I’ve Seen Cartoons About This …

also it’s been talked about on “Grey’s Anatomy.” This is real, and exciting.

Tiny robots powered by magnets could one day do brain surgery

Robot tools powered by magnets (Supplied)

Most brain surgery requires doctors to remove part of the skull to access hard-to-reach areas or tumours. It’s invasive, risky, and it takes a long time for the patient to recover.

We have developed new, tiny robotic surgical tools that may let surgeons perform “keyhole surgery” on the brain. Despite their small size, our tools can mimic the full range of motion of a surgeon’s wrist, creating new possibilities for less-invasive brain surgery.

Robotic surgical tools (around 8 millimetres in diameter) have been used for decades in keyhole surgery for other parts of the body. The challenge has been making a tool small enough (3mm in diameter) for neurosurgery.

In a project led by the University of Toronto, where I was a postdoctoral fellow, we collaborated with The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Canada to develop a set of very small neurosurgery tools.

The tools are only about 3mm in diameter. In a paper published in Science Robotics, we demonstrated these tools could grip, pull and cut tissue.

Their extremely small size is possible as they are powered not by motors but by external magnetic fields.

Three small robotic tools, one with a blade and two with grippers. — *Three magnetic tools: a cutter, a gripper and forceps. Changyan He*

Current robotic surgical tools are typically driven by cables connected to electric motors. They work in much the same way as human fingers, which are manipulated by tendons in the hand connected to muscles in the wrist.

However, pulleys smaller than several millimetres wide to control the instruments are weak and prone to friction, stretch and fracture. This creates challenges in scaling down the instruments, because of difficulties in making the parts of the system, assembling the mechanisms and managing friction in the cables.

Magnetic controls

The new robotic system consists of two parts. The first is the tiny tools themselves: a gripper, a scalpel and a set of forceps. The second part is what we call a “coil table”, which is a surgical table with several electromagnetic coils embedded inside.

In this design, the patient would be positioned with their head on top of the embedded coils, and the robotic tools would be inserted into the brain via a small incision.

Diagram showing a patient lying on a table undergoing brain surgery. — *Patients would lie on a ‘coil table’ containing magnets which are used to control the surgical tools. Changyan He*

By altering the amount of electricity flowing into the coils, we can manipulate the magnetic fields, causing the tools to grip, pull or cut tissue as desired.

In open brain surgery, the surgeon relies on their own dexterous wrist to pivot the tools and tilt their tips to access hard-to-reach areas, such as removing a tumour inside the central cavity of the brain. Unlike other tools, our robotic neurosurgical tools can mimic this with “wristed” movements.

Surprising precision

We tested the tools in pre-clinical trials where we simulated the mechanical properties of the brain tissue they would need to work with. In some tests, we used pieces of tofu and raspberry placed inside a model of the brain.

We compared the performance of these magnetically operated tools with that of standard tools handled by trained surgeons.

We found the cuts made with the magnetic scalpel were consistent and narrow, with an average width of 0.3–0.4mm. That was even more precise than those from traditional hand tools, which ranged from 0.6 to 2.1mm.

Microscope video showing a tiny scalpel slicing some tofu. — *The magnetic scalpel, shown slicing some tofu inside a model of the brain, can make cuts more precise than those done with traditional tools. Changyan He*

As for the grippers, they could pick up the target 76% of the time.

Microscope video showing tiny grippers picking up a lump of raspberry. — *The magnetic grippers (shown here picking up some raspberry) were successful 76% of the time. Changyan He*

We were surprised by how well the robotic tools performed. However, there is still a long way to go until this technology could help patients. It can take years, even decades, to develop medical devices, especially surgical robots.

This study is part of a broader project based on years of work led by Eric Diller from the University of Toronto, an expert on magnet-driven micro-robots.

Now, the team wants to make sure the robotic arm and magnetic system can fit comfortably in a hospital operating room. The team also wants to make it compatible with imaging systems such as fluoroscopy, which uses x-rays. After that, the tools may be ready for clinical trials.

We’re excited about the potential for a new era of minimally invasive neurosurgical tools.

Changyan He, Lecturer, School of Engineering, University of Newcastle

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

2 Diverse Poems by Diverse Women

As always, click on the titles to see more about each poet, and why she wrote her work posted here.

