Althouse: "An Australian astrophysicist has been admitted to hospital after getting four magnets stuck up his nose in an attempt to invent a device that..."

March 30, 2020

"An Australian astrophysicist has been admitted to hospital after getting four magnets stuck up his nose in an attempt to invent a device that..."

"... stops people touching their faces during the coronavirus outbreak. Dr Daniel Reardon, a research fellow at a Melbourne university, was building a necklace that sounds an alarm on facial contact, when the mishap occurred on Thursday night.... 'I had a part that detects magnetic fields. I thought that if I built a circuit that could detect the magnetic field, and we wore magnets on our wrists, then it could set off an alarm if you brought it too close to your face. A bit of boredom in isolation made me think of that.... I accidentally invented a necklace that buzzes continuously unless you move your hand close to your face.... After scrapping that idea, I was still a bit bored, playing with the magnets. It’s the same logic as clipping pegs to your ears – I clipped them to my earlobes and then clipped them to my nostril and things went downhill pretty quickly when I clipped the magnets to my other nostril.'"

The Guardian reports.

64 comments:

JPS said...: "I hate it when that happens."

"Oh, I hate that. You wanna talk about some pain?"; 3/30/20, 1:02 PM
Achilles said...: Engineers everywhere are laughing.

They like to do that.; 3/30/20, 1:05 PM
stevew said...: Cheech & Chong couldn't be reached for comment. ("Up his Nose!"); 3/30/20, 1:06 PM
Nonapod said...: Sometimes very smart people can also be utter morons.; 3/30/20, 1:07 PM
Achilles said...: All he had to do to fix his first invention was replace ">" with "<" in one line of code.; 3/30/20, 1:07 PM
Kevin said...: Nerds.

Oh, speaking of nerds and inventions, why hasn't there been more Theranos humor involved in this pandemic? It seems like a perfect set up for it, with the desperate need for testing at any cost, and Elizabeth Holmes is such an easy target for ridicule with the turtlenecks and the voice and everything. Come on SNL, I'm doing your job for you!; 3/30/20, 1:08 PM
Stephen said...: This is one of those you-should-click-on-the-link-because-it-gets-better stories. I can't tell if his relationship is very good or very bad. Thanks! Makes my Monday.

"Before attending the hospital, Reardon attempted to use pliers to pull them out, but they became magnetised by the magnets inside his nose.

'Every time I brought the pliers close to my nose, my entire nose would shift towards the pliers and then the pliers would stick to the magnet, ' he said. 'It was a little bit painful at this point.'

“My partner took me to the hospital that she works in because she wanted all her colleagues to laugh at me.'; 3/30/20, 1:08 PM
Wince said...: I went to look on YouTube for the Cheech & Chong (now pretty glaringly antisemitic) routine, "Everything Up His Nose".

The video was preceded by one of those Masterclass ads, with Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist.

A Google "coincidence"?; 3/30/20, 1:08 PM
Lucid-Ideas said...: "The Doctor said my nose wouldn't bleed so bad if I just stopped putting my finger up there!"

- Ralph Wiggum

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBacP3u_TPI; 3/30/20, 1:12 PM
Achilles said...: Stephen said...

"Before attending the hospital, Reardon attempted to use pliers to pull them out, but they became magnetised by the magnets inside his nose."

He is an Astrophysicist and he said that? Don't Astrophysicists spend a lot of time talking and thinking about magnetics and magnetism?; 3/30/20, 1:12 PM
gspencer said...: He devices others have been using to make themselves feel safe.; 3/30/20, 1:14 PM
Nonapod said...: A gadget that beeps when your hands get too close to your face is a pretty neat idea. It's just curious how you get from that (the clever idea) to cramming magnets up your nose. He carefully elides the full thought chain that lead him to such a ridiculous state.; 3/30/20, 1:15 PM
gspencer said...: He's never seen a dog cone which accomplishes the same end?

