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The gruelling shifts, the lack of sleep, the terror that you’re responsible for people’s lives – The Irish Times

Posted: August 2, 2022 at 3:10 pm

Can you imagine what its like to be a junior doctor? The gruelling shifts, the lack of sleep, the terror that, as you take the plunge from lecture hall to hospital ward, youre responsible for the lives and deaths of others? Austin Duffy would like to help you try.

The oncologists third novel, The Night Interns, draws on his own exposure to the process more than 20 years ago which, he says, is just imprinted in my head so vividly compared to other more recent stages of my career, where Ive gone through a lot more dramatic stuff and had all sorts of intense experiences. But theres obviously something about that initial year.

Part of that something, as he describes it, is that while newly qualified medics have theoretical knowledge, they are suddenly confronted with the reality of trying to put it into practice, pitched into the unfamiliar surroundings and hierarchies of the hospital environment: You cover these vast hospitals at night, and youre wandering around with people who youre in college with; you know them, they know you, and youve got each other to help you along, but its not like theyre in any better situation. Its that moment where youve got a real foot in both camps: youre not quite a fully-fledged doctor, even though you are on paper, and youre not quite a total civilian, either. And on the medical side, youre at the very bottom of the totem pole.

In The Night Interns, which revolves around a trio of junior doctors, Duffy tries to capture the vulnerability and the isolation that he remembers despite the fact, he says, that he had a pretty good internship. The result is a tense, claustrophobic narrative, filled with strip-lit corridors, bleeping pagers, absent consultants and catastrophically ill patients, its sharply observed details set against a backdrop of the protagonists unstable emotions. In short, Duffy followed one imperative as he wrote the book: I wanted the reader to be on call.

Duffys imagination was fired by the description of young men caught up in a system over which they have no control

A clue to the intensity he wanted to achieve comes via a novel that, incongruous as it may seem, inspired him: the French writer Hubert Mingarellis A Meal in Winter, which follows three German soldiers working at a concentration camp who come across a Jewish escapee in the surrounding forest. Duffys imagination was fired by the description of young men caught up in a system over which they have no control although, he is at pains to point out, hes drawing no comparisons between the two situations: Ones a murderous regime, the others trying to help people and trying to make people better, but there was something about that dynamic that made me think, Oh my God, this reminds me of being an intern.

Duffys days of being at the bottom of the totem pole are long behind him. Nowadays, he works as a consultant at the Mater and is an associate professor at UCD; he specialises in immunotherapy and spends much of his time setting up clinical trials to enable patients quicker and better access to new and experimental drugs, a process that he ruefully notes is slower than it should be in Ireland. Im not a real scientist, he tells me, not at all. I can speak the lingo, and sort of fake it but last year he was honoured by the National University of Ireland for his exceptional research into the treatment of liver cancer.

His day job, then, doesnt sound like it would leave either much clock-time or headspace for writing fiction not to mention the fact that he also has a young family, is a keen runner and plays the saxophone. But Duffy disagrees: indeed, he sees his career as a huge advantage, and not just because it pays the mortgage. At work, he does something that he loves, and that stimulates him, and he even finds the time pressure a spur to keep at it, writing before he leaves his house in Howth every morning, then on the Dart, with maybe a quick diversion to a coffee shop if hes running ahead of schedule. If he has to take one of his children to football practice in the evening, he sits in the car with his laptop. Im very focused: when I sit to write, Im not really looking out the window, he says, which must be a terrific understatement. Does he feel impatient, I wonder, when he sees writers talking about their perfect writing set-up or the difficulty of carving time out for work? Listen, everyones got their own way, he replies, with immense tact.

He began to write when he was working in New York, living in hospital accommodation, basically a box with no internet or TV. With few personal commitments, he saw an advert for a weekly class at the writers studio, having long nursed the ambition and dibbed and dabbed throughout his 20s, including some forays into the usual awful, sentimental crap stuff.

I was very sceptical about creative writing classes, he recalls. But I figured I needed something external to just sort of get me going. And it worked perfectly, you know, it really did, it got me reading all these different writers that I would never have read. I met some people, and it was serious and good. And from that moment, Ive basically written every day.

Beyond the necessity of compartmentalising his timetable, I ask him, does he see links between his work as a doctor and his writing life?

He met his wife, artist Naomi Taitz, in New York and the couple subsequently moved to Washington before returning to Ireland in 2017, a year after the publication of his first novel, This Living and Immortal Thing, which centred on an ex-pat Irish research oncologist searching for a breakthrough. His second, Ten Days, followed last year and was shortlisted for the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year and the McKitterick Prize.

Beyond the necessity of compartmentalising his timetable, I ask him, does he see links between his work as a doctor and his writing life? Is it, in fact, an ingrained cultural misunderstanding that we separate the arts and the sciences so forcefully? I dont think theres a sharp dividing line at all, he replies. Obviously, there are different techniques involved. But youre kind of trying to get at the same thing in both. In science and medicine, youre trying to get to a sort of an objective truth: does drug x work, or does it not? Youre doing an experiment basically, youre trying to find out why is x causing y? Youre getting at that through experimentation and a different methodology than you would use, obviously, in art, but in art, youre also looking for some form of truth.

I ask him a cheeky question. The Night Interns features some truly horrible medical professionals at the top of the tree. How has he guarded against becoming one himself if indeed he has? He bursts out laughing. I wouldnt survive for very long! I think those people, like the villain in the piece, you dont see many of them around anymore. I think that is a genuine cultural change of the last 20 or 30 years. Im sure theres still things that go on. But I do think consultants, in general, are nicer. Im obviously going to say that, right?

Duffy points to the rates of personnel leaving the healthcare system for countries such as Australia

The Night Interns is not a novel of the pandemic, but it arrives at an interesting time, when the public has been made even more aware than previously of the strain on medical professionals: the images of nurses and doctors in heavy-duty protective gear for hours on end, working tirelessly to get to grips with an unfolding public health emergency, will take a long time to fade from the memory.

One of the questions the novel raises about the internship system is whether putting junior staff through such punishing initiations really correlates to whether they will become good doctors; Duffy points to the rates of personnel leaving the healthcare system for countries such as Australia, and although hes cautious about comparing one country against another, he also thinks it can be instructive. Burnout is a major concern, he says and was even before Covid hit.

