Gizmodo: needles

Mimic BioShock's Body-Mod Splicing With Your Own EVE Hypodermic Needles

Jason Chen — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:06:44 EST

The world of BioShock shows what one tremendously interesting direction of hacking your body will be like. Imagine injecting yourself with flame-throwing or electric-throwing inducing stem cells and you'll get the picture. Now you can pretend with props!

These EVE hypos cost only $23 and even have LEDs to make it seem like the real thing. The actual needle looks way too thick to actually inject anything into any part of your body, unless you're thinking what we're thinking. But who needs fire and/or electricity shooting out of their ass? Oh wait, everyone. [Play via Nerd Approved]

This week, Gizmodo is exploring the enhanced human future in a segment we call This Cyborg Life. It's about what happens when we treat our body less as a sacred object and more as what it is: Nature's ultimate machine.

This Is Probably the Cruelest Bomb Ever Invented

Jesus Diaz — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:20:00 EDT

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Once upon a time in World War II, British scientists conceived what may be the cruelest bomb ever developed. Inside the bomb, there were needles like these. Poisonous needles which would have been released in a cloud of death.

The idea was so bad that the head of the British research team sounded ashamed in his letter to sewing machine manufacturer Singer, when he asked for help in manufacturing the hollow needles needed to deliver the toxin:

It is a little difficult to explain what I want sewing machine needles for…

Fortunately, it was never used. The hollow needles—developed with the help of Canadian and American researchers—would have penetrated clothes and kill anyone in thirty seconds, presumably in painful spasms. The bad news: The British want them back. The good news: They want to use a non-lethal agent. [BBC News via Danger Room]

Scientists Use Mosquito-Mouth Design for Pain-Free Hypodermic Needle

Kit Eaton — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 06:06:00 EDT

Scientists at Indian Institute of Technology and Tokai University have taken the natural features of a mosquito's mouth, and created a new type of needle that promises pain-free blood sample collection and injections.

When mosquitoes bite you, it's not their mouth that hurts you: their ultra-fine proboscis dips beneath the skin, and then a muscle squeeze-relax motion draws blood out of it. The new needle, made of titanium alloys for strength, has a tiny microelectricalmechanical pump that mimics the mozzy, and can work to extract blood or pump in drugs. It's also just 60 microns across, versus 900 microns of a conventional syringe. The team hopes to commercialize the product, but they've got a few technical hurdles to overcome before we can all worry less about having an injection. [NewScientist]

Urban Needle Box Concept Aimed at Responsible Drug Addicts, an Oxymoron if Ever There Was One

Kit Eaton — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 08:28:21 EST

Dutch designer Hån Pham has devised the Urban Needle Box to tackle the problem of used, and possibly infected, needles lying around in public areas. A kind of pocket-sized safety box for sharps, the Zippo-lighter-sized device should be cheap to make, and looks easy to use. The concept might have just one difficulty to overcome: reminding someone who's brain is fizzing with Smack to actually put needles in it. [Yanko Design]