And wearing a dog cone today wouldn't make you look any more ridiculous that the variety of hare-brained devices others have been using to make themselves feel safe.; 3/30/20, 1:18 PM
Achilles said...: Nonapod said...
A gadget that beeps when your hands get too close to your face is a pretty neat idea. It's just curious how you get from that (the clever idea) to cramming magnets up your nose. He carefully elides the full thought chain that lead him to such a ridiculous state.

My reading is he clipped them inside his nostril and when he clipped the second magnet to the other nostril they pulled together and met in the middle which would be just under his eyes.; 3/30/20, 1:21 PM
Kevin said...: These are the elites your mother should have warned you about.; 3/30/20, 1:22 PM
JML said...: Math smart, life dumb.; 3/30/20, 1:24 PM
Achilles said...: gspencer said...
He's never seen a dog cone which accomplishes the same end?

And wearing a dog cone today wouldn't make you look any more ridiculous that the variety of hare-brained devices others have been using to make themselves feel safe.

Face masks do the same thing and while they bear some shame now but they will become common use in the US just like Asia soon.

They are not Cones of Shame. That movie made me rename them forever.

"SQUIRREL!"; 3/30/20, 1:24 PM
n.n said...: A proximity sensor. The key is to reduce the range in order to avoid false positives.

George is becoming a Hand Model!

In the meantime, practice good hand to face hygiene, and, for people who need them, wear oven mitts.; 3/30/20, 1:24 PM
Temujin said...: Science!; 3/30/20, 1:33 PM
mockturtle said...: Well, it's not rocket science. ;-); 3/30/20, 1:34 PM
Drago said...: This is exactly the kind of go-getter I want on my EM-50 project.; 3/30/20, 1:37 PM
Narr said...: Serious lack of home learning in Oz, I fear.

I have an idea for something to keep one's hands from one's face: localized shit-stank.

A dab on the fingertips in the morning, but you only notice it when your fingers are within some individually-determined ideal distance of your aroma receptors.

And #2 is only a suggestion, the product might come in a variety of repugnant smells.

Mostly odorless, colorless, non-toxic, etc etc. It's not beyond human ingenuity!

Narr
Buzzard breath . . . Baitshop . . .; 3/30/20, 1:48 PM
gerry said...: All he had to do to fix his first invention was replace ">" with "<" in one line of code.

That, or use a NAND chip instead of an AND chip.; 3/30/20, 1:52 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: Sticking 4 magnets up your nose will certainly keep other people from touching your face. They'll stay more than 6 feet away from you too.; 3/30/20, 1:57 PM
Ralph L said...: When I was 4, the even younger girl next door had to go the hospital with pebbles she'd put up her nose. One of my favorite seared memories of childhood.; 3/30/20, 1:59 PM
Lurker21 said...: Funny.

Who knows "the story about the beans"?; 3/30/20, 2:10 PM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: Top Men...; 3/30/20, 2:13 PM
Bob Boyd said...: Back to ze drawing boad.; 3/30/20, 2:16 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: I'm sorry but - LOL!; 3/30/20, 2:30 PM
madAsHell said...: You can't believe what people will stick up there asses, and the really lame excuses for how it got there!!; 3/30/20, 2:31 PM
Spiros said...: What about zinc supplements? People (and plenty of scientists) have been taking zinc to ameliorate the effects of the common cold (which is caused by a coronavirus). A New York doctor is claiming a miracle cure (he combined hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and zinc).

I think I'm going to buy some zinc tablets from Amazon.; 3/30/20, 2:32 PM
Spiros said...: What about zinc supplements? People (and plenty of scientists) have been taking zinc to ameliorate the effects of the common cold (which is caused by a coronavirus). A New York doctor is claiming a miracle cure (he combined hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and zinc).

I think I'm going to buy some zinc tablets from Amazon.; 3/30/20, 2:32 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: “My partner took me to the hospital that she works in because she wanted all her colleagues to laugh at me.'