Our strength is our people, and not just doctors or nurses, but all of the interactions that you get within the Irish health system.

Encountering the trainee doctors and nurses on his return from America, he says, their calibre really hit him: Theyre just fabulous. And The Night Interns will leave its readers in no doubt that they need protecting and preserving.

The Night Interns, by Austin Duffy, is published by Granta Books

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Melanin: The Holy Grail of Radioprotective Food Compounds – The Epoch Times

Posted: at 3:10 pm

This pigment-producing molecule displays some almost unfathomable properties in other species

Could the melanin found in our bodies and in foods like mushrooms help to mitigate the increasingly dire quantities of radiation we are exposed to daily?

Over the course of the past decade, one of the most interesting concepts I have run into while scouring the biomedical literature is the possibility thatmelanins biological role in the human body may extend far beyond simply protecting us against UV radiation.

In fact,one recent and highly controversial paperproposes that melanin is responsible for generating the majority of the bodys energy, effectively challenging the ATP-focused and glucose-centric view of cellular bioenergetics that has dominated biology for the past half century.

Research is now emerging indicating that melanin may function in a manner analogous to energy harvesting pigments such as chlorophyll. While melanins proposed ability to convert sunlight into metabolic energy has amazing implications (one of which is thetaxonomical reclassification of our species from heterotrophic to photoheterotrophic), what may have even more spectacular implications is the prospect that melanin may actually both protect us against ionizing radiationandtransform some of it into metabolically useful energy.

Radioisotopes are increasingly accumulating in the environment, food chain, and our bodies, as a result of nuclear weapons testing,routine releases from the nuclear industry,fracking,coal-fired powerindustriesand more recently, global fallout from the Chernobyl andFukushima meltdowns.Add in the unavoidable onslaught of radiation exposures from medical use,cell phone communications and WiFi technology, andair travel, and you can virtually guarantee your body burden of radiation exposure is significant and represents a health risk.

For these reasons reducing radiotoxicity and/or enhancing detoxification mechanisms should be a universal concern.

Melanin is, indeed, one of the most interesting biomolecules yet identified.The first known organic semiconductor, it is capable of absorbing a wide range of the electromagnetic spectrum (which is why it appears black), most notably, converting and dissipating potentially harmful ultraviolet radiation into heat. It serves a wide range of physiological roles, including free radical scavenging, toxicant chelation, DNA protection, to name but a few. It is also believed to have been one of the essentialingredients for life on this planet. Beyond itspotential in converting sunlight into metabolic energy, it may also convert ionizing gamma radiation into useful energy. Outside the realm of comic book heroes, who would have ever thought such a thing possible?

The first time I found this possibility in the scientific literature was a 2001 Russian report on the discovery of a melanin-rich species of fungi colonizing and apparently thriving within the walls of the still hot Chernobyl meltdown reactor site.In 2004, the same observation was made for the surrounding soils of the Chernobyl site.We also know that, based on a 2008 report, pyomelanin-producing bacteria have been found in thriving colonies within uranium-contaminated soils. There is also a 1961 study that found, amazingly, melanin-rich fungi from soils of a Nevada nuclear test site survived radiation exposure doses of up to 6400 Grays (about 2,000 times a human lethal dose).Clearly, something about melanin in these species not only enables them to survive radiation exposures that are normally lethal to most forms of life, but actually attracts them to it. Could the fungi actually be using melanin to feast on the free lunch of anthropogenic radioactivity ?

Remarkably, back in 2007, a study published in PLoS titled, Ionizing Radiation Changes the Electronic Properties of Melanin and Enhances the Growth of Melanized Fungi, revealed that fungal cellsmanifested increased growthrelative to non-melanized cells after exposure to ionizing radiation. In other words, the fungi grew better after being exposed to radiation. The irradiated melanin from these fungi also changed its electronic properties, which the authors noted, raised intriguing questions about a potential role for melanin in energy capture and utilization.

For more on this groundbreaking study, take a look at a 2007 report in theMIT Technology Reviewtitled,Eating Radiation: A New Form of Energy?

The question arises, could the consumption of melanin from fungi protect those higher on the food chain (like humans) from radiation exposure?

This question appears to have been answered affirmatively by a 2012 study published in the journalToxicology and Applied Pharmacology, titled, Melanin, a promising radioprotector: mechanisms of actions in a mice model, which found that when melanin isolated from the fungus Gliocephalotrichum simplex was administered at a dose of 50 mg/kg body weight in BALB/c mice before exposure to 6-7 Grays of gamma radiation, it increased their 30-day survival by 100 percent. The study also noted that melanin up to a dosage of 100 mg/kg (i.p.) did not cause adverse effects on the health of the mice.

In the study conclusion, the authors stated: The observed mitigative effects of melanin in the present study gain a lot of significance especially in nuclear emergencies but need to be validated in humans by more detailed experiments. Prior to these confirmations and based on current investigations, it can be concluded that during such emergencies,diets rich in melanin may be beneficial to overcome radiation toxicity in humans.

Another study published in 2012 inCancer Biotherapy & Radiopharmaceuticalstitled, Compton Scattering by Internal Shields Based on Melanin-Containing Mushrooms Provides Protection of Gastrointestinal Tract from Ionizing Radiation, confirmed the remarkable radioprotective properties of the melanized mushrooms was actually melanin-specific and due to other well-known therapeutic compounds within the fungi.

As succinctly summarized on theSmall Things Considered website: The authors fed mice a mushroom used in East Asian cuisine, called Judas ear, tree, or jelly ear (Auricularia auricula-judae) an hour before giving them a powerful 9 Gy dose with the beta emitter Cesium137. For perspective, anything over ~0.1 Gy is considered a dangerously high dose for humans. All the control mice died in 13 days while ~90 percent of the mushroom-fed ones survived. Mice fed a white mushroom (porcini) died almost as fast as the controls, but those fed white mushrooms supplemented with melanin also survived.

So, how does melanin perform this trick?

One clue was provided by a study published in 2011 inBioelectrochemistrytitled, Gamma radiation interacts with melanin to alter its oxidationreduction potential and results in electric current production, where ionizing radiation was found to alter melanins oxidation-reduction potential.

Unlike most other biomolecules, which experience a destructive form of oxidative damage as a result of radiation exposure, melanin remained structurally and functionally intact, appearing capable of producing a continuous electric current. This current, theoretically, could be used to produce chemical/metabolic energy in living systems. This would explain the increased growth rate, even under low nutrient conditions, in certain kinds of gamma irradiated fungi.

