Here's a levitating frog:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1vyB-O5i6E
1997, as Confusion mentions.
Scientists Levitate Mice
21–30 of 35 posts
Re: Scientists Levitate Mice
#22Re: Scientists Levitate Mice
#23All science aside, I actually laughed out loud at this one.
If there's anything funnier than a small floating mouse spinning out of control, I can't think of it.
Re: Scientists Levitate Mice
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
a levitation chamber wont be that much fun. I think a tool which you can wear or maybe shoes which can replicate the magnetic field, will be more relevant. A chamber will be equivalent to a gravity-free chamber, which, already exists.
But gravity-free chambers are dependent on fast downward drops and so are limited by time. A magnetic one you could float around in for as long as you were prepared to keep paying for the electricity. Another voice here for the startup idea...to be frank, you could probably make the money back just from people who wanted to have zero-g sex.
Should be very difficult. (The sex, and getting enough resources to generate a human-hovering magnet field.)
Re: Scientists Levitate Mice
#25Re: Scientists Levitate Mice
#26The first living creature to be levitated was a frog, in 1997: http://www.hfml.ru.nl/froglev.html . This link is completely devoid of news.
"Other researchers have made live frogs and grasshoppers float in midair before, but such research with mice, being closer biologically to humans, could help in studies to counteract bone loss due to reduced gravity over long spans of time, as might be expected in deep space missions or on the surfaces of other planets."
Re: Scientists Levitate Mice
#27""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, a physicist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. They decided to mildly sedate the next mouse they levitated, which seemed content with floating. " That mouse got high in more ways than one.
"Then it proceeded to travel North"
I totally made that up.
Re: Scientists Levitate Mice
#28I wonder if they can somehow modify this to create artificial gravity. Anybody here who knows something about this subject?
Diamagnetism only repels, it doesn't attract. All materials are diamagnetic. Ferromagnetism does both, attracts and repels, but only certain materials are ferromagnetic. It's not gravity BTW, it's magnetism.
Thanks. I'm going to read up on that :-)
Re: Scientists Levitate Mice
#29This reminds me of a Mythbusters episode I saw where they tried numerous "antigravity" devices. A few of them did manage to levitate objects, but worked either on magnetic fields or thrust. There was no alteration of gravity.
That said, I'm a bit confused as to how scientists want to apply this achievement to low-gravity environments. Since gravity is not actually being altered here, it doesn't seem relevant. Am i totally off base here?
Re: Scientists Levitate Mice
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would be more interested to get in the Hoverboard business with this kind of technology.
It seems like this hoverboard, though, would work best over water.
I wonder if there is enough water in the air under a potential hoverboard or in soil, roads, etc?
I guess hovering over water, snow and ice would still be cool.