1951, Brenda Hillman 1951 –

Was it odd to be born?

Was it odd to be born
when women wore rick-rack

& the sun was a bracelet of yes?

When wind bent dandelions in puffy winglets,
& wisdom did raise her voice & not say weed &

when the toad did raise its spikes at the same time
as federal codes
& the try-to-be-perfect raised its voice?

Did the clang of copper collectors & the too-many lawns
begin in Arizona

while peel-paint steeples rose over dirt for the prism
of progress,

minerals torn from mines with no mouths
but you had a mouth & sang early?

When nuclear testing began north of love
& the Remington computer was placed in office use,

when there was just as much beauty & sex as later,
while some lay down at drive-ins in Chevies on seats
the color of crushed
berries & phone calls went up to a dime?

When Congress loaned money to countries because their grains had
ancient fungus claviceps purpuria that caused
visions & swelling
under the silent claw of the predator?

Was shame in you born before beauty?
Was beauty was shame was beauty?

As white gravel spread under the white churches
as silver sequins on danceless
dresses tacked on each
“hanging by a thread”

like drops of sweat on horses at the city’s edge

while downcast daisies were mimicked on sisterly aprons
catching sugars from women making pudding from boxes
under swamp coolers

with slightly mildewy pads in a breeze
created for doing housework by yourself?

Was it odd to be born when two
types of purslane in the west were called weed,
even agave used to make soap,
though it was home to the yucca moth, central & sweet, its

terminal clusters piercing thunderheads over red pick-up trucks,

& lowly dogbane hiding from developers with sibling roots
     of fungi with “no downsides to pesticides”
            & florets like diamond periods on certain fonts
                                    also were called weed?

Was it odd to be born near hillsides with radars
        like baby ears of question marks

     under the silent claw of the predator,
when mountains shook toward sabino canyons

& there was Jello salad at picnics?

Here from this century can you say
was it wild to be born?

Was there anything else like this, anything at all?

———————————————————-

Failed Poems, Jessica Abughattas

will crawl out of the drain and try to kill you
like some 80s horror flick. The picture of us at the Santa Fe
Railyard, foreheads glistening. The black widow creeping
from the mound of linens still warm from our bodies. Mechanical
hum of crickets when you push into me in the middle of the night, when
I can’t sleep and the years replay like a foreign movie, a terrible one
where the voices sound underwater. Failed poems will steal
your breath when you wake parched, hungover, emptied
in a room full of the steady buzz of the refrigerator.
When all that excites you is momentary, an earthquake in which
all the books shake in place, and nothing falls. No one ever reads
failed poems, but they follow you home in the dark and tuck in
beside you. Failed poems are cute grim reapers that live in cartoon snowcaps.
They’re midnight döner kebabs that give you heartburn.
Once, in Zurich, we were served rabbit paella at a party
celebrating an exhibition of an artist from Venice Beach
who used to be homeless but drinks $25 Erewhon smoothies and paints
hundreds maybe thousands of happy faces with his feet. His canvasses
go for $25,000. Toe paintings are better or at least significantly
more profitable than failed poems. Failed poems won’t help you
earn a living. You will probably have to do freelance marketing
to sustain the creation of failed poems. Failed poems accrue interest.
They seep into dreams where all your friends line up to blow
your husband. They cost a monthly cloud subscription to maintain.
Failed poems are injected into your father’s veins when he ODs
for the second time this year. They’re shared to infinity
when you’re canceled for fringe political views. When you’re six
feet under, a failed poem is written on your head. It’s a prayer
in the form of a failed poem, the last words
you hear on earth

“Goldilocks Bird”

Seaside Sparrow

I want to say I’ve seen this bird, but I don’t know how I could have, other than maybe when I was younger on one of dad’s business trips through the South, as a combo summer vacation. Over 50 years ago, but the bird looks familiar. I bet there are readers here who get to see them often! Click through for facts and to hear their song.