So, you may be wondering, what is a good source of supplemental melanin for those interested in its radioprotective and radiotrophic (radiation eating) properties? I believe chaga (Inonotus obliquus) is one of the most promising candidates. Not only is it one of the nutritionally dense mushrooms, containing an immense amount of melanin, but it was known by the Siberians as the gift from God and the mushroom of immortality, by the Japanese as the diamond of the forest, and by the Chinese as the king of plants. There is also an increasingly compelling body of scientific information demonstrating its health benefits for conditions as serious as cancer.

It should be noted that there is a profound toxicological difference between the type of radiation exposures that come from the outside in, e.g. being irradiated at a distance by radioactive material outside of us, and from the inside out, e.g. low-dose radioisotope uptake. The latter can be orders of magnitude more dangerous, as radioisotopes like uranium-238, cesium-137, and plutonium-239, can be taken into the tissues and remain there for a lifetime, wreaking havoc on a moment-to-moment basis.

Due to a phenomenon known as thephotoelectric effect, low-dose radionuclides like uranium-238, which are technically weak emitters of alpha radiation, can be tens of thousands times more damaging to our DNA than present-day radiological risk assessment models account for.

We bring this up in order to properly qualify the aforementioned information, as it could be highly misleading to those who interpret it to mean that one can simply supplement with an edible melanin product to reduce and even benefit from radiation exposure. Nothing can effectively reduce the radiotoxicity of incorporated radionuclides beyond removing them from the body.

That said, apple pectin, was successfully used post-Chernobyl to dramatically reduce the bodily burden of absorbed radionuclides in thousands of Russian children. Moreover, once we grasp the genocidal implications of the widespread contamination of the biosphere with the routine and accidental releases of radio-toxicants that maintain their toxicity for thousands, and in some cases, millions of years (e.g plutonium-239 has a half-life of 24,100 years and Uranium-238 has a half-life of 4.4 billion years), we realize the solution (if there is one) is to phase out and try to mitigate the planet-wide fallout from the nuclear industrys activities over the course of the 75 years.

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The mid-1800s sex cult in the heart of Spaxton – Bridgwater Mercury

Posted: at 3:09 pm

It was a little awkward in January 1899 when the Son of God died near Bridgwater, considering he was supposed to be immortal. Several soul brides and his daughter, the Child of the Devil, succeeded him.

And he was buried standing up just so he was ready for action when the resurrection occurred - but if you believe the rumours, hed had more than enough action during his lifetime.

This is the story of the Agapemonites, a mid-1800s sex cult centred in the heart of, of all places, Spaxton, that scandalised Victorian Society.

The Reverend Henry Prince was the youngest child of a West Indian plantation owner, born in Bath in 1811. He underwent a religious conversion in 1834, and the following year, he gave up a career in medicine for his spiritual calling.

In March 1836, he entered St David's College, Lampeter, but soon got himself something of a reputation for his beliefs. His first curacy was at Charlinch, where he proved himself to be a charismatic and popular preacher - although one with some unorthodox views about sex.

When he began flinging himself around the room and prophesying, word reached The Bishop of Bath and Wells, who asked the Rector to reign in his curate. This didnt go according to plan - instead, the rector converted and became Princes follower, prompting the Bishop to revoke both mens licence to preach.

In 1842 Prince obtained a temporary curacy in Suffolk but with the words in me you see Christ in the flesh, he proclaimed himself to be The Messiah, and The Church of England promptly defrocked him.

Undeterred, Prince continued to gain followers, especially in Brighton and Weymouth. His gospel also attracted many young unmarried women and older widows. One day, Prince gathered them all in a large house in Weymouth and solemnly informed them the end of the world was nigh.

They were told that all possessions - including money - would be meaningless in the face of oblivion, so they should share them for the common good.

And just like that, The Agapeomone - abode of love - became a reality. Using the money, the group bought a 200-acre estate in Spaxton, complete with a great house with some eighteen bedrooms, sitting rooms, dining rooms and servants' quarters.

Spacious grounds and gardens, known as Eden, were dotted with outhouses, stables, conservatories, gazebos and cottages. It had its own chapel in one corner with easy chairs, settees and a billiard table. And the estate was surrounded by a high brick wall to keep prying eyes out and the faithful in. Enormous bloodhounds guarded the gates.

But it was his practise of keeping spiritual wives - and accusations of theft, kidnapping and brainwashing - that finally brought the cult to the attention of the newspapers.

In 1845 three of the Nottidge sisters travelled to Somerset - along with Prince - to reside in the new community. During the journey, Prince persuaded Harriet, Agnes and Clara Nottidge to marry three leading clergymen from the Agapemone.

Harriet married Rev. Lewis Price, Agnes married Rev George Thomas, and Clara married Rev. William Cobbe. They all wed in Swansea on 9th July 1845. Clara and Harriet would live happily in the Abode of Love with their spiritual husbands for many years. But after becoming with no right to remove her cash - after angering Prince a pregnant, Agnes was later banished from the church and branded a fallen woman.

When Agnes realised Prince had set his sights on another sister, Louisa, she wrote to her, telling her not to come to Spaxton.

So, Louisa came to Agapemone to live. Alarmed, her outside family decided to free her.

Late one night, drinkers at the Lamb Inn, next door to the Agapemone, heard frantic screaming. They rushed out to see a young woman being bundled into a coach, which clattered noisily off into the night.

Louisa remained utterly convinced that Henry Prince was God, and her mother had her committed to a lunatic asylum. She managed to escape, only to be recaptured and recommitted, but her friends in the sect alerted the Commissioners in Lunacy, who investigated and released her in May 1848.

After her release, Louisa sued her family for abduction and false imprisonment and won, remaining at the Agapemone for the rest of her life.

The case of Louisa Nottige was the first time that the general public, via the newspapers, had heard of the Agapemonists, but it wouldnt be the last.

The incident which would forever fix them in the imagination as an evil sex cult came in 1856 when Prince announced something he called the Divine Purification.

Prince said he would carry out the sacrificial deflowering of a young girl to prove that he was the Son of God. Before long, a selection of suitable girls was made available in the chapel so he could choose the one to be 'favoured.

In front of a large congregation of his followers, dressed in flowing red velvet, he had full sexual intercourse with a 16-year-old follower on a billiard table. The girl was violated to the sound of the chapel organ and the singing of hymns. He assured his followers the girl would not become physically pregnant but who would give birth to the spirit of the new Messiah.

So eyebrows were raised among even the most devout followers when it became apparent the girl was pregnant. The resulting child that was born nine months later was called Eve.

She was condemned and denied by Prince as a devil child and was not recognised by him as his flesh and blood.

Their blinkers were finally removed, many of the congregation left and at the same time, the walls were built higher, and no one allowed in obviously, this just meant gossip and speculation went into overload.

Rumours escalated, tales became taller and more and more journalists dropped in, using the Lamb Inn as a base to gather gossip and buzz from the locals.

A favourite tale was how Mr Prince would choose his next female companion by sitting on a revolving stage and seeing who was in front of him when it stopped turning. The young ladies were said to have then stripped naked to bathe him.

Prince outlived many of his 'followers, ' giving further credence to his claim that he was immortal. In 1896 aged 85, he emerged from behind the walls of Spaxton to initiate the building of an ornate church in Clapton in North London, complete with a 155ft tower of Portland stone, oak hammer-beam roof and stained glass windows depicting the submission of womankind to man.

The church was dedicated to the Ark of the Covenant, and one of the first preachers appointed was the Reverend John Hugh Smyth-Pigott.

In 1899, Prince finally died at the age of 88. His followers were confused and hurriedly buried him in the grounds of the chapel, with his coffin positioned vertically so that he would be standing on the day of his resurrection.

Rev John Hugh Smyth-Pigott succeeded him as leader of the sect, and he immediately recruited 50 more girls. Rev Smyth-Pigott died in 1927, and two years later, Agapemone had dwindled to 37 members.

The Spaxton property was finally sold off in 1958. The complex of buildings became known as Barford Gables, and the chapel where Prince is said to have selected his sex slaves was later used as a studio for the production of BBC animated children's television programmes in the 1960s - including the classic Trumpton and Camberwick Green.

Who would have guessed that the grand building, which still stands today, has been home to the Son of God, the spawn of the devil and Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Grubb?

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The Wearable Cyberpunk Future on the Horizon – Hackster.io

Posted: at 2:49 pm

A hallmark of cyberpunk science fiction is human augmentation leading to transhumanism. We may still be several decades (or even centuries) away from true transhumanism, but augmentation in the form of wearable tech is already in its infancy. To celebrate Wearable Tech Month here at Hackster, we rounded up some of the most interesting wearable research from the past few years.

First, lets look at new developments that refine todays wearable tech. The current consumer wearable tech market is full of smartwatches and fitness trackers, but those dont exactly feel like something out of a cyberpunk movie. These new developments, however, push us a little closer in that direction.

This Skin Patch Acts Like a Battery-Free Fitbit

This wearable provides data about its users vitals. It gathers that data by analyzing the users sweat, which contains valuable information in the form of chemical signatures. It doesnt require a battery because it receives power in the same way as NFC (Near-Field Communication) devices: wirelessly from radio waves in the air. It is disposable and affordable, but can still analyze sweat volume, pH levels, lactate, glucose, and electrolyte concentration.

Oneras Bio-Impedance Patch Uses Machine Learning to Detect Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea is a very common disorder that many do not take as seriously as they should. Diagnosing sleep apnea today requires a sleep study in which the patient must wear a bulky and uncomfortable array of sensors overnight. To make diagnostic sleep studies less unpleasant, Onera Health developed this bio-impedance patch. The patient wears this unobtrusive patch on their chest and it gathers data by passing a small current through their chest. A deep learning model analyzes that data and is able to diagnose sleep apnea with 73% accuracy a rate that should improve with better model training.

Caltech Developed a Sweat-Powered E-Skin Patch to Monitor Your Health

Similar to the first patch, this wearable e-skin monitors a users health by analyzing their sweat. But this patch differs in how it receives power. Instead of relying on radio waves from an external source, this patch uses the sweat itself to generate electricity. Sweat contains lactate, which this patch can convert into a tiny electrical current. It is a very small amount of power, but the researchers claim that it is enough for the e-skins sensors and a Bluetooth transmitter.

Epicore Biosystems' Wearable Hydration-Monitoring Gx Sweat Patch Launches Alongside Companion App

Everything weve covered so far is still in development, but this Gatorade Gx Sweat Patch is on the market right now you can even buy it at your local Dicks Sporting Goods store. The patch is passive and contains no electronic components. It relies on a chemical reaction that correlates with hydration level. That chemical reaction causes a color change in the patch. A companion app provides an accurate analysis of the color change, helping users determine their exact hydration status.

As we move further from the current state of the consumer market and towards new territory, we find a new class of wearable HMIs (Human-Machine Interfaces). These HMIs facilitate interesting new ways for us to interact with technology and have a lot of potential alongside emerging mixed reality advances.

This Patch Turns Your Skin Into a Multi-Touch Controller

This patch is a bit like a wearable laptop touchpad. Like the touchpad on your MacBook, it can detect touches at multiple points. But its developers at Germanys Saarland University designed the patch to be worn on the users palm. The prototype patch connects to a Raspberry Pi Zero single-board computer (SBC) strapped to the users wrist. The result is a wireless, wearable touchpad that the wearer can use to control their smartphone, virtual reality headset, and more.

This Wearable Patch Could Give ALS Sufferers the Ability to Communicate More Effectively

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) disease causes sufferers to lose muscle control, which makes it difficult for them to communicate and to interact with technology. But even people with advanced ALS retain some small amount of muscle control, especially of their facial muscles. This patch, worn on the face, can detect miniscule muscle movements. A machine learning model analyzes those movements and determines what expression the user is attempting to make. It can only detect three facial expressions, but users can chain those together in unique combinations to communicate more complex ideas.

Wearable Brain-Machine Interface Could Help the Disabled Control Wheelchairs Wirelessly

Those with ALS and other mobility-affecting conditions also have trouble controlling their wheelchairs. This electroencephalography (EEG) brain-machine interface has a traditional scalp sensor, an e-skin nano-membrane electrode, and a wearable Bluetooth transceiver. It sends EEG data via Bluetooth to a tablet or computer up to 15 meters away. A deep learning neural network then interprets the EEG data and provides control commands to an electric wheelchair, letting the user navigate without the assistance of a caretaker.

