NASA Scientists Make Mice Float Using Magnets
Making mice float -- all the wonders of modern science.
As part of research on the effects of zero gravity on our biology, scientists working on behalf of NASA have successfully levitated a mouse using magnetic fields.
The gravity-simulating device was built using a superconducting magnet that generates a field powerful enough to float the water inside living animals--at least for a mouse.
A three-week-old mouse, weighing 10 grams, was the first to test the device.
"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 in a LiveScience story.
The scientists decided to give the second test mouse a "mild sedative," which made the subject more content with floating.
Beside it being plain cool to see mice float around, what's the point of all this?
"We're trying to see what kind of physiological impact is due to prolonged microgravity, and also what kind of countermeasures might work against it for astronauts," Liu said. "If we can contribute to the future human exploration of space, that would be very exciting."
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oh god, now we have flying rats, literally.
why could this same technology not be used to create the effect of gravity in space? If it could levitate the mouse it could also be used to present a downward force on an animal or maybe even a human.
Very, very cool! Well, Fuzzy, that may very well be one of the eventual applications of such technology. Plus... think of the cool, new rides at Six Flags based on this technology!
that's a step up from floating frogs
"The scientists decided to give the second test mouse a "mild sedative," which made the subject more content with floating."
Wonder what the "mild sedative" was to make that mouse "content" floating, I bet the mouse was singing "excuse me while I kiss the sky!" while that sedative was going.
What fun you can have with technology and critters. This is much more advanced than a house-fly powered plane, however.
Only matter of time until they invent flying pigs!
why could this same technology not be used to create the effect of gravity in space? If it could levitate the mouse it could also be used to present a downward force on an animal or maybe even a human.
It uses superconducting coil and consumes electricity enough to power dozens of houses. There is not enough money to do that, and there is strict weight constraint on systems we can put into the orbit. Centrifugal force is more practical.
I will volunteer to test this technology out on humans. Though I can already imagine the pain from falling when I get outside the area of effect. Ouch.
"When pigs fly!!!" .....sometime next year
Um, didn't they show something like that on the History Channel (possibly Modern Marvels: Magnets) with a frog?
I bet lawyers are excited......
Oh I thought they were talking about computer mice, not actual rodent mice.
But what about the biological effects due to the magnetic fields floating water wouldn't that damage internal functions. We just like the mouse are 99% water with the rest made up of carbon, so things like irregular circulation and muscle fatigue would be the effects just as it would in space but on a smaller scale because the magnetic waves are going against gravity here. Just think about it, the mouse is just floating up there for like 30 seconds then puff it internally combustion and mouse gut just floating there.
The physiological effects of micro-gravity? How would you be able to tell since you have to take into account the effects of an electromagnetic field strong enough to make an animal float? People living under power lines get brain tumors so I think the scientific data here is probably gonna be tainted.
To Float a human in the same manner would require a TON of Juice and most likely a large enough magnetic field to yank the iron right out of our red blood cells hince the 10 gram weight limit.
Neato but I bet the effect could be increased but having the mice drink water laced with metals (iron,nickel, cobalt) or even genetically engineer mice that are easier to levitate.
This really isn't anything new. The University of Nottingham in the UK was making frogs float using magnets over ten years ago: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/ [...] 66532.html
This really isn't anything new. The University of Nottingham in the UK was making frogs float using magnets over ten years ago: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/ [...] 66532.html
This is the first mammal to under go this experiment (successfully). Its big because its only 2 animals away from being used on humans (pigs and monkeys).
Now if only u could mount dual camera's to his head so you could have a 3d first person mouse view. That way you could so to speak, "Be the mouse".
If the mouse poo's, does the poo also float?
Wow... This was totally NOT what I expected when I clicked on the article title. I was thinking of a computer mouse "levitated" on a magnetic mouse pad.
Funny thing is, they're both pretty useless...
Wow... This was totally NOT what I expected when I clicked on the article title. I was thinking of a computer mouse "levitated" on a magnetic mouse pad.Funny thing is, they're both pretty useless...
Lol me too.
I wonder how big the machine was that they used to levitate these mice.
yes this has been done before, but frogs have much more water in their anatomy, so this is a bigger 'achievment' for nasa (give them a break, they havnt done anything worthwhile on 2 decades)
Next is a rat cannon?
well it doesn't seem possible why not manipulate fields and control gravity... Hello u.f.o tech
I meant does can we get an edit option???
Funny they make no mention of the Gigawatts of electrical energy needed to power the super magnets to levitate a 10gram mouse. Unless they figure out portable fusion, compressed singularities or dark matter, this is not good for anything but studying the effects of strong magnetic fields on complex mammalian creatures.
This is actually pretty old news, I saw this on a Discovery channel thing about superconductivity a year or so ago. I would be more worried about the effect of that strong of a magnetic field would have on the brain.
"When pigs fly!!!" .....sometime next year
Swine flew
Forget about space and mice. How about a magnetic field for us earthlings so that we can fly. All the people in the world only some want to fly isn't that crazy.