Satanic Mass In Kansas

Yeah, this happened and has been happening here. I’m not Satanist, but we all have the same rights, including all who showed up, as long as there is no violence and no one takes away anyone else’s rights to freedom of speech and assembly. Many here know I’m a Christian believer, so of course when one side says “We’re here so that God can be in control, not Satan,” I smile, since God handled that with Satan centuries ago (so it is written. I’m not proselytizing, or even testifying, though my point is either people believe or they don’t; if they do, they know or should know that God doesn’t need human protection. Anyway.) I don’t know how far out from Kansas this story has gone, but Friday was the day, and here is the local story as of 10 PM Friday. Enjoy. There is a video on the page I can’t embed, but Kate Devine is a fine reporter on camera. There is also a text story below.

Satanic leader arrested during Black Mass protest at Kansas Statehouse

Mar 28, 2025 Updated 3 hrs ago Kate Devine

TOPEKA, Kan. (KAKE) — The leader of a Satanic group was arrested Friday after entering the Kansas Statehouse and performing a ritual, despite warnings from law enforcement.

Michael Stewart, president of the Kansas Satanic Grotto, attempted to enter the building during the group’s Black Mass event outside the Statehouse. Authorities allowed him inside as a private citizen but told him he could not hold a demonstration.

Once inside the rotunda, Stewart raised his arms in dedication to Satan, prompting a confrontation with Christian protesters. Capitol Police intervened and took him into custody.

“Our governor, Laura Kelly, after forcing us out of the building, said basically if we come back in, we are going to get arrested,” Stewart said. “So we feel like this is a violation of our First Amendment rights.”

Outside, Christian protesters held prayers and recited hymns in opposition to the event.

“We heard that Satanists were here to claim Kansas, and we said no way,” said Susan Jones, a Christian protester from Baxter Springs. “God is in control here, not Satan.”

The event, which had been planned for weeks, was originally approved to take place inside the Statehouse but was later restricted to the outside grounds. A petition opposing the event gathered nearly 100,000 signatures.

Christian groups say they gathered to pray and stand in opposition, while Satanic organizers argue their right to religious expression was violated.

It is unclear if Stewart will face charges. (end)

Peace & Justice History for 3/29

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorymarch.htm#march29

Peace & Justice History for 3/28

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorymarch.htm#march28

The Resistance Is Real, &

we can all do something, along with blogging.

Get a load of all these stickers by Garrett Bucks

Collective action, even on the tiniest scale, is still pretty damn terrific Read on Substack

Many of you know the backstory here, but stick with me. It’s unremarkable on its face, but that’s how metaphors work.

For the last couple weeks, I’ve been the joyful recipient of a steady stream of pictures. They’re all of the same sticker, one that I designed and ordered and likely should have made bigger than I did (I’ve received feedback). The sticker says “Trump and Musk don’t care about you.” There are a couple QR codes— links to learn more and take action— but not much else. It was an extremely simple project, just one of thousands that have been launched across the country since Trump was inaugurated. It will, I’m sure, not bring down a government or prevent a deportation or stop a bomb from falling.

I adore these stickers. They are tiny, on more than one level, but that’s how all impactful things start. Designing them wasn’t hard, nor was tossing off a few messages asking others if they wanted one as well. I said, in essence, “hey you all, this is a thing that I’m doing” And then, when hundreds of people across the country indicated that they would, in fact, like a sticker, they added their voice to mine. “This is a thing I can do as well,” they said, a chorus of beating hearts and frayed nerves. They shouted their reply from tiny towns and large cities, from places where they struggled to find a location that wouldn’t just preach to the choir, as well as places where Trump is worshipped like a God.

They answered, and I felt less alone in hearing their reply.

And then, because this is how trust is built, we kept our promises to one another. I sent out the stickers and they put them up and snapped a picture and then… well, we’ll see. I have no proof whatsoever if the chain will continue, if a teenager playing baseball or a mom returning her cart at Target or a trucker taking a rest break after a long day on the road will see them and be reminded that they too can do something, but if we limited our political imagination to actions whose ripples we could foresee without a shadow of the doubt, we would do so very little.

I have made a number of challenges to myself since Trump’s inauguration. I have challenged myself to counter the false faith of isolation and inhumanity with one of connection and care. I have challenged myself to remember every day how in love I am, how grateful I am, how much I believe in the beautiful counterpoints we have already shouted and the even more beautiful world we will build.

