On-Body Circuits Create New Sense Organ 289
destinyland writes "In 'My New Sense Organ,' a science writer tests 'a new sense' — the ability to always know true north — by strapping a circuit board to her ankle. It's connected to an electronic compass and an ankle band with eight skin buzzers. The result? 'I had wrong assumptions I didn't know about ... I returned home to Washington DC to find that, far worse than my old haunt San Francisco, my mental map of DC swapped north for west. I started getting more lost than ever as the two spatial concepts of DC did battle in my head.' The device also detects 'the specific places where infrastructure interferes with the earth's magnetic fields.'
I found that by simply moving the buzzers... (Score:5, Funny)
...from my ankle to a more "centrally located area" and I stopped caring about getting lost.
In fact, turning in circles became quite pleasurable.
Does anyone have any kleenex handy?
Re:I found that by simply moving the buzzers... (Score:2, Funny)
huh huh huh... organ... huh huh huh...
Re:What qualifies for new sensory organ? (Score:3, Funny)
If university students took it upon themselves to do some advanced neurological surgery as a fun project...
THAT WOULD BE AWESOME.
I hope they would Youtube the procedure.
Re:What qualifies for new sensory organ? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Mental maps... (Score:4, Funny)
I think it's cultural.
I lived in Scotland for a while and whenever I asked for directions the men would always say something like: drive down this road a piece until you get to the Crooked Horseshoe Pub, take a right and drive to the second roundabout after the Dog and Monkey Pub. Take the third right and drive to the Old Tennents Pub. Go right at the next roundabout and drive about 3 miles. If you reach the Goose Bridge Pub you've gone too far... Stop and have a cold one, then go back about a mile or so.
Show them a map and they look at you like you just asked them to diagram a sentence in Latin... and you're likely to hear some quaint Scottish expressions...
Re:This is the future... (Score:5, Funny)
The MRI itself will take them out automatically.
Re:Mental maps... (Score:5, Funny)
Compass On
Apply directly to the forehead.
Re:North Paw (Score:4, Funny)
This should complement my House Arrest Ankle Bracelet quite nicely...
Re:Don't need electronics for that (Score:5, Funny)
Maybe he lives in Seattle?
The Incident (Score:2, Funny)
The device also detects 'the specific places where infrastructure interferes with the earth's magnetic fields'
Like the Swan hatch?
Re:What qualifies for new sensory organ? (Score:3, Funny)
camera device that sends signal data to a 'lollipop' that is placed on the tongue of blind people.
There's a truly tasteless joke in here somewhere but I'm too lazy to figure it out.
Re:What qualifies for new sensory organ? (Score:3, Funny)
maybe we need new definitions to describe these novel apparatus.
I agree. Perhaps something like extra-sensory apparatus, and the usage can be called extra-sensory perception.
Re:True North??? (Score:4, Funny)
At true north, the sun never sets, and sometimes never rises for days on end.
I personally would like to see a Sun that never sets and yet only rarely rises.
Re:What qualifies for new sensory organ? (Score:3, Funny)
suck it and you'll see the light.