Truly!! This is the correct action. Who WOULDN'T want everyone to laugh. It was a can't miss golden opportunity 😁; 3/30/20, 2:37 PM
Lurker21 said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/30/20, 2:39 PM
tim maguire said...: "it's a million to one shot, doc!"; 3/30/20, 2:46 PM
Bob Boyd said...: I think I'm going to buy some zinc tablets from Amazon.

Not saying don't take zinc. It can't hurt. But...

As I understand it, the virus enters a cell where it uses the cell's equipment to replicate itself. Zinc screws up the ability of the virus to replicate itself within a cell.
Problem is, zinc can't enter the cell. Zinc outside the cell doesn't affect the virus replication inside the cell. What hydroxychloroquine does is open a gate that lets zinc into the cell where it can affect the virus replication. This is a pretty crude description of the processes at work.
For a more detailed explanation go here. It's a video. Zinc part starts at 1:30

https://youtu.be/U7F1cnWup9M; 3/30/20, 2:49 PM
Maillard Reactionary said...: Probably rare earth magnets. They are amazingly powerful. You can really hurt yourself with those things. That's why it says, right on the package: "Not suitable for children".

Read the label, folks, and decide whether or it it applies to you.

That reminds me of the time that somebody fired up the big superconducting magnet in an MRI machine, but forgot that there was a fire extinguisher in the room. That sucker got ripped right off the wall, and if I recall correctly, injured someone present as the stray field used the steel tank to reduce its potential energy in spectacular fashion.

Must have been quite a repair bill, not to mention the legal costs.; 3/30/20, 2:56 PM
Leland said...: I see the world's best minds are working on this.; 3/30/20, 3:00 PM
The Vault Dweller said...: I went to the booze shop today. They have restricted hours of only 12 noon - 5 pm. When I got there I discovered that the first hour was reserved for the elderly and infirm only. I like that seasoned citizens get some preferential treatment in getting their hooch. But if one is infirm maybe it is best to lay off the libations and adult beverages for a bit.; 3/30/20, 3:01 PM
The Vault Dweller said...: I only bring up the booze shop story, because other than playing with things like magnets in one's nose, drinking seems like the best pastime.; 3/30/20, 3:03 PM
Tomcc said...: I'm disappointed that we didn't get the "before" picture. And, credit to his partner!; 3/30/20, 3:14 PM
Tomcc said...: Australia? Maybe they misspelled "Florida".; 3/30/20, 3:32 PM
JPS said...: Phidippus, 2:56:

"Probably rare earth magnets. They are amazingly powerful. You can really hurt yourself with those things."

In a teaching lab where I work, there are two such magnets. We now have neon-colored armbands for whoever has one, and a device for wedging them apart.

I was told the backstory: a couple of years ago, two students didn't realize the other had one, they walked too close to each other, and their hands slammed together. One poor girl ended up with her thumb squashed between both, and no one present could get them apart. Took a trip to Facilities, then the infirmary.; 3/30/20, 3:42 PM
ga6 said...: Lord, save us from "experts" and professors..; 3/30/20, 3:42 PM
Marc in Eugene said...: One very clear memory I have of childhood (it would have been before kindergarten or first grade, so in '62, perhaps) is sitting on Dr Stafford's examination table while he extracted the coin I had managed to get stuck in my nose. No idea any longer which sort it was-- I always say a penny when I tell the story but I don't actually remember that part-- but I can see him there and my Dad there, restraining their laughter probably. Am sure I didn't have the excuse of magnets.

Oregonians now may pump their own gas in Oregon through April 11, as the state fire marshal has temporarily lifted restrictions on self-service at gas stations.
The department, in a news release, said the temporary suspension does not make self-service mandatory. ODOE is responsible for maintaining a reliable source of fuel for Oregonians, the release stated. The intention of the suspension is to ensure fuel is available to essential personnel who need to travel. The gas station workforce has recently reduced by as much as 50% due to illness, childcare issues and safety concerns according to the fuel industry, the release stated.