I don’t think I’ve answered any of those challenges in profound ways, but I am trying. And since I am trying, if my heart beams every time I receive another picture of a sticker out in the world, then the least I can do is to share that feeling with you as well.

Do you want to see some of the stickers? I hope so, because if they are out there, that means that we are out there, even when it feels like we aren’t, even if we convince ourselves so frequently that being out there isn’t enough, even when we don’t yet understand why or how our being out there adds up to the world we want to live in together.

So, my friends, here are a few of them…

…on top of a carrot in Sacramento.

..preparing to play ball in a West Virginia County that gave 78% of its vote to Trump in November.

…remembering the Alamo.

…as well as another complicated American icon (in Iowa).

…welcoming visitors to a farm bureau in Illinois.

…and what I’m assured is a “surprisingly scenic” Costco parking lot in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia.

… in bathrooms (in South Carolina and Phoenix).

…and on signs that, if you read them the right way, also feature messages of opposition (in Des Moines, Iowa and Springfield, Illinois).

…on campus (at Cornell and the University of Tennessee).

…and rivers (the Fox, in Wisconsin).

…and rails (in Chicago).

…and roads (in rural Florida).

As of this writing, there are hundreds of stickers, but millions of American places. A drop in the bucket if ever there was one. But there they are, proclaiming that we’re still here. Connected to each other. Shouting out, “I am doing something. We are doing something. We are here today and we will be here tomorrow.”

I love them, because I love us.

End notes:

I’m letting most of the siblinghood of stickering remain blessedly anonymous, but I hope you read this lovely reflection from Lyndsey Medford (esteemed stickerer of Costco parking lots and one hell of a writer to boot).
It isn’t just stickering, of course. I truly believe that my inbox is one of the most hope-giving spaces on the planet, because it’s full of people telling me about how damn amazing it felt going to one of those (massive) Bernie-AOC rallies or how their Tesla protest tripled in size week to week or how they never expected to find such a powerful political home when they moved to East Tennessee. You all, get a load of us! Trying! Building!
Yes, I have a few more stickers left (though please be patient, I’m away from home this week so will send them out when I get back).
And yes, I don’t just send stickers. I also run trainings (free and virtual!) on how to organize and build community in your part of the world, and next week I’ll be announcing dates and times for the next round so if you’re not on the interest list please get there. (snip-More)

Some News Of The Day

In, I hope, more palatable form. -A

Another Student Disappeared Off Street. Tabs, Thurs., March 27, 2025 by Rebecca Schoenkopf

Morning news roundup and things to read! Read on Substack

Tabs gif by your friend Martini Glambassador!

Hi hi, what’s this about, with the hoodies and the masked thugs?

More on Rumeysa Ozturk. She seems to have been kidnapped to ICE prison in Louisiana, whether before or after a judge said NOT TO FUCKING MOVE HER is unknown. (Zeteo)

So fucking jealous of Brazil right now. (Guardian)

Sure yes good:

In Lubbock, Texas, public health officials have received orders to stop work supported by three grants that helped fund the response to the widening measles outbreak there, according to Katherine Wells, the city’s director of public health.

Billions in health funds for infectious diseases and drug treatment being clawed back after they were already given out, and “Some predicted the loss of as much as 90 percent of staff from some infectious disease teams.” (Gift link New York Times)

Vance and Usha backing down from Greenland visit (she was supposed to go with Mike Waltz, but he got real busy this week); instead of going and flaunting themselves around Greenland, they’re going only to a US base, and Greenland is stoked. (CNN)

Alito and Thomas on the wrong end of a 7-2 vote as Supreme Court says the JACKBOOTED THUGS can FORCE YOU to … put serial numbers on your ghost guns. THE HUMANITY!!!!!! (Decision) Don’t wanna read 63 pages? It was Gorsuch, in the library, with a coherent decision. (Lawyers Guns & Money)

This new US Attorney for upstate New York said Joe Biden should be tried for treason and Barack Obama should be deported, so that’s just a very stable kind of guy to be a top Trump prosecutor. (Syracuse)

Pam Bondi, the attorney general of the United States, is spending all her time going on TV to yell at Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who is supremely unperturbed by it. (Our Liz at Public Notice)

Oh thank god! Now the gay whales won’t get windmill cancer! (Heatmap, reg req)

“It’s like a Tea Party rally for people who believe the 14th Amendment is real.” With Bernie and AOC in Tempe and Tucson. (Mother Jones)

Oh huh, real wages (after accounting for inflation) were up 14 percent for the lowest-paid working people under Joe Biden? And 11 percent for the next decile? And still up but not as much for the richer people? I am sorry, I will NEVER get over how we kept having to apologize for Joe Biden’s economy every time it was mentioned.

(More at Dean Baker)

Tesla only sold 7 or 8,000 Cybertrvcks last quarter. Is that bad? (Electrek)

When scientists and urban planners first started to realize Elon Musk is full of shit. (Union of Concerned Scientists)

“In year-to-year visits, Target saw a decline in nearly 5 million shoppers during a four-week period that ended Feb. 9. For Costco, the big-box store corporation saw an increase of 7.7 million visits.” And that’s why you don’t shit on “DEI” (Black and gay people existing). (Black Enterprise)

Hey it’s your right to make your 14-year-olds work past 11 p.m. on a school night. Florida says so! (Tallahassee Democrat)

Single women are driving the housing market. Couldn’t even get a mortgage until 1974. (Detroit Free Press)

My goodness Vanity Fair used to pay all the money in the world. (Yale Review)

New Polish freedom cow just dropped but it is an Australian wiener dog. (Guardian)

Snip-there is more, and you should go read, and even subscribe, in order to get these every day. Great stuff! -A

Republican Projection

Deranged MAGA by Clay Jones

Republicans want to classify their opponents as insane Read on Substack

Let’s make one thing clear. Trump Derangement Syndrome, or TDS if you prefer, is not a thing. It’s not like it’s ever been featured in the New England Journal of Medicine or been studied at the Mayo Clinic. It’s about as legitimate a medical condition as rock-and-roll pneumonia, a bad case of loving you, or being cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. Sure, Cocoa Puffs is delicious, but it doesn’t make people cuckoo any more than Trix is exclusively for kids and not weird, stalkery creeper rabbits. I always felt like the cereal was just a cover for what that rabbit was really going after.

That rabbit probably wanted what Justin Eichorn wanted, but we’ll get to that in a minute.

Five Republican men in the Minnesota state senate have introduced a bill that would include TDS in the statutory definition of mental illness. The bill defines the syndrome as characterised by “verbal expressions of intense hostility toward” Donald Trump and “overt acts of aggression and violence against anyone supporting [Trump] or anything that symbolises [Trump].”

According to Republicans, if hate that Trump sucks up to Putin, then you’re deranged.
If you think it’s weird that Trump wants to “date” his daughter, then you’re deranged.
If you don’t like that Trump is a grifter, you’re deranged.
If you hate that selling products while in office, you’re deranged.
If you hate tariffs, you’re deranged.
I think Trump shouldn’t be attacking our allies, you’re deranged.
If you don’t think the president of the United States should be Elon’s personal sock puppet, then you’re deranged.
If you think the president shouldn’t be a felon, you’re deranged.
If you believe the president of the United States should know more words than a
Beagle, you are deranged. In a Beagle’s defense, after you start spelling words so the Beagle won’t know what you’re saying, the Beagle learns how to spell.

It’s easier to dismiss your political opponents’ arguments as crazy or irrational than to counter with an argument of your own. You would think the deranged person is the one who supports deranged positions he can’t defend.

Deranged is living through the worst administration in US history, then voting for it again.

Recently, Kentucky Congressman James Comer issued a statement comparing town halls to “therapy sessions for left-wing activists suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome.” If someone asks you to justify Elon’s unconstitutional assault on the government and what right he has to work as an unelected fourth branch of government, it’s easier to dismiss that person as crazy than to answer the question. TDS is a very handy argument for Republican chickenshits.

Harriet Hageman, Wyoming’s lone representative in Congress, dismissed town halls as “hysteria,” and her reason for not holding any. Derangement is kicking out Liz Cheney because she investigated an attack against our nation and replacing her with a representative who’s going to accuse you of “hysteria.”

It’s a common Republican tactic to dismiss your opponents instead of countering facts. Instead of taking accountability for leaking classified information to a journalist, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Jeffrey Goldberg is a “deceitful and highly discredited, so-called journalist who’s made a profession of peddling hoaxes time and time again.” Even if any of that were true, it still doesn’t answer the question or explain why he was added to your chat.

If Jeffrey Goldberg was truly deceitful, highly discredited, and has made a profession of peddling hoaxes, then why did you have him in your group chat discussing classified information? Doesn’t that make it worse? And your answer to that question would probably be, “That cartoonist has Trump Derangement Syndrome.” Pete Hegseth isn’t even smart enough to deflect, less alone to possess classified information.

The chances of this TDS bill passing into Minnesota law are slim and none, but what makes these five Republican state senators qualified to diagnose a mental illness or identify a fake condition as one? Are they doctors? I’m glad you asked.

The sponsors of the bill are Glenn Gruenhagen, Nathan Wesenberg, Steve Drazkowski, Eric Lucero, and Justin Eichorn. These men must be doctors, right? I looked into it.

Gruenhagen’s career is in finance, NOT medicine. Wesenberg is a wildlife biologist. Maybe he can tell whether or not squirrels are crazy (they are), but not you. Drazkowski is a firearms safety instructor who probably votes to protect the rights of mentally ill people to purchase guns, but he’s not trained to determine who is and isn’t because he’s NOT a doctor. Lucero is NOT a doctor but should probably see one because he’s a chem-trail conspiracy theorist, which is not a thing either. And finally, Justin Eichorn is NOT a doctor either but is a possible pedophile and realtor.

So these guys who want to make TDS a mental condition demand that…hold up. Did I write that one of these guys is a possible pedophile? How could Justin Eichorn be a pedophile? How could any Republican be a pedophile? Aren’t they the ones who spent the past four years calling us “groomers?” Eichorn has also taken a conservative stand against young children learning about gender diversity and sexual orientations, yet…I’m sure he was planning to show his sexual orientation to the 17-year-old girl he believed he was talking to before To Catch A Predator busted his ass.

It wasn’t To Catch a Predator that caught him. That show ended years ago, but now I wish it was still on. I would have loved to see the surprised look on Eichorn’s face as he walked in with a six-pack of wine coolers while discovering his underage date was a bunch of cops. My money is on the entrapment defense.

Last week, more Republican state senators were arrested in Minnesota for soliciting a minor than drag queens.

But what happened? Was Eichorn rushing the TDS bill with the other four guys and saying, “Hurry this up, guys. I have a date.”?

According to the Bloomington (MN) Police Department, 40-year-old Eichorn was arrested after allegedly arranging to meet up with someone whom he believed to be a 17-year-old girl. When he got to the location, he was met by uniformed police officers and booked into jail before being transported to the Hennepin County Adult Detention Center. He must have been disappointed it wasn’t the Juvenile Detention Center.

According to the cops, when the fake minor told Eichorn she was only 17, his response was, “Cool. Do you like raspberry or watermelon-flavored wine coolers?” or something to that effect.

Police said, “Felony charges of Soliciting Under 18 Year Old to Practice Prostitution are pending from the Hennepin County Attorney’s office.” But then, federal prosecutors took over the case, and now Eichorn is facing a federal charge of attempted coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in prostitution. This might be his lucky break because a Trump-appointed prosecutor could drop the charges, and federal charges can be pardoned. I mean, pedophilia is bad, but Trump once endorsed a pedophile for the US Senate. He’s done business with pedophiles. He’s appointed pedophiles. He’s partied with pedophiles and even rode on their planes. It’s not like Eichorn did something “illegal,” like boycotted Tesla or said something “treasonous” about Trump’s tiny fingers.

Eichorn has resigned from the state senate because it’s not a place for pedophiles, but there may be an opening soon in Trump’s cabinet. Trump did try to make a pedophile his Attorney General.

Ya know, I’m starting to think it’s not the Left who’s deranged.

Creative notes: I had two ideas for this one, and it was difficult for me to choose between them, and not just because I already used Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs back in 2021. Both roughs will be featured in the next Blog o’ Roughs, coming soon.

Drawn in 30 seconds: (snip-go see)