M aker Don’t assume he’s wearing a pair of old-fashioned pince-nez eyeglasses. Look more closely and you’ll see there’s nothing pinching the bridge of his nose. In fact, they’re attached by magnets on a steel rod that pierces the fleshy part above the bridge of his nose.

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The Platform
How hardware hackers are remaking their bodies.
By Quinn Norton

T HE TERM BODY MODIFICATION BRINGS fascia layers of the ring finger, and the cut is neatly to mind piercing and tattooing for cosmetic sutured up. For most magnetic implants, Haworth reasons. But body mods can also be assis- can have the job done in less than ten minutes. tive, by changing a person’s experience of their Over the next few weeks, the finger heals, and the own body or even giving them a new ability. How nerves begin to interpret electromagnetism and would you like to be able to sense an electric field movement in the magnet. Some things, like other at a distance? Talk to Steve Haworth of Phoenix magnets, can even cause the magnet to spin freely ( stevehaworth.com). He has experimented on up against the nerves. The new sensations pass to human volunteers by making a small incision in the the brain, where evolution’s own favorite primate fingertip and inserting a small neodyme magnet hack takes over — parts of the brain become more coated in gold, then silicone. The magnet is nestled in tune with the new signals from the hand, and the into a bed of nerves between the epidermis and perceptual sensitivity improves. How much sensitivity