Brazil's 'Magnet Boy': A Fun Trick, But It Is Not Magnetism

Who was Brazil's "Magnet Boy"?

In July 2011, an 11-year-old boy in Brazil became a brief international sensation. Paulo David Amorim, from Rio Grande do Norte state, could carry spoons, scissors, and even casserole pots stuck to his body, according to footage shown on TV Globo. Classmates dubbed him "Magnet Boy" and asked him to demonstrate his "powers" in class.

His father said he discovered the phenomenon when he asked his son to bring him a knife and fork — "and much to my surprise, they stuck."

A local doctor, Dix-Sept Rosado Sobrinho, told TV Globo he had never seen anything like it in 30 years of medicine, while also noting the boy's health was not at risk. His own assessment was careful: "a certain adhesiveness" — objects sticking to skin, some of them heavy, "but not completely out of the ordinary."

Is it really magnetism?

Almost certainly not. "Human magnet" cases surface every few years somewhere in the world, and skeptics have tested them repeatedly: the effect vanishes when skin is dusted with talcum powder, which points to simple adhesion — smooth skin, a little sweat, and friction doing the work of a party trick. Spoons don't stick to actual magnets this way; they stick to people the way they stick to any slightly oily surface.

That doesn't make it less fun. Paulo David's classmates were delighted, his father was proud, and for a week in 2011, a kid in Brazil got to be a superhero. The X-Men comparison in the original headline was a joke — but the real lesson is a good one: before reaching for the supernatural explanation, check whether the ordinary one sticks.