Sure, sure.; 3/30/20, 3:43 PM
walter said...: Maybe a nose ring approach would be more controllable.; 3/30/20, 3:51 PM
Whiskeybum said...: New magnet warning label: not suitable for children - or astrophysicists; 3/30/20, 4:18 PM
h said...: I too find the magnets up the nose risible. But I remember Marie and Pierre Curie. Marie died of anemia caused by radiation. Pierre was run over by a horse, but would have otherwise died soon of radiation related disease.; 3/30/20, 4:19 PM
David-2 said...: Jerks like this piss me off.

These little magnets are lots of fun. LOTS of fun. But they were banned in the US for quite awhile due to the danger that little kids might swallow them, knotting up their insides.

I had to buy mine from Alibaba, in China.

They finally became legal again.

And now they're going to disappear again because this genius' mother forgot to teach him not to stick anything up his nose smaller than his elbow.; 3/30/20, 4:32 PM
Narr said...: So, zinc tablets up the nose?

Narr
Zinc up the nose, and a tbsp of fish tank cleaner and I'm good; 3/30/20, 4:46 PM
Maillard Reactionary said...: JPS-- I have a few of the little ones (~8mm dia.) for keeping things in place. Given a chance, they'll jump several inches to be with one another. They know not of social distancing.

There are larger ones available at K&J Magnetics which, at a price, sport some prodigious holding forces https://www.kjmagnetics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=BZX0Y0X0-N52

No wonder they don't want to ship them by air, they'd probably screw up the compass and who knows what else.; 3/30/20, 4:55 PM
GingerBeer said...: If I had a nickle...; 3/30/20, 5:41 PM
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...: Beffuddled Boffin Bungles Booger Box Barrier; 3/30/20, 5:42 PM
DanTheMan said...: (dumb people who shove magnets up their nose) Intersection (Astrophysicists)

I would have thought that would be the Empty Set. I stand corrected.

Oh, and wasn't Ann just talking about really smart people you wouldn't put in charge of anything?; 3/30/20, 7:25 PM
Emma Claessen said...: Everything is declining. GLOBAL RECESSION IS CLOSE with the whole world being shutdown because of CORONAVIRUS. Get your spare funds and make investments in BTCINVESTLIFESTYLE. I’m scared about what 2020 holds. What more are we to expect from this SHUTDOWN WORLDWIDE?; 3/30/20, 8:00 PM
Jamie said...: So, a friend of mine is married to an astrophysicist from Melbourne. My relief when I saw the picture of the 12-year-old who stuck the magnets in his nose was palpable.; 3/30/20, 8:35 PM
themightypuck said...: Hero. Old school. We need more of his kind.; 3/30/20, 8:49 PM
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...: Doesn’t Oz have HIPAA, or something like it?; 3/30/20, 10:18 PM
Krumhorn said...: Say it'snot true!!

- Krumhorn; 3/30/20, 10:40 PM
Quaestor said...: He is an Astrophysicist and he said that? Don't Astrophysicists spend a lot of time talking and thinking about magnetics and magnetism?

Actually, they don't of the four fundamental forces -- gravity, the electromagnetic force, the strong nuclear force, and the weak nuclear force -- electromagnetism is the least important to astrophysics.; 3/31/20, 12:26 AM
Stephen said...: Is that a magnet up your nose?

No, it’s snot.

No one said it (maybe Krumhorn, I can’t tell) so I had to.; 3/31/20, 7:29 AM
Stephen said...: Is that a magnet up your nose?

No, it’s snot.

No one said it (maybe Krumhorn, I can’t tell) so I had to.; 3/31/20, 7:29 AM
Stephen said...: Is that a magnet up your nose?

No, it’s snot.

No one said it (maybe Krumhorn, I can’t tell) so I had to.; 3/31/20, 7:29 AM
JOB said...: I’m sure someone already said this = but I think we found our Daniel outbreak, Ann.

JOB; 4/1/20, 10:56 AM