If you have ever held up a magnet close to a CRT (read: ancient) monitor, you have probably seen the craziness that ensues. Most notably, the really bad colors and distortions that occur post magnet.
This website has a tutorial about how to remove said discoloration. Check it out!
We all know that magnets are used in health care for more respectable processes than magnetic jewelry. This MRI had an unfortunate meeting with a chair:
Apparently, the hospital has a "no metal" area, and things like chairs, body piercings, knives, wolverine, are usually kept outside of it. Usually. A patient got out of that chair, and tripped/fell/collapsed, reaching out for the chair to hold themselves up. This pulled the chair close enough to be grabbed by the magnetic field, pulling it into the unit.
The machine cannot be turned off without significant downtime - and at the cost of patient care. They were able to pull it away, after much effort. Luckily no one was injured, and the MRI received only cosmetic damage.
Not what you're thinking! This one comes from the blog Zentastic. The author, Shannon Larratt, had magnets implanted into her fingers so that she could sense magnetic fields. I have a great aversion towards anything dealing with blood, cutting, or pain in any aspect, so I will not post the pics here.
Apparently, you can "feel" magnetic fields as you erase vital information from your hard drive with a touch/ stop a pace maker with a pat on the back/ interact with ordinary objects.
Caution: Graphic magnet implantation photos! More info here and here!
The New England Journal of Medicine - that bastion of medical knowledge and lover of chowdah - has an paper up about the possibility of using magnets to better direct aerosols into the lungs of patients. The paper, written by Allan L. Coates, M.D., C.M., is available here. [Ed. Note: the site requires a subscription to view the entire document.] Also, did you notice that Allan is from the "Hospital for Sick Children?" Derek Zoolander is branching out, I suppose!
Wow, this is simply... wow! This is called "ferro fluid" I believe... It's basically a liquid metal (not that kind) that responds dramatically to magnetic fields. When put to Japanese techno, it becomes something that only the internet can contain.
I love the internet because you can find cool random things like "Magnetic Viewing Paper." This stuff has microscopic pieces of iron, nickel, etc. suspended in oil, allowing the magnetic particles to align with whatever magnetic fields maybe present. Like so:
