A scientist ended up at the hospital after an invention gone wrong (Representative Image)
An Australian astrophysicist hoping to create a necklace that would prevent people from touching their faces instead ended up in the hospital after the attempt went wrong. According to BBC, Dr Daniel Reardon came up with the idea to create a necklace that would sound an alarm when someone tried touching their face.
The 27-year-old astrophysicist and research fellow at a Melbourne University, along with his partner, began working on the necklace by putting magnets around his wrist. However, things started to go downhill when Mr Reardon put a magnet in his nose.
"It's the same logic as clipping pegs to your ears - I clipped them to my earlobes and then clipped them to my nostril and things went downhill pretty quickly when I clipped the magnets to my other nostril," he said to The Guardian.
Mr Reardon put two magnets in his nostrils and one outside his nose. When he removed the magnet on the outside, however, the magnets on either side of his septum attracted and got stuck inside his nose. He then tried removing the magnets inside using more magnets - and it did not go well.
"As I was pulling downwards to try and remove the magnets, they clipped on to each other and I lost my grip," he said. "And those two magnets ended up in my left nostril while the other one was in my right. At this point, I ran out of magnets."
Mr Reardon then tried using a pair of pliers to remove the magnets, but they became magnetised too. After that, his partner decided to take him to the hospital.
"My partner took me to the hospital that she works in because she wanted all her colleagues to laugh at me. The doctors thought it was quite funny, making comments like 'This is an injury due to self-isolation and boredom'" he said to The Guardian.
Doctors then applied an anaesthetic spray and manually removed the magnets from Mr Reardon's nose.
The astrophysicist has now ruled out any further experiments on face-touching, saying that he is now focusing on the renovation of his house.
Coronavirus can spread through tiny droplets if the infected person coughs and sneezes. Inhaling or touching any such surfaces can lead to the spread of infection. Touching your face frequently allows for easy spread of the virus, which is why health officials are asking people to wash their hands often and avoid touching their faces.
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