Please help me identify this object in this picture

I have a picture of an object that I found on the internet. I would like to know what it is. My suspicion is that it is a micro electrode that can be installed in someones ear canal. Then it can be operated long distance via cell phone waves or from a satellite. I would like to know if this looks like what it could be. Could you tell me if it looks like it has the components to be that--a receiver, chip, speaker, antenna, etc--or whatever it would need to function that way. I am a novice when it comes to electrical engineering. It looks like it has several little holes that look like they can be holes for micro-screws or something like that to attach to an ear bone. If you tilt the computer monitor to the side you will see wave-like patterns reflecting off the material, which may give a clue to what the object is or what the material is made of. Do you think this would be detectable with an MRI or CT scan? Which one? As much information as you can tell me about this object would be great.
Thank You

Jason, how do you know from this picture what the size of the device is? Frankly, there isn't enough resolution for me to be able to see any detail. I think what you are proposing may be a little too sci-fi. But please supply more data.

Is there a higher-resolution photo you can attach? What website did you find this on?

That is all the data I have and it is the best resolution I can get. If you copy the image to a photo viewer you may get better resolution. Do your best job of evaluating the picture based on all you can see.

OK, it looks like a temperature sensor that goes on the back of a refrigeration unit.

Problem is it is very small. And why would it have 4 micro-screw holes on each of the two rectangles on the bottom left and right. And what looks like a rubber antenna hanging off to the left from the top.

How do you know it's very small?

(Bear in mind, my head is actually larger than it looks in the accompanying picture

I am assuming it is very small. Perhaps the wave like patterns reflecting off the material when you turn the computer monitor sideways at an angle can reveal that. I don't know much about that, but that is my guess. But go with that premise that it is very small. What about the rest of the components? Does it have everything that would be needed for two-way radio control and a speaker.

Is there any way you know anybody on this site who you could message who might be an expert on this kind of stuff?

Jason, what you are seeing when you tilt your screen may be an effect from your display, not the actual device. I do not see it when I look at the device from any angle. As to the components, I really can't see what they are from the picture. What you see as an antenna I interpret as a sensor.

I'm sorry, but there really is not enough data here for anyone to draw any sensible conclusions.

Jason, could it be some sort of adjusting tool? The resolution is really bad if you try to blow it up in an editing format. Looks like a flexible tubing inside a fixed housing of some sort.

It's a broken toilet roll holder I got rid of in a garage sale five years ago. Mystery solved.

I always wondered who bought it and what would eventually become of it.

But I never expected it would become an internet celebrity. !-)

I think it is a temperature sensing probe

What if I said that I was told it is what I am telling you it is. And I just want to confirm it. Can you confirm that it would function like that, or can you rule it out as being an electrode that goes in the ear canal.

Oh that?... why, it's obvious what that is. It's a delayed action snipe lure attachment for a 2 qt Revere-Ware sauce pan.

When snipe hunting, each time the sauce pan is struck by the wooden spoon (a proven method of invoking snipe curiosity), the lure is activated. 625ms later, the lure extends (shown extended in the photo) and wiggles about, simulating the snipes favorite food. The combination of the pan's unique frequency spectrum and the delayed lure action, has proven in 9 out of 10 studies, to be highly effective at producing snipes in abundance!

i'm sorry steve i believe you to be wrong on this one.
it is in reality a prosthetic antenna designed specifically for "Angler Fish" who have been mistaken as hedgehogs and run down on major trunk roads. the micro holes in the device are grip holes to allow the epoxy resin adhesive used to secure the prosthetic antenna securely to the creatures scull.
attached is picture evidence to back up my research.

The jokes are funny. But I am really looking for some serious help. Anyone out there that can help me, or should I try another forum?

Well, son-of-a-gun. Those dip-wads must have been playing a practical joke on me!!

Sorry, Jason. Couldn't resist. But, chances are you've gotten as much of a serious response as you're going to get. The people on this forum answer pretty quick, so if they haven't come up with it, by now, it probably isn't coming

Jason, I don't know if this will help, but here is an article on " implantable MEMS devices":http://www2.electronicproducts.com/MEMS_Think_outside_the_chip_at_the_package_level-article-farc_softmems_nov2010-html.aspxs

I cannot assure it but I think

Two problems:

* To transmit to a satellite, or even to the nearest cellphone tower requires more power than could be handled by something that small.
* Even if it could handle that power--two more problems:
- it would get hot enough to cook the ear it was implanted in.
- it would need a power source -- there is nothing that small that could generate the necessary power.

I want to address Steve's comment about the power source. Are you 100% sure about that. Couldn't a small micro chip and micro battery be able to handle those tasks. And do it without heating up. If this technology exists we are talking about a spy technology, which may be years ahead of anything out there that the public knows about. Couldn't the device generate power from electrical impulses in the human body?

Can anyone else comment on this issue?

See comment below about this issue.

James Bond can do a lot of things in the movies that normal people can't replicate. No one can be 100% sure of something like this, but you can be sure that people glom onto useful technology as quickly as they can. What you take for granted, like an I Phone or a laptop was Sci-Fi 40 years ago. If you think of Dick Tracy from the 1930s, he had a wrist watch video phone. It is available today but is still bulky. With nanotechnology it MIGHT be possible but probably not at todays level of technology. You can argue the odds on that statement but not the statement itself. It almost seems you want someone to state this is probable and you won't get that without providing some more information. I'm still waiting for my George Jetson style flying car that folds up into a suitcase.

We're getting closer to the wrist video device. Corning just announced glass so thin it can bend without breaking. They call it willow glass [http://www.technewsworld.com/story/75292.html] and it should reduce the thickness of such things as the touch/video screens in cellphones by about a third (i.e. making a video wrist watch more possible)

BUT

There's still the problem of a power source. The energy density technology has been stalled for some time, now. Sure their have been advances, but nothing that would make such small devices practical. [unless, you used some kind of nuclear power. And even that probably wouldn't be enough power, because the only kind of nuclear that would have that kind of power is fission, and I don't think you could achieve critical mass in such a small space, and even if you could, where would you put the shielding?]

You need a lot of power to transmit to a cell tower and even more to get to a satellite. If the power could be directed (e.g. with a dish or yagi antenna) then perhaps the power requirement could be reduced enough, but i doubt it [for it to be directional, the person with the implant (or wrist to-way TV) would have to not move after the thing was aligned!]

To Steve's last comment. What about these implantable MEMS devices that deliver a drug to cardiac patients? They work by telemetry. And they are very small.

I'm not saying its probable, just that I would really like to know what this thing is, and I have some other circumstantial evidence that suggests that the object is what I am saying it is.

I'm not an electrical engineer, but it seems to me that if you think of earbuds that the secret service wears, well wouldn't it be very useful in certain spy circumstances to make them invisible to the outside of the ear and put them in the ear canal. It just seems like a simple shrinking of the technology, and I just assumed this was possible with the way computer chips keep shrinking in size.

The only practical power source in this case would be a rechargeable battery with wireless charging, energy harvesting, or both. It's possible to do both today. Remember, while energy harvesting may seem like future technology, it's actually been around since the self-winding wristwatch.

How long do you suppose a battery that small will be able to power an RF broadcast before needing a recharge? Consider the range needed for that broadcast. And do you really think enough energy could harvested for such an application?

And, do you really think there is enough room for a receiver coil in a wireless power transfer application? Consider length of charging time, and the amount of energy transfer required.

I guess you are assuming a high duty cycle on this device. I am not. And just how small are you assuming the battery has to be? (Remember too that money is no object.)