And if you want another perspective on this experiment and a look at some of the cool images you can get from an fMRI site, then check out this site.

Posted by Lodestone at 09:32 AM | Permalink

Who would have guessed it?

Geneva's University Hospital has just reported impressive results after treating 30 clinically depressed patients with Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS).

TMS applies a very strong magnetic field to the patient's brain to precisely irradiate a cone of just a few cubic centimetres under the cranium.

Half of the patients responded well to the treatment.

This is is mainstream medicine. A recognised treatment in Canada and Israel, TMS is covered by national health insurance schemes there. The technique is also used in Spain, the US, France, Germany, Britain, Finland and Austria.

A word of warning though. If you have a steel plate in your head, be sure to notifiy your doctor before treatment.

Posted by Lodestone at 02:27 PM | Permalink

A magnetic storm is brewing at this website over "parallel path electromagnetism", described as a new technology from Flynn Research.

This is explained as a method of controlling and directing magnetic flux within the core of a motor to provide an exponentially greater motive force than conventional motors.

The promotors of this technology claim it will lead to powerful and highly-efficient electric motors.

Others say phooey. It's just another perpetual motion machine based on poor science. Sadly, this is more likely explanation.

The so-called "new" technology was patented by Flynn Research in 1998, and their website looks like it was abandoned shortly afterwards.

Oh well. Back to the drawing board.

Posted by Lodestone at 12:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Now here's a garment that should be quite a challenge to iron.

The PodShirt features some kind of (yes, you guessed it) magnetic clip system that is guaranteed to position your iPod shuffle just... so:

It'll cost you around 30 bucks plus postage and packing

The manufacturer claims that magnetism won't damage the iPod shuffle. But don't even think of trying this with a hard drive MP3 player as it'll probably suffer serious wipage.

iShirt therefore i am?

Posted by Lodestone at 01:47 PM | Permalink

O magnetism is there no end to your delights?

Introducing throwies.

Throwies are a nifty combination of a rare-earth magnet, an LED, a lithium battery, all taped together to create a cheap and cheerful miniature art statement.

Or something like that.

Probably be most useful around Christmas time.

Posted by Lodestone at 10:21 AM | Permalink

Here's an innovative use of our favorite fundamental force.

China has unveiled the world's first permanent magnetic suspension wind power generator in the city of Guangzhou.

It sounds like a mean green dream machine indeed.

The thing reportedly costs a tenth of the traditional wind generator, needs much less wind to operate, and can generate 20% more power.

It's reckoned that these will one day be used to power street lamps and zap power into the grid.

It may also be a good idea to locate one in front of the mouth of your local politician.

Posted by Lodestone at 12:19 PM | Permalink

It's a semiconductor.

But it has no wires. It promises more processor power than today's transistor-based devices. Yet it uses less electricity and emits less heat.

What's the secret of this radical new chip design?

Magnetism of course.

Posted by Lodestone at 11:30 AM | Permalink