Potential Energy and the Body Electric

Helmreich, Stefan

doi:10.1086/670968

Cited by 50 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Rarely are dichotomies as neat as they appear; the natural/artificial is no different. The dichotomy of natural and artificial (exchanged with 'electrical') is troubled by a well-established fundament of basic neurophysiology that emerged around 1850: 7 the human body is itself electric (de la Peña, 2003;Finkelstein, 2013;Helmreich, 2013). The body's internal wiring is meticulously orchestrated, and its electricity is not only passive but generative.…”

Section: Nature In-the-making: the Body Electricmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reverse-Engineering Touch: Sense-Making and Making Sense with Prosthetic Neurostimulation

Middleton

2024

Body & Society

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At the frontier of research in neuroprosthetic limb technology, experimenters are developing systems for sensory feedback (prosthetic touch). Drawing upon two years of ethnographic fieldwork chronicling neuroprosthetic clinical trials, I interpret neurostimulation experiments as a reverse-engineering: in which efforts to engineer sensory feedback recursively inform basic scientific understanding about touch itself. In this article, I analyse reverse-engineering as technoscientific practice, phenomenological experience, and mode of knowledge-making, in which gaps between natural and artificial (or ‘electric’) touch get sustained and undone. In tracing the ways touch becomes constructed, abstracted, and experienced – including through phantom sensations and syn-aesthetic description – I examine how multiple coinciding versions of touch get produced at the level of the nervous system. I analyse the consequences of this multiplicity on theorizations of human and nonhuman touch, haptic experience, and touching subjects, sustaining epistemological and ontological openness amid efforts to pinpoint touch as a site of knowledge-making.

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Section: Nature In-the-making: the Body Electricmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reverse-Engineering Touch: Sense-Making and Making Sense with Prosthetic Neurostimulation

Middleton

2024

Body & Society

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“…Generally, the energy has been defined as the ability to do work, stored in the form of potential energy, liberated in different forms such as kinetic energy, and lost as entropy [19].…”

Section: Entropymentioning

confidence: 99%

Halalopathy: A science of trust in medicine

Alzeer

2019

Journal of Integrative Medicine

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The human body is well organized, regulated, and connected. One of the greatest scientific challenges today is to integrate mind, behaviour, and health. Enormous advances in health care have been achieved; however, diseases like cancer still required treatment options beyond therapeutic drugs, namely surgery and radiation. Human being are not only made of cells, tissues, and organs, but also feelings and sensations. Linking mental state with physical health is essential to include all elements of disease. For this purpose, halalopathy has been introduced as a new model to integrate mind, behaviour and health; where psychology, spirituality and rationality can be integrated together to generate a wellorganized, regulated and connected health system. Halalopathic approaches are based on mind-trust-drug and mind-trust-belief. If the drug and human's belief are compatible, trust in the rationally designed drug will be synergised, placebo effects will be activated to initiate the healing process. Such an organized health system will lower the body's entropy and increase potential energy, which is an important aspect to promote the healing process, with a therapeutic drug toward complete recovery. This study enlightens laws of compatibility to initiate a domino chain effect to activate placebo effects and lower the body's entropy. The healing power of each effect will contribute to the healing process and enhance the total drug effects.

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“…Internal sources: Biopotentials are the internal and natural sources of electrical field in the human body. These potentials may originate from body motion [47], the growth and development of cells and tissues [48], and the heartbeat or brain [49,50]. In addition, injuries or any abnormal changes create a flux of various ions towards or outwards from the injured organ, which causes a stream of electrical current [51].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Unraveling the Corrosion of the Ti–6Al–4V Orthopedic Alloy in Phosphate-Buffered Saline (PBS) Solution: Influence of Frequency and Potential

Torbati-Sarraf,

Ding,

Khakpour

et al. 2024

CMD

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This paper addresses the interplay between electrical fields in the human body and the corrosion behavior of Ti-6Al-4V alloy, a prevalent orthopedic material. The study investigates the impact of alternative electrical signals at different frequencies on the alloy’s electrochemical behavior in a simulated body environment. The human body always has natural sinusoidal potential due to, e.g., heart palpitations and brain/nervous system activities. Ignoring such natural activities may lead to underestimating the corrosion performance of the Ti-6Al-4V alloy in the body. By analyzing anodic and cathodic responses and the net faradaic current induced by alternating current potential, the research sheds light on the influence of electrical fields on corrosion rates. Understanding these dynamics could lead to improved implant materials, mitigating corrosion-related challenges and enhancing implant performance over the long term. Results of this work indicated that frequent oxidation and reduction at certain frequencies may induce corrosion and hinder biomimetic apatite formation, impacting osseointegration. Natural alternative currents in the body affect the corrosion performance of Ti-based implant alloys, highlighting the need for consideration in biomedical applications.

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Potential Energy and the Body Electric

Cited by 50 publications

References 41 publications

Reverse-Engineering Touch: Sense-Making and Making Sense with Prosthetic Neurostimulation

Reverse-Engineering Touch: Sense-Making and Making Sense with Prosthetic Neurostimulation

Halalopathy: A science of trust in medicine

Unraveling the Corrosion of the Ti–6Al–4V Orthopedic Alloy in Phosphate-Buffered Saline (PBS) Solution: Influence of Frequency and Potential

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