Synthetic Skin Could Add a Sense of Touch to Prosthetics

Prostheses are already very cyberpunk, thanks to our modern robotic technology. But even the best prosthetic limbs dont provide much feedback to the wearer. This new synthetic skin could change that. Magnetic beads embedded in the soft, flexible skin cause measurable changes in a magnetic field in response to pressure. That gives the skin a sense of touch. This technology is suitable for robots now, but needs more development for prosthesis use so that wearers can perceive the signals coming from the e-skin.

The Somatic Data Glove Is a Wearable Keyboard/Mouse for Our Cyberpunk Future

This is a prototype that you can build right now, courtesy of Zack Freedman. It is a glove-like wearable that detects each fingers position as well as overall hand movement. The idea is that wearers can use the glove to perform actions on a connected computer by completing D&D-esque somatic hand movements. But while the prototype hardware is ready, software implementations are not. However, enterprising developers with programming skills can try their hand at creating software interfaces for this Somatic Data Glove.

All wearable devices face a similar challenge: where to get power. The last thing consumers want is another device that they have to charge every night. Thats why researchers are developing technology that can passively harvest enough energy to power wearable devices.

New Wearable Magnetic Patch Converts Your Movement into Electricity

This patch relies on simple electromagnetic principles. If you pass electric current through a coil of wire, you generate a magnetic field. But the opposite is also true: if you move a magnet through a coil, you generate electric current. This patch utilizes that effect to turn body movement the stretching and twisting of skin into usable power. The patch contains microscopic magnetic particles in a flexible silicone matrix. Stretching or twisting the patch causes the magnetic particles to move within the matrix, inducing current. The patch generated up to 4.27mA per square centimeter of material, which is enough to power very efficient devices.

Wearable Device Turns the Human Body Into a Useful Battery

Human bodies produce waste heat as a byproduct of metabolic processes. Heat is, of course, energy. By harnessing that waste heat, we can harvest energy that would otherwise be lost to the air around us. This wearable patch does so with a thermoelectric generator (TEG) on a small scale. TEGs generate electricity in the presence of a temperature differential. They usually work at large scales, such as to utilize waste heat from power plants. But in this case, the TEG uses the difference in temperature between to wearers skin and the ambient air to generate electricity.

Its time for the projects that really feel like they came straight out of a Neal Stephenson novel. These are the wearables that scream cyberpunk in bright, neon letters on a backdrop of a rainy dystopian city.

Wearable Textile Creates Extra Layer of Muscles

When you think of human augmentation, you probably imagine enhanced cybernetic muscles that let people lift cars or jump over houses. This Myoshirt is as close as we can get with current technology. It is a vest and sleeve system that adds an artificial motor-retractable tendon to the users arm, giving them the ability to lift more weight. It is useful for people who lack natural muscle strength and people who need to lift more than normal.

This Wearable Could Make The Matrix-Style Skill Downloads Possible

The Matrix is likely the most well-known cyberpunk movie in existence. In a very memorable scene, protagonist Neo is able to download the knowledge to perform kung-fu. Such a thing is possible with this wearable indirectly at least. This forearm-mounted device stimulates muscles with electricity, causing them to contract. By controlling the electrical stimulation, it is possible to force the wearer to perform a predetermined series of hand movements. Theoretically, the device would allow people to complete tasks with their hands as if they already had the trained muscle memory to do so.

ElectroDermis Makes Wearable Electronic Patches Comfortable and Aesthetically Pleasing

Cyberpunk isnt just about technology, it is also about aesthetics. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University realized that and created electronic patches that people would actually want to wear. The simple truth is that people are less likely to use ugly devices. That is especially true when they have to wear those devices. Thats why ElectroDermis looks cool. Many of the technologies mentioned in this article would work with the ElectroDermis design ethos and would have a much better chance at widespread adoption, because humans care about style.

What is your favorite emerging wearable technology? Let us know in the comments!

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This Boulder art exhibit is beautiful and ugly all at once – The Denver Post

Posted: at 2:49 pm

There are a lot of weird creatures lurking in the exhibition Grossly Affectionate now at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, and it is hard to tell exactly what they are.

Some are cushy, if not quite cuddly, like the plush animal-like objects Jennifer Pettus makes out of various recycled fabrics and a few unexpected odds and ends, like human hair, napkin rings and faux fur.

Some are downright difficult to stomach, like Cristobal Ceas The Extended Thing, an installation that pairs three-dimensional sculptures of internal body organs with digital prints of what appear to be more body organs intestines, and things that look like kidneys, hearts and veins.

And some are just plain out of this world, like the installation by the artist who goes by the name Mr. Hanimal, which features three sculptural beings, each with the size and bearing of a small dog, that appear to have thumbs for heads and to use fingers as feet.

Nothing in this show is easy to describe in words or categorize in the usual way we talk about humans, animals and other souls that inhabit physical bodies, and that is the goal of Grossly Affectionate. It wants to challenge us to rethink our perceptions of the living form, refusing to allow easy descriptors like race, gender, flora, fauna, earthling, alien, beautiful, ugly or anything else.

The timing is just right, of course. We are living in an age of trans-human awareness, where races mix, genders blur and DNA can be altered. Its a fabulous moment in history where people and things that did not formerly fit in are finally being recognized and slowly to some, too-rapidly to others accepted.

As jarring and unattractive as the exhibit can be, Grossly Affectionate recognizes the beauty in all of this, but also the challenges it presents for how we understand and communicate with each other. These are confusing times for everybody, and anyone who struggles to avoid using incorrect pronouns or mis-gendering their neighbors or talking too-clumsily about ethnicity, disabilities, medical conditions, sexuality, age or other markers fully understands the situation.

Rather than being confrontational, though, this show offers a place to relax, even to laugh and acknowledge we are all morphing together.

And it succeeds because the work is fully committed. The images and creatures the seven artists present have an irresistible sincerity to them, a realness that begs you to consider their essence and to appreciate it, no matter how difficult they can be to figure out.

Pettus three-dimensional objects are good examples. As you first encounter them they come off like the kind of squishy things you want to touch and hold satiny, quilted cushions or playthings that belong in domestic settings.

