Medical science can give you a new hip.
But how about a sixth sense?
You know, we humans are really aware of the five senses, right...
vision, hearing, smell, taste, and touch?
But that's just the tip of the iceberg.
There are actually more senses that we have, and some of them you've probably have never
even heard about.
For example - proprioception!
That's your ability to sense the movement and position of your body parts even if your
eyes are closed.
Go ahead.
Try it.
Close your eyes, stick out your forearm, and try and grasp it with your other hand.
Pretty cool, right?
Or what about nociception?
That's your sense of pain.
Granted it's not in my top five, but it's still pretty important.
But then we can look to the animal world for some really cool senses, like magnetoception.
That is the ability to sense magnetic fields.
Sea turtles, birds, and some other animals have this ability.
They can actually sense the Earth's magnetic field, which helps in navigation for long
migrations.
In fact, some birds might even be able to SEE magnetic fields like a grid overlaying
their vision!
Which just adds to the reasons to be jealous of them - on top of the fact that they can
fly, and they're allowed to poop on statues whenever they want.
Which I'm being told I absolutely can not do.
But what if we could expand our senses beyond the ones we already have?
For example, you could have a little bio-implant, a magnet made out of a rare earth metal called
neodymium, and that would allow you to sense electromagnetic fields.
Imagine it, an entire new world of sensation opens up to you!
Or how about a different magnetic upgrade?
What about a compass that tells you when you're facing north by vibrating?
So you don't look for the North Star, you just look for the north buzz.
And while we're upgrading, lets not stop with cyborgs, lets go full on superhero!
Some students at the Electronic Visualization Laboratory at the University of Illinois in
Chicago have built a spidey sense suit that they call
- drumroll please -
SpiderSense!
Here's how it works.
It sends out ultrasonic signals, which when they come into contact with objects, bounce
back and are picked up by microphones in the suit.
Which then trigger a robotic arm to put pressure on your skin - alerting you to an oncoming
object.
And they tested it out in a very scientific way.
They had someone dress up in the suit, put on a blindfold, and then get attacked by people.
And they fended them off with cardboard ninja stars.
SCIENCE!
Now this is just a basic model, but you can imagine a more advanced one being able to
tell you how far away an object is and how quickly it's coming toward you.
And if you don't want to be Spider Man, maybe you're thinking...
No!
What I really want to be able to do is track Arnold Schwarzenegger through the jungle using
just his heat signature with my infrared vision.
But that is pure science fiction, right?
Wrong!
In 2013, researchers gave rats the ability to sense infrared signals through brain implants!
They put infrared sensors on the rat's foreheads and wired it to the touch center of the rat's
brains so they could actually sense infrared radiation.
I kinda want that.
And on the other end of the visual spectrum we have ultraviolet light.
Imagine being able to see the way butterflies can see.
Or lets go really crazy.
What about tongue-like chemoreceptors on our skin, so you can actually taste things with
your hands?
Imagine all those delicious doorknobs...
But I have a question for all of you out there.
If you could add a sense to the ones you already have, what would it be?
Let us know in the comments below.
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