Gizmodo: body modification

Laser Tattoo Body-Modding, This Time it's Not Painful: Fingernails

Kit Eaton — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 08:10:00 EDT

The skin-ablation laser tattoo we showed you recently was creepy mainly because burning your naked skin is going to hurt, but this new laser body-mod tackles a safer target, fingernails. The portraits of famous bods you can see in the image are laser-etched into black nail polish (I know, it looks like they're made of seared, blackened nail, but they're not), and member lamedust over at Instructables has got a pretty comprehensive guide. So if you're crazy, you too can etch pics onto the end of your digits. The video makes for interesting watching.

So, all you need is some artwork, a laser-etch machine and the urge to burn your fingers. Or, if even that's too creepy for you, the technique also works on artificial nails.

And I know the headline says "not painful"... but if you check out the Instructables link, you'll see that's not strictly true. Aligning laser and nail and avoiding sensitive skin is sometimes not so easy, it seems... as is not cooking your nail because the laser intensity's too high. Watch it, and promise me not to try this body mod either? I'm pretty sure the lid should be down and all safeties engaged on these machines, for a reason. [Instructables]

Guy Uses Laser-Etch Machine to Tattoo Himself (Verdict: Flaming Nutcase)

Kit Eaton — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 07:50:00 EDT

See that robot there? It's burned by a laser-etch machine. On genyoowine human skin. Ohoho yes: that sent an icky feeling up your spine didn't it? If it didn't, then it should have. Try looking through the gallery, and then watch the video of a skin-etch in action, and that should do the trick...

Over on Instructables this chap has a "how to" guide, so you can try it yourself. Assuming a) you can get hold of a laser-etcher and a helpful operator, b) you can defeat the safeties on the machine designed to stop you doing this and c) you're a total nutcase. Because doing this cooks your skin, frying small parcels of it into vapor. It's basically digital branding, and it exposes your body to mahoosive amounts of laser energy. And it hurts.

Got it? Look at the gallery again, and then promise me you're not going to try it. [Instructables]

Spock-Ear Plastic Surgery Mod is Not Logical

Charlie White — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 09:22:30 EDT

Ever thought of getting yourself a permanent pair of Star Trek Vulcan ears? A day trip to the plastic surgeon can get that done for you. This body modification is said to enhance the music listening experience, but then, you have to go around looking like Spock to enjoy that questionable benefit.

Done under local anesthesia, the plastic surgeon uses existing ear cartilage and skin to extend the top of the ear, and after three to four weeks, it's healed up enough for you to convincingly start telling people to live long and prosper. But what if your new ears make music sound worse? There's no word on how difficult it is to reverse the surgery. Maybe there's a way to test out the effect before you take the plunge. Hey, all the hepcats in New York are doing it, so it must be cool. [Plasmetic]

Body Modification Goes High-Tech: Magnet Implants

Travis Hudson — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 13:25:59 EDT

What happens when you place a body modification artist and a neuroscientist in a room? Well besides a match made in heaven, you would get a unique body mod that give somewhat of a true sixth sense. Steve Haworth, a body-mod artist, originally wanted a magnet implant to hold metal jewelry. That idea was unsuccessful because the skin between the magnet and object would eventually die. Haworth and Todd Huffman, the Arizona State graduate student with background in neuroscience, continued with the implant idea but took a different direction.

With a magnet implanted in the skin, the body would be able to detect electromagnetic fields. In response to EM fields that magnet—implanted in the ring finger—would move ever so slightly and stimulate the nerves in the finger. Any kind of a EM field could be felt in the finger by a tingling sensation—speakers, hard drives, refrigerators, etc. Hit the jump for some more details on this unique procedure.

Huffman, who received the implant, began experiencing problems several months after the operation. The body began breaking the magnet down after the silicone coating failed. The body shattered the magnet into tiny pieces and Huffman lost sensation, but the magnet later rebuilt itself and he gained the sensation back. He discourages anyone from trying this because of the related risks. Haworth plans on continuing to work on magnet implants but using a different type of magnet and a stronger silicone coating. – Travis Hudson

A Sixth Sense for a Wired World [Wired]