But Pettus, who uses mostly recycled textiles that she finds at garage sales, gives them their own individual agency, and quirkiness, and moves them firmly out of the typical comfort zones. She uses pretty colors and patterns but mixes them in awkward ways. She gives them humanoid or doll-like forms, but holds back on symmetry so it can be difficult to put the picture together. They seem to have one arm or leg, and awkward lumps and head shapes, and clawed feet. The titles she gives them confuse their biographies even more. One is called Flotsam, another is Pussyfooted.

Artist Kate Casanova indulges in similar contrasts, though she seems to specialize in mixing different densities of materials. She combines hard and soft things, solids and fluids, stiff plastic and pliable mesh.

Her piece No-show Blister Breath evokes a monster from a low-budget sci-if movie with plastic, blister-pack bubbles all over its surface that make it look like it has multiple eyes. She sets it up on two concrete blocks that stand in as legs.

Grossly Affectionate continues through Sept. 5 at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, 1750 13th St., Boulder. Info: 303-443-2122 or bmoca.org.

The contrasts in her work serve as metaphors for the contrasts in all beings, especially humans. Made of skin, bone, blood and organs, are we hard or soft, wet or dry, delicate or durable?Or, as this show posits, grotesque or lovable?

Like Pettus offerings, Casanovas works are not hideous, just unique and they ask us to recognize the uniqueness of all beings.

The other artists have their own ways of expressing this idea. Estevan Ruiz Cicatriz is a collage of 18 close-up, black-and-white photographs of those round scars many people have from inoculations meant to prevent smallpox. They can be hideous, yet we know these crater-like marks save lives. Each has its own shape, but they document a common frailty and ability to persevere that cuts across social categories.

The same goes for Ceas disembodied organs, and another piece, by Sam Grabowska, which resembles oversized and exposed ribs. The works come off as raw, but there is something honest about them. We hide these things because they repulse us, but better to see them and to understand that this is the stuff we are made of, and to use them to highlight the fact that these internal elements supersede notions of gender, race and even species.

Pamela Meadows, who curated the show, was wise to balance that seriousness with some more whimsical work, including Daisy May Collingridges series of photos featuring people wearing quirky, pillowy costumes that confuse the inside of our bodies with the outside. Her fleshy clothes look like anatomical drawings come to life, and it is impossible to discern if the people wearing them are male or female, old or young. They simply ask us to consider how bodies move and relate to each other.

And then there are those quadri-pedal thumbs Mr. Hanimals walking hands, which are rendered in yellow, blue and pink. They are the ultimate Grossly Affectionate objects, a little creepy, for sure, but in an odd way, relatable and very human. As humans, we learned to walk together on our evolutionary journey to the top of the food chain and those opposable digits are the things that set us apart from almost every other living thing on the planet

In a sense, they are our essence, more than any label or category we might assign ourselves or each other. We are just thumbs, weird, lurking thumbs.

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This Boulder art exhibit is beautiful and ugly all at once - The Denver Post

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CRISPR Technology in the Agricultural Industry: Patent and Regulatory Updates – JD Supra

Posted: at 2:42 pm

Introduction

The ability to edit eukaryotic DNA entails an almost limitless ability to alter the genetic makeup of the plants that become our food. Recently, scientific attention has been directed to applying a class of new gene-editing techniques that utilize CRISPR to food crops for the introduction of commercially desirable traits. Gene-edited crops can have a positive impact on food productivity, quality, and environmental sustainability, and CRISPR is unique in its relative simplicity, robust flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and wide scope of use. The increased use of CRISPR in agriculture has endless applications, the consequences of which are only recently being analyzed.

CRISPR & the Power of Gene Editing

The term CRISPR refers generally to a class of gene-editing mechanisms derived from prokaryotic immune systems. These mechanisms feature two main components: guiding RNA molecules that direct the second component, CRISPR-associated ("Cas") proteins, to the target region of cellular DNA. These Cas proteins induce a double-stranded break in the DNA and allow for targeted manipulation of the desired genetic code. There is incredible diversity in the CRISPR-Cas system and a multitude of different Cas proteins that can be fine-tuned to induce desired changes with high specificityincluding the activation or deactivation of individual genes, or the insertion of genes from other organisms into the target genome.

CRISPR's flexibility stands in sharp contrast to the previous generation of gene-editing technologies, such as Zinc Finger Nucleases and Transcription Activator-Like Effector Nucleases ("TALENs"), which require massive amounts of preemptive research and development and have a far more limited scope of use. This simultaneous precision and flexibility therefore provides ample opportunity for gene-edited optimization of food crops and has already been used in some instances to create, for example, browning-resistant mushrooms. In late 2021, in Japan, the first CRISPR-edited food product was introduced to the global market: tomatoes with high levels of GABA, a naturally occurring neurotransmitter, due to a CRISPR-inactivated gene.

The power of CRISPR has incredible potential for innovation, but the rights and regulations associated with CRISPR have been elusive and, at times, contentious. CRISPR's game-changing technology was the subject of a series of patent priority, inventorship, and, hence, ownership disputes between high-profile research institutionsthe recent results of which have significant implications for global food supplies.

Patent Landscape

Like most cutting-edge technologies, the invention of CRISPR was accompanied by a flurry of patent application filings in the United States and elsewhere, as researchers who brought CRISPR to light sought to protect and monetize their rights as inventors. Numerous academic institutionsincluding Harvard's and MIT's Broad Institute, the University of California, University of Vienna, Vilnius University, The Rockefeller University, and companies such as ToolGen, Inc., Sigma-Aldrich (Millipore Sigma), Caribou Biosciences, Inc., Editas Medicine, Inc., Keygene N.V., Depixus, Blueallele Corp., and CRISPR Therapeutics AG, among numerous other institutions and companieshave secured U.S. and foreign patent rights related to the applications of CRISPR technology. As CRISPR continues to expand in use, especially in the case of CRISPR-edited agriculture that evade many regulations other GMO foods cannot, the complexity of the patent landscape will almost certainly continue to grow.

EU Regulatory Landscape

In general, the EU subjects agricultural products edited with CRISPR technology to the full suite of genetically modified organism ("GMO") premarket approval, safety, and labeling requirements. The primary EU regulation on point, Directive 2001/18/EC (the "GMO Directive"), was promulgated in 2001 by the European Parliament and Council of the European Union. The GMO Directive requires all EU Member States to create appropriate precautionary measures regarding the release of GMOs in the market. However, the definition of GMO in the GMO Directive apparently excludes CRISPR modification, stating that a GMO is as "an organism, with the exception of human beings, in which the genetic material has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating and/or natural recombination."

It was not until 2018 that the EU addressed this gap in the GMO Directive. In July 2018, the Court of Justice of the European Union explained in Case C-528/16 that organisms obtained by mutagenesis are GMOs within the meaning of the GMO Directive. "Only organisms obtained by means of techniques/methods of mutagenesis which have conventionally been used in a number of applications and have a long safety record are excluded from the scope of that directive."

The following year, in November 2019, the Council of the EU formally requested that the European Commission "submit a study in light of the Court of Justice's judgment in Case C-528/16 regarding the status of novel genomic techniques under Union law, and a proposal, if appropriate in view of the outcomes of the study." The 117-page study was issued in April 2021, and ultimately affirms the holding in Case C-528/16, stating that the "study makes it clear that organisms obtained through new genomic techniques [including CRISPR] are subject to the GMO legislation." Based on the study's findings, the European Commission requested public input on proposed legislation for "plants obtained by targeted mutagenesis and cisgenesis and for their food and feed products." The public consultation period expired on July 22, 2022. The European Commission plans to finalize the proposed framework in 2023.

United States Regulatory Landscape

In contrast to the EU approach, the United States does not currently regulate CRISPR-edited agricultural products as GMOs. The United States regulates biotechnology and genetic modification in food through a "Coordinated Framework" between the U.S. Department of Agriculture ("USDA"), Food and Drug Administration ("FDA"), and Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA").

At a high level, the USDA regulates the use of biotechnology in plant products through the Plant Protection Act. The USDA explains that the Plant Protection Act provides the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service ("APHIS") with authority to regulate "organisms and products that are known or suspected to be plant pests or to pose a plant pest risk, including those that have been altered or produced through genetic engineering." Further, in 2018, the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service promulgated the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard, 7 CFR Part 66 (the "BE Disclosure Standard"), which created a "new national mandatory bioengineered [] food disclosure standard" and associated recordkeeping requirements, effective January 1, 2022. The BE Disclosure Standard defines bioengineered food as food products that contain "genetic material that has been modified through in vitro [DNA]" and "for which the modification could not otherwise be obtained through conventional breeding or found in nature." Notably, the USDA has not explicitly clarified whether CRISPR-edited agricultural products are considered "bioengineered foods" and subject to the BE Disclosure Standard. Rather, in a presentation from 2020, the USDA stated that it "intends to make determinations about whether a specific modifications would be considered 'found in nature' or obtained through 'conventional breeding' on a case-by-case basis." (For more information on the BE Disclosure Standard, refer to Jones Day's May 2022 publication, Are Your Labels Up to Date? Assuring Compliance with the USDA's National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard.)

Additionally, the FDA regulates the use of biotechnology in plants with a focus on ensuring that foods are safe for human consumption. In 1992, the FDA issued a Statement of Policy regarding Foods Derived from New Plant Varieties, in which the FDA stated that "[t]he regulatory status of a food, irrespective of the method by which it is developed, is dependent upon objective characteristics of the food and the intended use of the food (or its components)." Since then, the FDA has reviewed genetic modifications to food in the context of food additives, such that FDA approval is required to use food additives unless it is generally recognized as safe ("GRAS"). In the opinion of the FDA, a GMO is not GRAS if the altered substance "differs significantly in structure, function or composition from substances found currently in food." In contrast, a GMO is GRAS if it is "naturally occurring" in the food product, even if is bioengineered to be present at a "greater level" than found in nature or if there are "minor variations in molecular structure that do not affect safety." As explained in the introduction, CRISPR technology differs from conventional gene editing because it does not introduce new substances into a product that are not naturally present. Accordingly, CRISPR-edited agricultural products are not generally regulated by the FDA as food additives.

The EPA also reviews the use of biotechnology in plants, as it regulates the distribution, sale, and use of pesticides to ensure that they will "not pose unreasonable risks to human health or the environment when used according to label directions." Further, when the EPA evaluates plant-incorporated protectants ("PIPs"), which are genetically engineered pesticides, the EPA "requires extensive studies containing numerous factors, such as risks to human health, nontarget organisms, and the environment; potential for gene flow; and the need for insect resistance management plans." As such, CRISPR-edited pesticides may be regulated by the EPA as PIPs.

Conclusion

The patent and regulatory landscapes of the use of CRISPR technology in food are continuing to unfold across the world. Accordingly, agriculture companies and the broader agricultural industry should pay close attention to all developments.

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Gene Therapy: New Technology Can Rewrite Genetic Codes, Successfully Repairs Hereditary Disease – Nature World News

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Gene therapy has witnessed a slight glimpse of hope after a new study led by the University of Bristol in England, United Kingdom, created a so-called "DNA repair-kit" technology.

The international team of researchers involved in the study claimed that the new technology can rewrite genetic codes and potentially repair hereditary diseases.

The UK-based lead researchers successfully fixed a hereditary kidney disease affecting children and young adults through patient-derived kidney cells using the DNA repair-kit.

The research is still at its infancy in the wider field of genetic studies. Yet, the study signifies it could raise hopes for gene therapy in the future.

Hereditary disease consists of a variety of medical conditions that are passed onto an offspring through the genetics of their parents or related family members in their immediate bloodline.

Through genetic codes, physiological and biological features of predecessors serve as an imprint of their appearance and health features.

For years, geneticists and other experts in related fields have engaged in a scientific quest to alter harmful or undesired genes, which have been considered before to be unavoidable or untreatable.

However, a growing body of academic literature shows genes can be changed through gene editing or genetic engineering.

(Photo : Photo by FRED TANNEAU/AFP via Getty Images)

In the paper published in the journal on Nucleic Acids Researchon July 8, the University of Bristol scientists targeted genetic mutations, which are the primary causes of hereditary diseases.

In particular, their study described how the DNA repair vehicle can fix a faulty genetic code called podocin.

Podocin is a protein normally located in the surface of specialized kidney cells and an essential kidney function.

Meanwhile, a faulty podocin is a common cause of the inheritable Steroid Resistant Nephrotic Syndrome (SRNS).

The difference between the health and unhealthy podocin is that the latter is stuck inside the kidney cell and never reaches the surface, which results in the terminal damage of podocytes.

Also Read:Butterfly Disease: New Gene Therapy May Help Treat People with the Rare Skin Disorder

The DNA repair-kit consists of protein-based scissors and nucleic acid molecules, along with DNA sequences to guide them replace the faulty gene, achieving the feat of what is known as rewriting genetic codes.

The National Human Genome Research Institutedescribes a genetic code as a set of instructions within the gene that tells a cell how to make protein.

Each code uses the four nucleotide bases of genetic letters of DNA such as: adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), and thymine (T).

Multiple studies, as compiled by the Walsh Medical Media, a peer-reviewed research site, showed that hereditary diseases are gene-based disorders passed from one generation to another.

The transfer of these conditions is made possible through a faulty or defective gene.

These genetic disorders are only transmitted in the same family.

In humans, the linear transmission from parent to offspring is caused by the chromosomes present in humans.

In the field of biology, chromosomes not only determine the biological sex of an individual but is also responsible for passing the genetic traits down the evolutionary ladder.

Related Article:Experts Discover New Disease Caused by Faulty Genes Affecting the Kidney and Liver: Newcastle University Study

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Bacterial biofilm functionalization through Bap amyloid engineering | npj Biofilms and Microbiomes – Nature.com

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Bacterial biofilm functionalization through Bap amyloid engineering | npj Biofilms and Microbiomes - Nature.com

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Life and ethics in an ‘era of genetics’ – DW (English)

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When we talk about genetics, we often see visions of superhumans people whose DNA has been altered to enhance their abilities, allowing them to outperform others and survive multiple diseases while also having conventionalgood looks, like "best versions" of humanity.

But those visions can be true of dystopian literature or in the plots of clich science fiction movies, and less true for reality.

George Church, a world-leading geneticist, says the idea of creating superhumans is far from what he sees as the future of genetics.

"There's a misunderstanding that you could have a perfect human or even a superhuman. It's often a trade-off," Church told DW. "When you gain something, you lose something. The features that you like about a bicycle are not true for a race car or a jet."

Church has worked in genetics for decades. He was one of the first scientists to sequence the human genome, a method that deciphers the genetic material found in an organism. He also pioneered the development of genome-engineering.

Genome-engineering goes by a few names. Some call it genetic engineering, others call it genome or gene editing.

Some call it a technology, and others refer to it as though it were a pair of scissors you hold in your hands. And in a sense that image works: We can use gene editing techniques to cut out genes that, for example, carry hereditary diseases.

In fact, the technology allows us to add, remove or alter genetic material found in any organism's DNA that complex molecule that contains the unique building blocks of every living thing.

Gregor Mendel first discovered the fundamentals of inheritance in 1865, through experiments on crossbreeding plants. Those experiments led to what we now call genetics. And oh how the field has progressed.

Speaking from his Harvard University lab, Church said we were living in an "era of genetics."

Mendel's early discoveries have allowed scientists to sequence genomes including that of viruses like SARS-CoV-2 and identify the genes that are responsible for more than 5,000 rare diseases.

They have given us a better understanding of how genes function, and that has raised the promise of improving diagnoses and therapies for illnesses. Church has focused on using genetics to reverse the process of aging.

Genetics are also used in the science of "de-extinction" a famous example being the attempt to bring the mammoth back to life.

Church and other geneticists hope to reverse the effects of age-related chronic diseases, such as diabetes, cognitive degradation and heart diseases. They hope to prevent diseases that cause poverty.

"A lot of people are kept in poverty because they have to spend much of their time on bad nutrition and fighting infectious diseases. [With genetic research], we could get a virtuous cycle rather than a vicious cycle. And that's very exciting to me," said Church.

Gene editing rewrites DNA to treat genetic or acquired diseases

"[We might also need] to get off the planet for reasons that are not human, like asteroids, solar flares, super volcanoes, things like that. That may require some powerful medicine, including genetic medicine, to make us resistant to radiation and low gravity and so on," he said.

These future visions come with an array of ethical and philosophical questions, which some experts say we have yet to address.

Take, for instance, the question of what makes us human and who is allowed to decide which genes we change.

"The issue with gene editing and gene therapy has always been [the future] generations," said Jan Witkowski, a professor at the Graduate School of Biological Sciences at Cold Spring Harbor, New York, in the US. "If the gene therapy alters an egg, then that change is inherited through the generations."

And those future generations have no say on whether they want that change to be made.

The field of genetics has allowed scientists to develop personalized medicine, where treatments can be tailored to an individual's specific condition. We have also built huge repositories of genetic data.

But some scientists argue that these repositories are unrepresentative of the global population. With nearly 90% of the genome data currently available coming from people with European ancestry, the data lacks diversity.

This disparity could result in underrepresented populations missing out on the benefits of genetic research.

Genetics is also still very expensive. Church said the technology may get more affordable, like the Internet, and to some extent water and education, but none of those "are truly equitable," he said.

"The only technology I've identified that's truly equally distributed, meaning that nobody on the planet has to pay a penny for it, is smallpox," Church said. "That's because it's extinct: We no longer have to develop and deploy vaccines and drugs [against smallpox]. And that could be done for a whole variety of infectious diseases [with genetics]."

Edited by: Zulfikar Abbany

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Life and ethics in an 'era of genetics' - DW (English)

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A transhuman biohacker implanted over 50 chips and magnets in her body – Interesting Engineering

Posted: at 2:41 pm

In the United Kingdom, there are no regulationsaround self-implanted microchips as they do not fall under the purview of medical devices, as per theMedicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.

However, Professor Tom Joyce, a biomedical engineer at Newcastle University, told Medical Device Networkthat biohacking raises questionsabout liability and responsibility in situations that go wrong.

For example, while a user might be held responsible for modifying an implant counter to the manufacturers instructions, the possibility of hacking the implant might be attributed to a security vulnerability for which the manufacturer might be liable, she says.

As for safety, researchers have notedthat modern body modifications can lead to complications that shouldn't be underestimated.

To Anonym, the ethics of biohacking lie in "a principle called bodily autonomy, wherein, in my opinion, everyone should have the right to alter their own body as they see fit, as long as that doesn't involve anyone else. And what I would find very unethical would be to alter anyone else's body, or to tell anyone else that you can or can't have this done," she says.

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A transhuman biohacker implanted over 50 chips and magnets in her body - Interesting Engineering

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